Upulanka Premasiri: Breaking the Wall of Discomfort in VR

Upulanka Premasiri, Human Interface Technology Lab, University of Canterbury

We investigate how combining voice commands, touch, gaze, controllers, and hand gestures can reduce physical and mental fatigue in extended VR use. These input methods enable multimodal interaction techniques, offering greater flexibility. By facilitating more comfortable interactions, we aim to unlock the full potential of VR across various domains, such as training, rehabilitation, education and many more.

Upulanka is a PhD candidate at the HIT Lab NZ, University of Canterbury, researching Virtual Reality, Multimodal Interactions, and Comfortable VR. He is an experienced game developer and academic with a strong industry background, specialising in game and XR development across multiple platforms. He holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Software Engineering, specialising in Digital Game Development from the University of Kelaniya and a Graduate Diploma in Computer and Telecommunication Engineering from the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka.