2/17/2026
The IMMERSE Community Demo Day brought together a dozen of hands-on immersive computing projects from across campus on December 2, 2025. It was an opportunity to showcase innovative projects and strengthen the community of Extended Reality (XR) enthusiasts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
The IMMERSE Community Demo Day brought together a dozen hands-on immersive computing projects from across campus on December 2, 2025. It was an opportunity to showcase innovative projects and strengthen the community of Extended Reality (XR) enthusiasts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
From performing a lumbar puncture procedure through Mixed Reality guidance to experimenting with naturally fitting haptic devices, attendees were invited to explore a wide range of cutting-edge applications. The event was hosted by the IMMERSE Center for Immersive Computing, which is administered by the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science in the Grainger College of Engineering.
We wanted for this Community Demo Day to be a welcoming space to meet new collaborators, exchange ideas, and engage in meaningful conversations.—James Planey Assistant Director of Research at IMMERSE
Participants consistently highlighted the value of peer interaction and feedback. “The Demo Day was a wonderful opportunity to share ideas and receive feedback in a supportive, interdisciplinary environment", said Xinhui Hu, a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Information Sciences.
I especially appreciated seeing how different teams are using immersive technologies in creative and socially meaningful ways.—Xinhui Hu Ph.D. Candidate, School of Information Sciences
The event also sparked spontaneous peer debugging sessions and opportunities for cross-disciplinary learning. "Beyond seeing other exciting projects, we received very useful input on some of our critical technical challenges,” shared Duo Wang, a PhD student with the Carle Illinois College of Medicine.
The strong attendance—drawing around 50 participants ranging from XR-curious to domain experts— was a reflection of the vibrant XR community that has been steadily growing across campus.
Based on the enthusiastic response, IMMERSE plans to make the Community Demo Day an annual event, complementing the poster and demo session traditionally held during the Spring symposium. Together, these initiatives will continue to foster collaboration, knowledge sharing, and innovation in immersive computing across the University.