Project summary

	Project no.: PN-IV-P8-8.3-PM-RO-BE-2024-0003; Contract no.: 2BMBE/2025
	Principal Investigators: Radu-Daniel Vatavu (University of Suceava, Romania) and Jean Vanderdonckt (Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium)
	Funded by UEFISCDI, Romania and Wallonie-Bruxelles International, Belgium
	Funding scheme: PNCDI IV - P5.8 - European and International Cooperation
	Running period: January 2025 - December 2025 (12 months)

Abstract

We propose new models and software technology for eXtended Reality (XR) applied to environments characterized by extreme conditions, such as sensory or physical constraints experienced during space missions, in order to explore eXtreme eXtended Reality (XXR).

Objectives

The main objective of this project is to facilitate and support the scientific collaboration between Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava and Université catholique de Louvain to foster research activities on extended reality technology applied to extreme conditions. Our specific objectives are:

1. Perform a critical analysis of XR technology applied to extreme environments
2. Development of a conceptual model and design space for XXR interactions
3. Development of a XXR application for navigation in diverse gravitational environments

Team

University of Suceava, Romania	Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium
Prof. Radu-Daniel Vatavu, Principal Investigator  Laura-Bianca Bilius, PhD  Mihail Terenti, PhD  Adrian Aiordăchioae, PhD  Alexandru-Ionut Șiean, PhD  Alexandru-Tudor Andrei, PhD student  Adrian-Vasile Catană, PhD student	Prof. Jean Vanderdonckt, Principal Investigator  Julie Manon, PhD  Nacera Latreche, PhD student  Alaa Sahraoui, PhD student  Diego Eloi, PhD student

The research activities are conducted in the Machine Intelligence and Information Visualization (MintViz) Research Laboratory of the MANSiD Research Center (Romania) and the Louvain Interaction Laboratory (Belgium).

Publications

Julie Manon, Jean Vanderdonckt, Michael Saint-Guillain, Vladimir Pletser, Cyril Wain, Jean Jacobs, Audrey Comein, Sirga Drouet, Julien Meert, Ignacio Sanchez Casla, Olivier Cartiaux, Olivier Cornu. (2025). A Multi-Session Evaluation of a Haptic Device in Normal and Critical Conditions: A Mars Analog Mission International Journal of Interactive Multimedia and Artificial Intelligence 9(3), 164-174 PDF | DOI | IF: 2.4 (Q3, JCR 2024)

Radu-Daniel Vatavu, Jean Vanderdonckt. (2025). What is Extreme in Human-Computer Interaction Research? Adjunct Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Mobile Human-Computer Interaction. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 7 pages PDF | DOI | ARC CORE B

Jean Vanderdonckt, Radu-Daniel Vatavu, Romain Maddox. (2025). Between Bulky Suits and Isolated, Deserted Landscape: Measuring the User Experience of Astronaut-Drone Interaction. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction 9(5). ACM, New York, NY, USA, Article MHCI005, 19 pages PDF | DOI | ACCEPTANCE RATE: 27.2% (40/147) | ARC CORE B

Jean Vanderdonckt, Radu-Daniel Vatavu, Julie Manon, Romain Maddox, Michael Saint-Guillain, Philippe Lefevre, Jessica J. Márquez. (2025). UX, but on Mars: Exploring User Experience in Extreme Environments with Insights from a Mars Analog Mission. Proceedings of DIS '25, the Designing Interactive Systems Conference. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 16 pages PDF | DOI | ACCEPTANCE RATE: 24.2% (176/726) | ARC CORE A

Hippolyte Hilgers, Jean Vanderdonckt, Radu-Daniel Vatavu. (2025). Human-AI Interaction in Space: Insights from a Mars Analog Mission with the Harmony Large Language Model. Proceedings of SpaceCHI '25, Advancing Human-Computer Interaction for Space Exploration. Open Access Series in Informatics. Dagstuhl Publishing, 20 pages PDF | DOI

Radu-Daniel Vatavu, Jean Vanderdonckt, Julie Manon, Michael Saint-Guillain, Philippe Lefevre, Romain Maddox, Jessica J. Marquez. (2025). Conducting Human-Computer Interaction Scientific Experiments in Extreme Environments: Insights from Analog Mars Missions. Romanian Journal of Information Science and Technology. Romanian Academy, 12 pages PDF | IF: 3.9 | 5-Year IF: 2.2 (Q1, JCR 2024)

Foundational Publications

Jean Vanderdonckt, Radu-Daniel Vatavu, Julie Manon, Michael Saint-Guillain, Philippe Lefevre, Jessica J. Marquez. (2024). Might as Well Be on Mars: Insights on the Extraterrestrial Applicability of Interaction Design Frameworks from Earth. Proceedings of CHI '24 EA, the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts. ACM, New York, NY, USA, Article no. 239, 8 pages PDF | DOI

Project reports (in Romanian)

Media

More details about the Syrtis Crew, conducting the Mars mission at MDRS, are available here.