About Robin Rowe

Robin Rowe

Hi, I’m professor Robin Rowe. This is my blog at goshrobin.com.

As UN WHO Augmented Reality Group Manager and XR Games Producer, I led the development of MCARE, a 3D AR/VR hospital metaverse for training, assessing and certifying doctors worldwide in mass casualty disaster management. That is, planning for unpredictable local black swan events such as earthquakes, tsunamis, plane crashes, industrial accidents, terrorism and epidemics.  Long term plan for MCARE is to virtualize all 52,000+ hospitals in the world, so doctor-instructors may telepresence into any hospital anywhere in real-time.

As Lenovo AR Product Strategist, produced the technology road map and developed prototypes for the Lenovo ThinkReality Augmented Reality glasses to compete with Microsoft HoloLens. I designed and programmed components for speech recognition, computer vision, the network data API and UI/UX.

For Disney Marvel Spider-Man, and used by many other major motion pictures, I was the architect of the Unreal Engine motion-capture system on Hollywood’s largest motion-capture stage. Used to produce photo-realistic digital stunt doubles who appear in superhero movie fight scenes.

This same mo-cap system is used to produce photo-realistic visual effects in superhero films, is also used to animate a hit Mattel Barbie cartoon series.

And, the same mo-cap system is also used to bodily insert performers into AAA games like Call of Duty to produce game trailers and game content.

I started in metaverse development in 1995, as a navy research scientist building ModSAF/NPSNET, the first realistic VR first-person-shooter game. Used to train NATO Special Forces, with mil-spec virtual Apache attack helicopters and dismounted infantry and a submarine that could fire missiles submerged. This Department of Defense VR war game, running on SGI supercomputers, was similar in appearance to Call of Duty, which wouldn’t exist for another eight years. Separately, I designed a navy night vision flight simulator, used to test naval aviators.

As a defense company Program Manager and DARPA PI, I designed an Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) shipboard simulator integrated with navy destroyer sonar systems, to train sonar operators at sea. I sailed on an aircraft carrier and a navy flagship to field test my designs at sea.

Recruited by the CTO of DreamWorks Animation, I left defense work and moved to Hollywood. There I implemented image compression and film color look management for Shrek 3 and Over the Hedge on DWA’s massively parallel super-computing renderfarm.

I’ve had many projects in optimization, to make legacy systems faster, such as the real-time safety-critical embedded Linux Econolite Cobalt traffic controller. Cobalt controls a third of U.S. traffic lights, is national critical infrastructure.

I’m a volunteer team leader for the Motion Picture Academy Diversity & Inclusion Summer Learning Program, mentoring university 3D animation and VFX students in an 8-week Distance Learning program.

I mentor start-up founders through StartOut.

At thesis advisor, I guide graduate and doctoral students researching the metaverse at Vanderbilt University and at Rhein-Waal University. As a professor, I’ve taught Computer Science at the Naval Postgraduate School and at the University of Washington.

#augmentedreality #technology #animation

Prof. Robin Rowe
Hollywood, California
323-535-0952