CEXI-HA

Centre d’EXpérimentation en Interaction et Humain Augmenté

Etienne Peillard
Last updated on Aug 21, 2026
Official IMT Atlantique page Contact the platform
CEXI-HA — Experimental Center in Interaction and Augmented Human

A shared environment for designing, prototyping, and evaluating interactions between people and immersive technologies.

CEXI-HA is an IMT Atlantique shared experimental platform dedicated to the study and evaluation of interactions between people and immersive technologies. It brings together the facilities and expertise needed to design, prototype, and analyze Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality systems, as well as research in human factors, perception, cognitive ergonomics, and neurotechnology.

The platform connects several IMT Atlantique teams and departments to support interdisciplinary research on augmented humans, human–machine collaboration, and the evaluation of interactive systems.

Shared infrastructureFacilities, equipment, and expertise pooled across teams.
Human-centered studiesControlled experiments with rigorous methodological and ethical support.
Open collaborationAcademic projects, international partnerships, industrial research, and services.

Mission

CEXI-HA has four complementary objectives:

  • support experimental research on immersive interaction and human-assistance technologies;
  • pool technical and scientific resources for studies involving human participants;
  • promote methodological and ethical rigor throughout the experimental process;
  • turn research into demonstrators and interactive prototypes.

Research areas

The platform supports projects spanning:

  • Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality;
  • brain–computer interfaces, neurotechnology, and wearable systems;
  • perception, cognition, and experimental neuroscience;
  • ergonomics and human factors;
  • human–human and human–system collaboration;
  • augmented health, simulation, and immersive training.

Facilities and experimental capabilities

CEXI-HA provides controlled immersive environments and a modular experimental stack. Depending on the project, teams can combine:

  • immersive headsets, large interactive displays, and collaborative XR systems;
  • optical motion capture and body tracking;
  • eye tracking and physiological or neurophysiological sensing;
  • physical props, tangible interfaces, and spatially registered virtual content;
  • software for experimental control, data acquisition, synchronization, and analysis.

These capabilities support work ranging from embodied interaction and altered body perception to attention studies, neurofeedback, remote collaboration, and augmented supervision of complex systems.

A participant interacting with a physical prop while wearing a virtual-reality headset in the CEXI-HA laboratory
Immersive experiments can combine virtual content, tracked physical props, and controlled observation.
A participant testing a mixed-reality prototype at a CEXI-HA workstation
Mixed-reality prototyping and evaluation integrate sensing, visualization, and interaction.
A CEXI-HA platform demonstration presented to a group of visitors
The platform also supports demonstrators, knowledge transfer, and research outreach.

Activities and services

CEXI-HA helps teams to:

  1. design and run studies with human participants in controlled immersive environments;
  2. measure and analyze behavior and performance using motion capture, eye tracking, and physiological monitoring;
  3. prototype, test, and evaluate immersive, interactive, or collaborative systems;
  4. prepare experimental protocols, ethics-review applications, consent procedures, and data-management plans.

Who can use the platform?

The platform is open to IMT Atlantique researchers, faculty, doctoral and postdoctoral researchers, and students involved in experimental work. It also supports academic consortia, international collaborations, and industrial partners through collaborative research projects, contracts, or services.

A common framework for responsible human-centered research

CEXI-HA helps structure a shared approach to studies involving people at IMT Atlantique. In coordination with teams working in cognition, health, and user-centered design, it contributes to harmonizing:

  • participant recruitment, information, and consent;
  • ethics-review and GDPR-compliance practices;
  • responsible experimental methods and data management.

Governance and scientific positioning

The platform is scientifically led by Étienne Peillard in the Computer Science Department. It is jointly supported by the INUIT (natural interaction and mixed reality), P4S (Industry of the Future), BRAIN (neurocognitive modeling and brain–computer interfaces), and DECIDE (decision, cognition, and ergonomics) teams, together with the Optics Department.

CEXI-HA contributes to IMT Atlantique’s Augmented Human scientific strategy.

Contact

For a research project, collaboration, or service request, contact the platform administration:

CEXI-HA administration
cexiha-admin@imt-atlantique.fr

IMT Atlantique — Brest campus, Computer Science Department
Technopôle Brest-Iroise — CS 83818
29238 Brest Cedex 03, France

View the official CEXI-HA page on the IMT Atlantique website.

Human-Computer Interaction Virtual Reality Augmented Reality Human Factors Neurotechnologies
Etienne Peillard
Etienne Peillard
Associate Professor

My research focuses on perception and embodied interaction in Virtual and Augmented Reality, including augmented affordances, body perception, and human-system cooperation in immersive environments.