From left: Adam Toth, Lero eSports & Human Performance Lab, Matt Sughrue, Logitech, Mark Campbell, Lero, and Niall White, Logitech. Image: Lero
University of Limerick-based software research centre, Lero is to further collaborate with gaming computer peripherals giant Logitech G, to better understand computer gamers.
The new four-year research project will see Lero test some 2,000 of the top video gamers in the world, in a €2.5m partnership with Swiss player Logitech G, to get a better sense how gamers both train and compete. It’s just the latest collaboration in a partnership that dates back to 2016.
“Lero are the best in the business at this type of software research, and the outputs from this project will help us design and create new gaming products for augmenting gaming performance – mouse, headsets, keyboards and controllers, for example,” said Logitech gaming innovation engineer Niall White.
Research Ireland-funded Lero and Logitech G have partnered on a whole a range of studies since 2016, in order to measure the biomechanical, psychological and cognitive capabilities of professional esports athletes and casual gamers. The research aims to support Logitech G in meeting gamers’ needs through innovation and product development.
“We will have to create bespoke software tests to identify and measure key performance indicators of gaming and gamers, and identify and measure the biomarkers of esports and gaming performance,” said Professor Mark Campbell, director of the Esport Science Research Lab at Lero, and professor in Sport and Performance Psychology at the University of Limerick. “This will be achieved through the use of cutting-edge technology such as brain imaging, eye tracking and biosensors.”
The project kicked off yesterday (18 August) at the Gamescom convention in Cologne, Germany, where Lero is aiming to test hundreds of gamers over the five-day convention. Campbell says the information gathered will enable the development of AI-powered smart gaming peripherals such as mice, keyboards and headsets with biosensors for human performance monitoring in-game.
Campbell says the four-year project will be of benefit to Ireland’s €500m gaming industry, which he says employs around 2,000 people, as it will see the development pf PhD students and researchers in areas that span computer science, psychology, neuroscience, sport science, software engineering, and human-centred design. It’s all part of a growing level of expertise among Ireland’s research community, says Campbell.
The gaming market is reported to be worth some $250bn worldwide, so it is a sector that today offers vast potential for research talent that ranges from neuroscience to software development.
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