Utilizing Hydra for Real-Time Reconstruction of Environments in Extended Reality

Abstract: This thesis explores the use of Hydra for real-time reconstruction of environments in extended reality (XR). The development of the prototype was performed in an iterative manner. Three iterations were executed, each resulting in a prototype with improvements related to the takeaways from the preceding prototype. The final prototype consisted of two scenes. The first scene consisted of rendered furniture according to the Hydra output from a pre-recorded ROS bag file of an office scene. The second scene consisted of the same room definitions, but was empty of furniture. As Hydra ran, the furniture was rendered in real-time. After the third iteration, user tests were performed in order to evaluate the prototype. The results of the user tests indicated that there was potential of utilizing Hydra, but some areas were identified for further improvements. Lastly, the discussion described the code complexity and configuration challenges of Hydra, highlighting the need for documentation and systematic configuration testing. Bottlenecks in the workflow, such as object handling and message structure, suggest some techniques for optimizing the data pipeline. The potential for custom input and appropriately configuring Hydra emerges as interesting areas for further exploration.