Virtual reality at the heart of International Week 2025

Once again this year, HELHa students took part in International Week. Held in Mons, this event brought together engineering students from Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Germany, along with four guest professors from Poland and Portugal.

A look back at a week dedicated to exploring a specific topic

From March 17 to 21, participants immersed themselves in an intensive, English-language program centered on a single theme: “Tangible Interfaces for VR Applications”. Students, professors, and researchers from across Europe explored the latest advancements at the intersection of embedded development and virtual reality.

The main objective was to design tangible user interfaces (TUI) to enhance the VR experience. By using simple sensors such as IMUs, participants developed devices capable of capturing real-world movements and transmitting them to VR headsets. Throughout the week, they combined technology and creativity to discover innovative ways of interacting in virtual environments.

To achieve this, the 2025 edition of International Week featured:

• Conferences
• Workshops and lab sessions
• A visit to A6K/E6K in Charleroi, including VR simulator tests on “AISIN” and “SIRRIS”

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Enhancing Virtual Reality Experiences

The topics covered were highly specific and especially valuable for the students’ future careers:

• IMU data acquisition and filtering
• ROS2 with a focus on communication with external devices, plus practical exercises
• Bluetooth HID application
• Introduction to Godot

Speakers from Across Europe

This year, HELHa welcomed Professor Janusz Jakubiak from Wroclaw University of Science and Technology (Poland), Professor Sérgio Duarte Correia from Portalegre Polytechnic University (Portugal), Professors Fernanda Coutinho and Jorge Barreiros from Instituto Superior de Engenharia, Polytechnic of Coimbra (Portugal), as well as Mr. Sébastien Nahon from the Media Innovation & Intelligibility Lab at UCLouvain. Several labs and conferences were also led by HELHa’s own lecturers.

The week concluded with engaging social activities. Participants discovered the city of Mons, took part in games, and enjoyed Belgian beers during an evening organized by Master’s students in Electronics.

Learn more about the Master’s in Industrial Engineering