We aim to become the nation’s premier academic motion capture studio. RELLIS Starlab Facility hosts an indoor lab space, available for research, training, animation, kinematic studies, augmented reality development and more.                                                   

Design and test augmented reality and motion capture technologies

The RELLIS Starlab Facility hosts unique augmented reality and motion capture capabilities, teaching students and partners the latest techniques in the field through robust testing. The mission of the RELLIS Starlab Facility is to support academic and industrial professionals that have a need for and a vested interest in state-of-the-art augmented reality and motion capture technology. Motion capture technology benefits military, entertainment, sports and medical applications, among others.

The Indoor Facility

The indoor lab is primed for research, training, animation, kinematic studies, augmented reality development, and more. Within the facility, we develop and simulate both aerial and ground autonomous vehicles. The facility has been designed to perform experiments with millimeter precision motion tracking.

The nominal capture volume of the 44 VICONTM Vantage V5 cameras is approximately 42’ by 42’ by 15’, totaling 26,000 ft3.


The cameras are arrayed on a suspended truss structure, supplemented with a ground-based array for higher precision motion capture in a localized volume. Included in the motion capture system is a pair of synchronized reference optical video cameras, to capture every detail in HD.


The motion capture control room is located on the ground floor of the facility with an unobstructed view of the capture volume.


The control room includes a real-time display of motion tracking data and computing hardware and software for data processing and data reduction, enabling ground-based feedback control. The facility includes a staging area and work area with a fully equipped workbench for experimental setup, on-site repairs, and unplanned modifications, allowing for a reduction in downtime.


An observation deck is located on the second floor and provides a view of the entire capture volume for client operations.

Starlab (35 of 35)

The Indoor Facility

The indoor lab is primed for research, training, animation, kinematic studies, augmented reality development, and more. Within the facility, we develop and simulate both aerial and ground autonomous vehicles. The facility has been designed to perform experiments with millimeter precision motion tracking.

The nominal capture volume of the 40 VICONTM Vantage V5 cameras is approximately 42’ by 42’ by 15’, totaling 26,000 ft3.

The cameras are arrayed on a suspended truss structure, supplemented with a ground-based array for higher precision motion capture in a localized volume. Included in the motion capture system is a pair of synchronized reference optical video cameras, to capture every detail in HD.

The motion capture control room is located on the ground floor of the facility with an unobstructed view of the capture volume.

The control room includes a real-time display of motion tracking data and computing hardware and software for data processing and data reduction, enabling ground-based feedback control. The facility includes a staging area and work area with a fully equipped workbench for experimental setup, on-site repairs, and unplanned modifications, allowing for a reduction in downtime.

An observation deck is located on the second floor and provides a view of the entire capture volume for client operations.

The Technology

Our facility has a 2,000-sq-ft VICON Motion Capture Unit System and various sensors, such as LIDAR, RADAR, stereo cameras. We utilize 40 VICON TM Vantage V5 cameras. Partnering with the largest supplier of optical motion measurement systems to universities, hospitals, VFX studios and other leading research institutions ensures our lab immediate benefit from a broad existing knowledge base. We employ passive optical motion capture technology, using retro-reflective markers that are tracked by high-speed infrared cameras. This is currently the most accurate, flexible, and common type of motion capture. We also use custom-built 5MP, 350 FPS Vantage motion capture cameras, which are only offered by VICON.

Who it's for

Motion capture is most often associated with the entertainment industry, such as movies and video games. Additional fields include but are not limited to medicine, sports, industry, academic research and military training.

Who it's for​

Motion capture is most often associated with the entertainment industry, such as movies and video games. Additional fields include but are not limited to medicine, sports, industry, academic research and military training.

The DARES Infrastructure Merges motion capture and tracking with virtual reality and augmented reality environments

RELLIS Starlab Facility utilizes a Distributed Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (DARES) infrastructure to support the development, testing and evaluation of autonomous vehicle platforms, algorithms and operational scenarios using both ground and aerial vehicles. This allows for geographically distributed operations connecting multiple, non-collocated facilities together. The infrastructure advances research in many applications, including military uses. In these scenarios, researchers, warfighters and operators are able to connect through an AR/VR platform to run the joint exercises in an augmented virtual environment that consists of both simulated and real platform data. The STABLE, a public community for professionals to learn about and to discuss emerging ideas in the field, explains this research in further depth.

Get involved & contact us today

Reach out to connect with the RELLIS Starlab Facility. We are interested in speaking with any potential government, industry and academic partners.