Robert is currently the Founder and CEO of LocalSense, Inc. in Raleigh NC, the Founder of the Augmented Reality Consortium, and the Vice-Chair for the NC-Triangle Chapter of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA).
Robert is a Startup Executive, Futurist, Author, Speaker, Tech Pioneer, and industry leader in pioneering the commercialization of mobile augmented reality. With more than 20 years of experience he is a passionate innovator and is continually seeking to advance the state-of-the-art of dynamic and interactive technologies. Robert is the author of MMO Evolution, a contributing author in Working Through Synthetic Worlds (Chapter 11: Augmented Reality Tools for Enhanced Forensics Simulations and Crime Scene Analysis), and the creator of Social Kinematics.
Robert is available as a consultant, and as a keynote speaker and panelist for conferences related to augmented reality, virtual worlds, simulations, and the future of interactive media and technology.
Recognized as an Internet Gaming Pioneer by Advertising Age magazine in 1996, Robert was also called a Founding Father of the Digital Nation in 1998 by The Raleigh News & Observer. He is an authority on mobile augmented reality, persistent immersive environments, virtual reality and worlds, massively multiuser online games, and simulations. He is currently focusing on innovating technologies for augmented reality, hyperlocal business intelligence, social commerce, and emerging mobile markets.
Robert collaborated on the first conversion of a single player PC game to a virtual reality game in 1992 at the first virtual reality entertainment company in the US. Over the last two decades he has gained broad and in-depth experience in design, development, production, project direction and executive management with a number of start-ups including Alternate Worlds Technologies, Arckosian Entertainment, ZReality, Orchid Media International, Neogence Enterprises, LocalSense, and others.
Robert lives in Raleigh North Carolina with his wife Holly, and can be found on LinkedIn, Twitter and Skype (rrice919).
All inquiries via email welcome.
Topics of interest to Robert: innovation, technology, interactive media, startups, virtual reality, virtual worlds, social networking, smart cities, augmented reality, simulations, social kinematics, perceptual computing, ubiquitous computing, the Internet of Things, MMORPGs, game design, the evolution of media, and the impact of emerging technologies on business, industry, education, entertainment, enterprise, culture, and society.
List of Appearances, Publications, Interviews, and Conferences is below.
Appearances, Publications, Interviews, Conferences:
Panelist, Google Glass Workshop, Augmented World Expo, Santa Clara, June 3rd, 2013
Interview, Raleigh-Based Website Drawing Attention To Social Media From Egypt, NBC17 News, Raleigh, February 4th, 2011
Keynote Speaker, Interactive 2010!, Sasketoon Saskatchewan Canada, September 24, 2010
Speaker, AR Conference, San Francisco, April 21, 2010
Speaker, Immersion X, Triangle Game Conference, Raleigh, April 8th, 2010
Speaker, Augmented Reality, Triangle Game Conference, Raleigh, April 7th, 2010
Speaker, Nokia Business Development Forum, February 10, 2010
Design, Business, and Technology Contributor, Nokia Co-Creation Weekend, Amsterdam, November 2009, hosted by Fronteer Strategies
Panelist, Augmented Reality, Web2Open Expo, New York, November 2009
Panelist, Augmented Reality, New York, November 2009, Hosted by Porter Novelli and New York Semantic Web Group
Panelist, Augmented Reality, TiE Entrepreneur Week, Santa Clara CA, November 2009
Panelist, Science Meets Fiction: Imagining the Future of Mixed and Augmented Reality, ISMAR (International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality), Orlando FL, October 2009
Co-Presenter with Ori Inbar, Six Elements of AR, ISMAR (International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality), Orlando FL, October 2009
Co-Presenter with Ori Inbar, AR Roadmap to Success, Mobile Magic Wand Workshop, ISMAR (International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality), Orlando FL, October 2009
Reviewer, Arts, Media & Humanities, ISMAR (International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality), Orlando FL, October 2009
Contributor, Augmented Reality, ABI Research Report, October 2009
Interview with Ronnie Overgoor and Ilse Media at the eDay conference in Rotterdam.
Keynote Speaker, Future of Mobile: Ubiquitous Computing and Augmented Reality, eDay, Rotterdam, September 2009
Interview, Augmented Reality - Bigger Than the Web, with Tish Shute, www.ugotrade.com, August 2009
Mentioned, The CEO, the Android-Maker, and Augmented Reality. Oh my!, Linux Magazine, August 2009
Speaker, Right Idea, Wrong Implementation?, Inside Mobile Conference, San Jose, July 2009
Speaker, The Future is Calling or Mobile is Dead, Mobile Monday, Amsterdam, June 2009 Link to Video
Contributor, Augmented Reality: Music’s 3D Future, Frukt Music Intelligence Report #2, June 2009
Speaker, Bringing Games to Life, Literally: The future of mobile games, augmented reality, and MMORPGs, Triangle Game Conference, Raleigh NC, April 2009
Speaker, Massively Mobile Ubiquitous RPG: Designing For a New World, IMGDC, Las Vegas NV, April 2009
Featured Blogger, Sociosophy “Blogger Week”, February 2009
Speaker, When Do We Get The Holodeck?, Carolina Games Summit, Goldsboro NC, February 2009
Interview, Is it “OMG Finally” for Augmented Reality? with Tish Shute, www.ugotrade.com, January 2009
Speaker, How Modern Software Methodologies and High Performance Computing will Change the Face of Simulation, NAFEMS 08 Regional Summit, Norfolk, October 2008
Speaker, Emerging Trends and the Evolution of Interactive and Immersive Media, ACM Tech Talk, Virginia Tech, October 2008
Panelist, MMORPGs, DGExpo, Raleigh, 2008
Quoted, One Giant Leap, Games TM Magazine, 2008
Guest, Multiple Podcasts, Biota Live, Internet, 2008
Contributor, Killtenrats.com (pseudonym “Nicodemus”), 2006-2008
Speaker, G2Expo, Goldsboro, 2007
Speaker, DGExpo, Raleigh, 2007
Speaker, IMGDC, Minneapolis, 2007
Speaker, Wake Tech Community College, ‘07
Interview, Immortal Destiny: Exclusive Interview, Warcry Network, July 2007
Contributor, Massive Radio, Internet
…and a bunch of others over the years I don’t remember. Please email me if you see me quoted somewhere, or if you saw me at a speaking engagement.
Specialties, Hobbies and Interests
Augmented reality, virtual reality, virtual worlds, social media/networks, Massively Multiuser Online Games (MMORPGs, MMO), Alternate Reality Games (ARG), persistent environments, adaptive simulations, the metaverse, interactive and immersive technologies, artificial intelligence, artificial life, intelligent agents, collaborative environments, casual games, STEM learning, technology convergence, pattern trending, ideavisioning, cybersociology, game design, geolocative and contextual media, think tanks, and being a futurist.
Photography, tenor saxophone, haiku, Kyudo (Japanese archery), fencing (foil and epee), world travel, reading, world history, archaeology, paleontology, philosophy, theology, cryptography, architecture, sociology, psychology, robotics, anime, and a dozen or so other topics. I love creating things, learning, and exploring.
