Ubiquitous Computing for Future Computing

Environments

Gregory D. AbowdCollege of Computing

&GVU Center

About me

B.S., Notre DameMathematics and Physics, 1986

M.Sc./D.Phil., University of OxfordComputation 1987/1991 (SE formal methods)

PostdocUniversity of York 1989-1992Carnegie Mellon 1992-1994

Faculty GaTech CoC 1994-present Tenure/promotion 2000

Teaching

Undergrad and Grad HCI (and SE)

This yearFall: 4470/6456 Principles of UI SoftwareSpring: 6750 Introduction to HCI

Next yearSabbatical!

Current PhD Students

1. Bob Waters (SE)2. Khai Truong 3. Heather Richter4. Lonnie Harvel5. Kris Nagel6. Rod Peters7. Jay Summet (joint with Jim Rehg)8. Xuehai Bian (joint with Jim Rehg)9. Giovanni Iachello (joint with Colin Potts)10.Gillian Hayes11.Heather Mahaney (joint with Jeff Pierce)12.Shwetak Patel (first year)

Former PhD Students

Kurt Stirewalt, 1997 Michigan State

Anind Dey, 2000 Intel, UC Berkeley

Jennifer Mankoff, 2001 UC Berkeley

Jason Brotherton 2001 Ball State

Other Students (typical)

3-5 masters students (CS, HCI, InfoSec)

~ 20 ugrad in project teams/semester

What Does This Mean?

Yes, I am a busy person, and that can be an issue. Ask others about this.

I am not looking to take on more students this year. But I am always interested in good students with similar interests.

Student Philosophy

I like students who are: independent team players

An advisee is a child, a friend, a colleague.

I give students lots of freedom, but that does not always work out.

I don’t have to be advisor to give advice

Research Area

Human-Computer InteractionDesign, development and evaluation of

interactive systemsFocus on real applications and the tools

to build them

Ubiquitous ComputingThe latest paradigm in interaction, “off

the desktop” and into our everyday lives.

Research Distinction: Ubicomp in Living Laboratories

It is not sufficient to achieve technological breakthroughs; the work must be situated.

Important contribution lies in the understanding of impact on everyday life. Otherwise, who cares what we do?

Research method

Build applications that are motivated by a human need in a real environment eClass, Cyberguide, smart intercom, PAL,

Living Memory Box, Finding Lost Objects, Family Video Archive

Build infrastructure/toolkits to enable others to investigate Context Toolkit, OOPS, INCA

Example Living Laboratories

Classroom (eClass, Classroom 2000)Home (Aware Home @ the Res. Lab)

Office (Augmented Office)

Car (someday?)

Body (Wearable Computing)

Research themes

Automated capture eClass, meetings, home Near, medium and long-term My biggest push these days

Context-aware computing Cyberguide, CyberDesk, Context Toolkit popular in ubicomp research related to automated capture

Natural interaction OOPS error-correction toolkit Large/small interaction surfaces

Automated Capture

Automated capture and access for live experiences can benefit or otherwise enhance everyday activities. Can we observe and understand

the impact in everyday use? Are there reusable solutions

across applications?

Context-Awareness

Effective use of implicit situational information is one key to the killer existence.

Services just do the right thing.

Scalable Interaction

There are many relevant scales of interaction technologyWeiser: inch, foot, yardOthers: MEMS, building, campus

What facilitates “naturalness”Perception/recognitionSmooth integration of virtual/physical

Where Is This Leading?

Toward a more generalized model of interaction implicit input as first class entity content + context ambiguity: requiring human intervention Persistent: infer higher level activity Ambient & directed output

Programming for physical environments

Current Principal LaboratoryThe Aware Home

interesting human needs others: aging in place family communication children: tracking developmental goals

context-aware computing testbed low-level sensing to human activity

capture on different timescales Many surfaces for interaction

How can you get involved?

8903 next semester mailman mailing lists

future@cc ubicomp-group@cc (feeds fce-lab@cc) ahri@cc

Meetings Ubicomp Group: Mon. 11:00am CRB 381 HCI Seminar: Thurs 1:30pm CRB 303 AHRI: Wed. 3:30pm, Friday informal lunch

Early Announcement

GVU Brown Bag on October 9 on the Family Video Archive

Research in Ubicomp

Technology

Building blocks for ubicomp

Emphasis: sensing/perception and large interactive surfaces

Essa, Bobick, Rehg, Starner

Applications are not essential for progress, just used as motivation.

Technology

Research in Ubicomp

Design/Eval

The human experience

Emphasis: successful aging, families, informal activities

Abowd, MacIntyre, Mynatt, Pierce, Stasko, Potts, Guzdial

Running systems often not needed to inspire good design ideas.

Research in Ubicomp

Construction

Technology

Design

composing existing technology

handle imperfectionsevolving over a long

lifeReusable solutions

(architectures, toolkits)Necessary bridge and critical

research endeavorAbowd, MacIntyre, Pierce,

Guzdial, Stasko