R&D Activities and Outcomes

 

The objective of this research area is to focus on user research, as well as user experience design and evaluation, ensuring that products and services developed are usable and ensure a high-quality user experience. Research activities also focus on proposing novel methodologies, techniques, and tools to support and facilitate all phases of User Experience (UX) design and research.

User experience design and evaluation studies. This is an ongoing horizontal activity of the HCI Laboratory, undertaking the UX design and evaluation of EU, national and private funding projects in various application domains and contexts.

 

The overall goal of this research direction is to contribute, support, and facilitate the application and adoption of the principles of Design for All and Universal Access in the context of the Information Society. Research activities are targeted to establish the necessary knowledge, instruments and building blocks towards ensuring that interactive applications and services are developed by proactively taking into account the needs and requirements of diverse target user groups in a wide variety of contexts of use. Related activities include: (i) Development and evolution of methodologies, techniques and tools supporting the application of Design for All in HCI; (ii) Design and development of interaction techniques for specific target user groups, supported through user interface development toolkits; (iii) Development of universally accessible applications and services in a variety of everyday life application domains, such as e-learning, training, and employment; (iv) Development of universally accessible games; (v) User studies; (vi) Accessibility evaluations and audits..

Accessibility evaluation studies. This is an ongoing horizontal activity of the HCI Laboratory, undertaking accessibility evaluation studies and audits of websites and mobile applications for third parties, reporting results and providing consultation for accessible digital services in accordance with the W3C WCAG guidelines and standards.

 

The main objective of this research direction is to study Ambient Intelligence technologies and their application in Smart Environments following a User-Centred Design and Universal Access approach. In this context, the HCI Laboratory develops novel software development frameworks and methods, and develops ambient interactive systems applications and services targeted to enabling natural, intuitive, high-quality, unobtrusive, inclusive and fault-tolerant interaction of people with the intelligent environment via multiple modalities and devices, integrating multidisciplinary technologies such as recognition and monitoring of users interaction with the environment, distributed processing, reasoning mechanisms, computer, sensor and actuator networks, computer vision algorithms, multimedia content design, and multimodal interaction techniques. Activities conducted in this area include: (i) Elaboration of methods and tools for user interface development in Ambient Intelligence Environments; (ii) Investigation scenarios and methodological approaches for universal access in Ambient Intelligence Environments; (iii) Development of prototype applications that demonstrate the potential, added value and benefits of Ambient Intelligence Technologies to the (mobile) end-users; (iv) Design and development of innovative public information interactive system products combining state of the art applied research with industrial design and art towards the creation of unique systems that blend usability, aesthetics, interaction and fun for the delivery of dynamic multimedia information. These systems can work independently but also as a coherent ensemble, providing holistic, personalized experiences. Individual systems range from hand-held mobile devices to room-sized interactive sculptures..

Additionally, the Laboratory conducts activities which aim to assess the impact of Ambient Intelligence Technologies on the individual and society as a whole, as well as to highlight the potential and the benefits of such technologies in various aspects of everyday life. Also, the Laboratory actively pursues the development of prototypical market products, as well as the transfer of technologies and know-how to the industrial sector.

 

Research activities in this area focus on the development of novel HCI approaches in fields that are important for society, and include quality of life and well-being technologies, interaction-rich serious games, automotive applications, interactive media, e-government services, preservation and presentation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, intelligent home and learning environments, as well as smart agriculture.

 

The goal of this activity is to promote the Human-Centered Design paradigm in Artificial Intelligence, thus resulting in AI applications that are usable, useful, reliable, safe, and trustworthy. Activities in this field include the investigation of how the ‘human-in-the loop’ paradigm can be pursued and applied in core AI, addressing concepts such as explainable AI, semantic, cognitive, and perceptual computing, visual predictive analytics, interactive machine learning, federated learning, and UX design for AI.

 

This research direction explores high-fidelity interactive computer graphics systems for Human-Computer Interaction. Activities in this area focus on Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) accelerated methods for dynamic scene rendering, Mixed Reality character simulation frameworks, as well as algebraic frameworks for computer graphics and virtual character simulation.

 

The focus of this activity is research in the fields of Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality environments, including reference conceptual models for implementing XR experiences that transcend the boundaries between real and virtual interaction, novel approaches supporting realistic high-quality human-to-virtual character interactions, and tangible case studies, illustrating how the proposed conceptual models are materialized.

 

Emphasis is put on the thorough design and implementation of novel domain–specific programming languages, focusing on improved programming support with a new generation of interactive instruments. These Research activities have ended.