The interests of Human-Computer Intelligent Interaction researchers span a wide range of investigations into the complex relationships between man and machine. HCII researchers are showing older adults ways to improve cognitive health and are giving computers the power to read and respond to human emotions.
They are giving us insight into why automobile accidents happen and how to prevent weapons being smuggled on to airliners. They are helping to close the language barriers between cultures and making computers more accessible to the handicapped.
The HCII Research Initiative seeks to enhance human-machine interfaces, to explain the human aspects of that interface for real-world applications, and to create the tools necessary for those applications to become reality. Throughout 2004 and 2005, enormous progress was made in several areas. HCII boasts collaborations between electrical engineers, neuroscientists, computer scientists, linguists, and others who are generating results found only in this Research Initiative. Whether it is developing the world’s largest publicly available database of faces, or using the immersive reality CUBE™ to understand how perception and memory work, HCII researchers are taking on the challenges found in the increasingly complex relationship between human and computer.
In the past year, progress toward more efficient human-computer interfaces has been made with new computational models in facial recognition that give computers more understanding of the user, and the user a better interactive experience. The CUBE™ and driving simulator continue to be integral resources for HCII research, serving as important analytical tools for projects ranging from the study of object memory and how we navigate our way through the world, to the development of onboard computers for automobiles.
The varied projects within HCII demonstrate that this Beckman RI is a truly interdisciplinary endeavor, touching on cognition, memory, language, and human perception as they may relate to machines. As the collaborations across disciplines continue to grow, the realm of HCII research interests will also expand, and the benefits these projects bring will have an even greater impact in the future.