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Student Seminar
by Marie Mühlhaus 03 May '24

03 May '24

Hi all, We will have a student presentation upcoming Wednesday (08.05.2024) at 1:00 pm. Rifat Turjo will be presenting his first Master thesis talk. You can find his thesis title and preliminary abstract below. The presentations will take place in E1.7, room 001. Best regards, Marie ------------------------------------------------------ Title: ”SMA Driven Mechanical Metamaterial-based Shape Changing Interfaces" Abstract: ”The advancements in material science, fabrication technology and miniaturization of electronics have drastically expanded the domain of shape-changing interfaces in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). By altering the physical shape of the device, shape-changing interfaces provide new paradigms of human interaction with computer machines. They alter our fundamental strategy toward interaction design, broadening interactive systems to incorporate our perceptual- motor abilities, thereby facilitating the same direct interaction our bodies naturally engage in with the everyday world. In recent years, the discovery of new materials with electromechanical properties has allowed HCI researchers to find innovative means of integrating sensors and actuators into the environment, expanding upon computation, user interaction and communication. However low-weight, miniaturized means of actuation for such devices remain a challenge and require further extensive research. We address this gap in the literature through our work, by presenting a novel design of a mechanical metamaterial-based structure as a shape- changing device with novel lightweight actuation realized via embedded electronic hardware and shape memory alloys (SMA). Our contributions involve a multi-step approach. Our proposed design consists of an array of unit cells with selectively controllable deformation leading to a global transformation. The deformation is carried out by an electronic circuit housed within our prototype responsible for the controlled actuation of segments of the SMA actuator for each unit cell. To that aim, we develop a control algorithm for sequential scheduled actuation of alternating unit cells. Our contributions yielded a shape-changing interface that is low-weight, mobile, and portable with lightweight and robust actuation by taking advantage of the unique geometric properties of metamaterials and merging them with the thermoelastic properties of SMAs. Our evaluation demonstrates the capabilities of a simple yet novel design as well as addresses its scalability for designing shape-changing interfaces."

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Webinar and discussion round: how to use AI for scientific writing
by Anna Maria Feit 24 Apr '24

24 Apr '24

Hi all, I'd like to share an upcoming webinar about "How to use AI for scientific writing" <https://ifocusandwrite.lpages.co/guest-webinar-mushtaq/>. It is organized by Ana Pineda, a researcher and academic coach which I've been following for many years already (she has a great list of "mindful writing and productivity courses" and organizes lots of related online events, I can highly recommend her content, if you are interested in these things). I think this is a topic all of us should start thinking about if and how to best integrate AI tools to reduce a bit of the overhead of writing up our exciting research, but also potential problems and ethical concerns we should consider when using those tools. If you are interested in this topic I suggest you *sign up for the webinar on 12th of April *and watch it live or the replay. In addition, we will have a*discussion round on this topic on 24th of April at 2PM* (after the HCI's group group meeting in their kitchen). Until that you could explore the tools suggested in the webinar so that we can exchange about our own experiences in writing with AI and talk about concerns and opportunities we see. Best Anna -- Professor of Computer Science at Saarland University Saarland Informatics Campus E1 7, R3.09 Computational Interaction Group https://cix.cs.uni-saarland.de/

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Fwd: Today 4pm: Bachelor Seminar Talk: Generative Art of Biosignals to Support Self-Reflection
by Anna Maria Feit 22 Apr '24

22 Apr '24

Dear all, this is a friendly reminder of the invitation to Lukas Jedrzejewski's bachelor seminar talk. Lukas' thesis is a joint project of the Computational Interaction Group at Saarland University and the Affective Computing Group at DFKI with Prof. Dr. Anna Maria Feit as main supervisor, Dr. Patrick Gebhard as second reviewer and me as advisor. *Title: Generative Art of Biosignals to Support Self Reflection* *Type of Talk:* First Bachelor Seminar Talk *Speaker:* Lukas Jedrzejewski *Language: *English *Time and Date: *22.04.2024, 4 pm *In-Person Participation:* -2.07 ("Barwise") in DFKI main building D3.2 (ground floor, room behind reception - see attached picture for instructions) *Online Participation: *https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_N2QzYjcwNzktNWQzOC00ZjVlLWIwMWUtYzQzM2Y2NDQ2M2Zj%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2267610027-1ac3-49b6-8641-ccd83ce1b01f%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%229884a57c-e8f7-4d9e-a6f5-54f48211091e%22%7d <https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_N2QzYjcwNzktNWQzOC00…> * Abstract: *Long-term stress can lead to serious health problems. It’s estimated that every third woman and every fifth man will experience major depression in their lives. Therefore, early stress detection and treatment are essential. Widely used technologies, like fitness trackers and smartwatches, can already identify stress based on biosignals like heart rate variability. However, they frequently fall short when it comes to adequately representing stress. Typically they display numerical scores or simple colors which might be difficult to understand and rarely encourage deeper reflection.//This bachelor thesis investigates how recent advancements in artificial intelligence, in particular image generation, can be used to provide a richer visualization of biosignals that would encourage self-reflection. Best regards Mirella Hladký, M.Sc. *Researcher* *German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence || ** Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz GmbH (DFKI)* Saarland Informatics Campus D3 2 Stuhlsatzenhausweg 3 66123 Saarbrücken Germany –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Firmensitz: Trippstadter Straße 122, 67663 Kaiserslautern Geschäftsführung: Prof. Dr. Antonio Krüger (Vorsitzender), Helmut Ditzer Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: Dr. Ferri Abolhassan Amtsgericht Kaiserslautern, HRB 2313 –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Website: https://www.dfki.de <https://www.dfki.de>

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Student Seminar
by Marie Mühlhaus 19 Apr '24

19 Apr '24

Hi all, We will have two student presentations upcoming Wednesday (24.04.2024) at 1:00 pm. First, Jule Enninghorst will be presenting her final Master thesis talk. Then, Alaa Othman will be presenting his final Bachelor thesis talk. You can find their thesis titles and abstracts below. The presentations will take place in E1.7, room 001. Best regards, Marie ------------------------------------------------------ Jule will defend her Master thesis with the title ”Design and Evaluation of Strategies to Communicate Motion Intent for Arm-based Exoskeletons" Abstract: ”As wearable robots become more integrated into everyday life, building trust between humans and robots becomes crucial. Exoskeletons, which augment human capabilities by actuating the body, hold great potential for enhancing physical performance and assisting with everyday tasks. Given the control exoskeletons have over the user's body, ensuring a safe and usable interaction is essential. For this, exoskeletons capable of proactively moving the user's body require clear communication of their motion intent. While the concept of communicating robot motion intent has been explored in non-wearable robots, mature approaches for exoskeletons are lacking. Addressing this research gap, this thesis presents a conceptual design to convey motion intent prior to its primary action for a one-degree-of-freedom arm exoskeleton. The design space comprises four dimensions, covering different types of exoskeleton motion, multiple physical motion properties, distinct activity levels and various types of motion intent. The concept presents motion strategies that leverage the inherent haptic feedback of exoskeleton motion by amplifying, resisting, and initiating a user's motion, and communicate whether the upcoming action will require high or low forces by the user. Since the user's arm is engaged in various levels of activity during daily tasks, we evaluate ten motion strategies with a proof-of-concept prototype, testing their detection, interpretability, noticeability, and integration across three different activity levels: active motion, passive motion, and at rest. We collect qualitative and quantitative data during the user study from questionnaires, system logs, and interviews. The results of our study provide insights into the potential of using motion strategies for communicating motion intent and their perceptions during different activity levels. Drawing from these insights, we synthesize design incentives that address activity level dependencies, the need to balance multiple criteria based on usage context, and suggestions on how to improve motion strategies by considering individual user characteristics. These incentives serve as an initial guideline for designing motion intent communication for exoskeletons, thereby facilitating safer and more user-friendly interactions." ----- Alaa will defend his Bachelor thesis with the title “Integration of Thread Embedding and Electroluminescence In 3D Printed Models” Abstract: “The ongoing development of 3D printing technology holds the potential for creating interactive and functional models. However, there are challenges, particularly when integrating different materials and implementing interactive designs. This work addresses the integration of EL-Wires (Electroluminescent Wires) into the 3D printing process to develop interactive 3D printed models. By using EL-Wires, visually appealing effects can be achieved that increase the interactivity of the models. The work focuses on hardware and software adjustments of the 3D printer to ensure seamless integration of the EL wires while maintaining the quality and structural strength of the printed objects. Validation is carried out by testing various embedding techniques and patterns that enable smooth integration of the EL wires into 3D printed models. Based on these results, prototypes of 3D-printed displays and models will be designed and manufactured to demonstrate the practical applicability of this technology in various contexts. This work aims to investigate the integration of EL-Wires into the 3D printing process and show how this can advance the development of interactive and functional 3D printed models.”

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Fwd: Distinguished Lecture by Patrick Perez, Kyutai - May 3, 1 pm, Campus E1.5 (MPI-SWS), R002 - AI for the Real World - Some Challenges
by Anna Maria Feit 16 Apr '24

16 Apr '24

This might be an interesting talk for some of you -------- Weitergeleitete Nachricht -------- Betreff: Distinguished Lecture by Patrick Perez, Kyutai - May 3, 1 pm, Campus E1.5 (MPI-SWS), R002 - AI for the Real World - Some Challenges Datum: Tue, 16 Apr 2024 13:29:52 +0200 Von: Christian Theobalt <theobalt(a)mpi-inf.mpg.de> An: inf-all(a)mpi-inf.mpg.de, sws-all(a)mpi-sws.org, vortraege24(a)cs.uni-saarland.de, prunch24(a)cs.uni-saarland.de Dear colleagues, it is my great pleasure to invite you to a distinguished lecture by Patrick Perez from Kyutai. * * *Title*: AI for the real world - Some challenges * * *Abstract*: Modern AI is reshaping our digital lives and many industries (including century-old ones). This comes with a variety of key challenges such as scalability, efficiency, reliability, safety and interpretability. I will touch upon some of these challenges, based on research projects across different fields of application, from content creation to autonomous driving. How to tap into raw unannotated data, how to leverage foundation models or world knowledge, how to predict and improve robustness of models for the open world are some of the questions that will be discussed, in the context of visual models. I will conclude with some research directions toward more capable and practical foundation models. *Short bio*: Patrick Pérez is CEO at Kyutai, a non-profit open-science AI lab, based in Paris. Prior to this, Patrick was at Valeo as VP of AI and Scientific Director of valeo.ai <http://valeo.ai> (2018-2023), and with Technicolor (2009-2018), Inria (1993-2000, 2004-2009) and Microsoft Research Cambridge (2000-2004) as research scientist. Through his academic and corporate research journey, Patrick has explored various fields of applications (medical, cinema and media, automotive) with all sorts of sensors (cameras, MRI, microphones, radar, laser scanners), and has built and led several long-term research teams. His research interests lie in reliable multimodal AI for the benefit of all. When: May 3 2024, 1 pm Where: MPI-SWS, Campus E1.5, R002 Best regards, Christian Theobalt -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Prof. Dr. Christian Theobalt Scientific Director Visual Computing and Artificial Intelligence Department Max-Planck-Institute for Informatics Saarland Informatics Campus Campus E1.4, 66123 Saarbruecken, Germany Phone +49 681 9325 4500 Fax +49 681 9325 4599 Email:theobalt@mpi-inf.mpg.de Assistant Email:d6-sek@mpi-inf.mpg.de URL: https://www.mpi-inf.mpg.de/departments/visual-computing-and-artificial-inte… http://www.mpi-inf.mpg.de/~theobalt/ http://sic.saarland

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[HCI-Stammtisch] Invited Talk by Xiao Xiao (U De Vinci, Paris) on Wed April 17th at 13:00
by Jürgen Steimle 16 Apr '24

16 Apr '24

Dear all, It is my pleasure to invite you to Xiao Xiao's invited talk. Xiao did her PhD with Hiroshi Ishii at the MIT Media Lab and now leads the Human Learning Group at University De Vinci in Paris. Xiao will be around the entire afternoon. If you want to meet her please get in touch with Yu (cc'ed) who is coordinating the agenda. Juergen Wednesday 17th April, 13:00-14:00 Building E1.7, Room 001 Dr. Xiao Xiao: Music Learning as Inspiration for Interactive Technology Design: Insights from Piano and Theremin Practices Abstract: In the seminal talk "Doing Make Images Makes Symbols" (1987), Human-Computer Interaction pioneer Alan Kay calls for technologists to develop their aesthetic sensibilities in the liberal arts to inform and enrich their designs. My research investigates the potential of music learning experiences to inspire the design of interactive technologies. Drawing from personal engagement with the piano and theremin, I employ autoethnography to delve into my own music learning processes. Contrary to conventional approaches centered on acquiring correct notes, my explorations highlight the profound link between bodily movements and musical expression. These insights drive the development of projects aimed at enhancing the expressive capabilities of both the piano and theremin, with a particular focus on pedagogical applications. Furthermore, I explore the design of interfaces tailored for movement learning across diverse domains, including foreign language acquisition and rehabilitation. Bio: Dr. Xiao Xiao is the Principal Investigator of the Human Learning Group at the Institute for Future Technologies of the Pôle Léonard de Vinci in Paris - La Défense. Her research has been presented at academic conferences including CHI, TEI, Interspeech, and NIME, for which she has served as a scientific co-chair. Artistic projects include Minds in the Making, an interactive installation that depicts historic metaphors for the mind, and illustrations for Inventive Minds, a set of essays about learning by the artificial intelligence pioneer Marvin Minsky. She is an accomplished self-taught thereminist and a co-inventor of T-Voks, a theremin augmented to sing with lyrics, which won 2nd prize at the Guthman Musical Instruments Competition. Xiao holds 3 degrees from MIT, including a PhD from the MIT Media Lab. _______________________________________________ HCI-Stammtisch mailing list HCI-Stammtisch(a)dfki.de https://www.dfki.de/mailman/cgi-bin/listinfo/hci-stammtisch

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Hybrid Bachelor Seminar Talk: Generative Art of Biosignals to Support Self-Reflection
by Anna Maria Feit 16 Apr '24

16 Apr '24

Please join next Monday for the Bachelor Seminar talk of Lukas. It's gonna be held at DFKI and you can also join via Teams. Anna -------- Weitergeleitete Nachricht -------- Betreff: Bachelor Seminar Talk: Generative Art of Biosignals to Support Self-Reflection Datum: Mon, 15 Apr 2024 14:51:44 +0000 Von: Mirella Hladký <mirella.hladky(a)dfki.de> An: cos-ma(a)dfki.de <cos-ma(a)dfki.de>, feit(a)cs.uni-saarland.de <feit(a)cs.uni-saarland.de> Kopie (CC): s8lujedr <s8lujedr(a)stud.uni-saarland.de> Dear all, it is our pleasure to invite you to Lukas Jedrzejewski's bachelor seminar talk. This thesis is a joint project between the Computational Interaction Group at Saarland University and the Affective Computing Group at DFKI with Prof. Dr. Anna Maria Feit as main supervisor, Dr. Patrick Gebhard as second reviewer and me as advisor. *Title: Generative Art of Biosignals to Support Self Reflection* *Type of Talk:* First Bachelor Seminar Talk *Speaker:* Lukas Jedrzejewski *Language: *English *Time and Date: *22.04.2024, 4 pm *In-Person Participation:* -2.07 ("Barwise") in DFKI main building D3.2 (ground floor, room behind reception - see attached picture for instructions) *Online Participation: *https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_N2QzYjcwNzktNWQzOC00ZjVlLWIwMWUtYzQzM2Y2NDQ2M2Zj%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2267610027-1ac3-49b6-8641-ccd83ce1b01f%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%229884a57c-e8f7-4d9e-a6f5-54f48211091e%22%7d <https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_N2QzYjcwNzktNWQzOC00…> * Abstract: *Long-term stress can lead to serious health problems. It’s estimated that every third woman and every fifth man will experience major depression in their lives. Therefore, early stress detection and treatment are essential. Widely used technologies, like fitness trackers and smartwatches, can already identify stress based on biosignals like heart rate variability. However, they frequently fall short when it comes to adequately representing stress. Typically they display numerical scores or simple colors which might be difficult to understand and rarely encourage deeper reflection.//This bachelor thesis investigates how recent advancements in artificial intelligence, in particular image generation, can be used to provide a richer visualization of biosignals that would encourage self-reflection. Best regards Mirella Hladký, M.Sc. *Researcher* *German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence || ** Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz GmbH (DFKI)* Saarland Informatics Campus D3 2 Stuhlsatzenhausweg 3 66123 Saarbrücken Germany –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Firmensitz: Trippstadter Straße 122, 67663 Kaiserslautern Geschäftsführung: Prof. Dr. Antonio Krüger (Vorsitzender), Helmut Ditzer Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: Dr. Ferri Abolhassan Amtsgericht Kaiserslautern, HRB 2313 –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Website: https://www.dfki.de <https://www.dfki.de>

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[HCI-Stammtisch] WG: German Pre-CHI 2024: Invitation to Register
by Martin Schmitz 19 Mar '24

19 Mar '24

Dear all, Below youll find the invitation to register for the German Pre-CHI at UdS (apologies for cross-postings). Please also register officially so that we can prepare accordingly. Let me know if youd like to support us with the planning. For instance, were still looking for (1) someone who would like to create a German Pre-CHI24 logo and (2) someone who knows Saarbrücken well and can book a venue for the evening dinner. Best regards, Martin Von: Martin Schmitz <mschmitz(a)cs.uni-saarland.de> Gesendet: Dienstag, 19. März 2024 07:56 An: martin(a)mschmitz.org Betreff: German Pre-CHI 2024: Invitation to Register Dear German HCI community, tl;dr Registration is open for the German Pre-CHI 2024 (April 25-26, Saarland University). Register here: https://forms.gle/cU7Gu7MAHToFMwg88 Congratulations to all authors of accepted papers at CHI 2024! With over 60 papers, the German HCI community is getting stronger internationally every year, which is a great achievement made possible by all of you! We are excited that registration for the German Pre-CHI 2024 on April 25 and 26 is open! You can directly register here: <https://forms.gle/cU7Gu7MAHToFMwg88> https://forms.gle/cU7Gu7MAHToFMwg88 (please register before end of March). The German Pre-CHI will provide an opportunity to preview and discuss upcoming CHI 2024 works (papers, posters, demos). We also offer lab tours at Saarland University, DFKI and the Max Planck Institute for Informatics. New this year: a session on "How to apply for research funding at DFG" (hosted by Susanne Boll and Albrecht Schmidt) and a strategy session for professors and senior members of the HCI community. The event includes plenty of time for discussion during coffee breaks, over lunch and at a joint dinner in the evening. It is an excellent opportunity for networking and getting to know each other in the German HCI community - especially but not only for those of us who will not be traveling to Hawaii this year. Please also encourage all your peers and colleagues to participate. Registration is free of charge. All members of the community can participate, irrespective of work accepted for CHI'24. For all event-related information, please see <https://hci.cs.uni-saarland.de/prechi24/> https://hci.cs.uni-saarland.de/prechi24/. We look forward to seeing you in Saarbrücken! Best regards, Martin Schmitz, Jürgen Steimle, Antonio Krüger, Anna Maria Feit, Paul Strohmeier ----- Martin Schmitz [he/him] Senior Lecturer and Researcher at HCI Lab Saarland University mschmitz.org <https://mschmitz.org/> _______________________________________________ HCI-Stammtisch mailing list HCI-Stammtisch(a)dfki.de https://www.dfki.de/mailman/cgi-bin/listinfo/hci-stammtisch

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[HCI-Stammtisch] PhD application talk by Yang Li: Reward Learning for Visual Task Synthesis
by Anna Maria Feit 18 Mar '24

18 Mar '24

Dear all, Yang Li is a finishing Master student at UdS and has just applied to my research group. I asked him to give a presentation about his Master thesis in my group meeting on 21.03. at 3PM at E1.7 R3.23. You are very welcome to join if the topic is of interest to you. Best Anna Title: Reward Learning for Visual Task Synthesis Abstract: A remarkable increase in programming education has been noticed recently, and beginner-friendly visual programming environments have been gaining popularity. In the meantime, there is a growing need for automated feedback provision, especially in evaluating newly generated programming tasks. In this thesis, we aim to eliminate the reliance on expensive human labelers and potentially biased score functions. Instead, we propose a Reward Model to conduct the assessment. The model can be trained in a supervised manner with good interpretability, utilizing even only human preferences as ground truth labels. Furthermore, we examine the applicability of the reward model to guide the training of a reinforcement learning agent, which can be used to support the generation of high-quality tasks. We evaluate the model using the Hour of Code: Classic Maze challenge by Code.org and the Intro to Programming with Karel course by CodeHS.com. -- Professor of Computer Science at Saarland University Saarland Informatics Campus E1 7, R3.09 Computational Interaction Group https://cix.cs.uni-saarland.de/ _______________________________________________ HCI-Stammtisch mailing list HCI-Stammtisch(a)dfki.de https://www.dfki.de/mailman/cgi-bin/listinfo/hci-stammtisch

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Student Seminar
by Marie Mühlhaus 13 Mar '24

13 Mar '24

Hi all, We will have a student presentation upcoming Wednesday (13.03.2024) at 1:00 pm. Laurent Hug, Master student in the CIX group, will be presenting his final Master thesis talk. You can find the thesis title and abstract below. The presentation will take place in E1.7, room 001. Best regards, Marie ------------------------------------------------------ Title: StitchSense: A Deep Learning Approach to Counting Knitting Stitches in Real-Time using Hand-Based IMU Sensors Abstract: While knitting enjoys wide popularity as a traditional craft, it has received limited attention in the realm of automated pattern recognition or technical analysis. This thesis examines the unique application of machine learning techniques for real-time knitting stitch counting. We create and introduce a comprehensive hand-labeled knitting motion dataset as a foundation for our analyses. Our exploration, which encompasses both classic and advanced neural network architectures, demonstrates a notable advantage of individualized models (achieving an average within-user F1-score of 0.71). However, cross-user generalization proved challenging (with an average F1-score of 0.37), a finding that prompts future research into adaptable feature extraction or fine-tuning approaches. With potential applications in digitized pattern matching and knitter technique analysis, the dataset developed within this thesis expands opportunities within this emerging domain. We further demonstrate the feasibility of this novel concept through the development of a robust pipeline for data collection, feature engineering, model training, and real-time counting. Ultimately, this work highlights the potential of machine learning to augment traditional crafts, setting the stage for future studies focused on innovative assistive technologies.

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