SEMINAR

Physically Communicated Affect

Speaker: Prof. Karan MacLean

(University of British Columbia - Computer Science)

Date : 24th(WED) Nov. 2010, 2:00pm~3:00pm

Place: Mechanical Engineering(N7) E1 Seminar Room(3F #3213)

Abstract

In the last decade, affect (emotion) and affective design has gradually gained acceptance as an important element of user interface and product design: the impact of pleasing and comforting environments and interactions on wellness and productivity are no longer arguable, and usability in technology is part of this. Conversely, methods for measuring affect and using it to analyze, and more recently to inform and guide technology-supported interactions are becoming more mature. However, the studies, technology and methods have largely focused on affect that is expressed or influenced through visual and sometimes auditory modalities.

Haptic affect, expressed or perceived through physical contact, is open ground; but it is clearly an important channel, involved in early development, our interactions with pets and other people. But we don't know exactly why or how; how it complements and relies on other modalities; details of how people use and perceive touch to communicate emotion; the cost of leaving physical affective design *out* of most of the products we live, work and play with; and how to design it in. I'll talk about several projects over the last ~5 years that have explored these and other questions.

BIO: Karon MacLean is a Professor in Computer Science at the University of British Columbia, Canada (Courtesy appointment in Mechanical Engineering). She has a B.Sc. in Biology and Mechanical Engineering from Stanford (1986) and a M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT (1996), with professional robotics engineering (Center for Engineering Design, Univ. of Utah) in between. She worked as a research scientist at Interval Research, Palo Alto, coming to UBC in 2000. Her research in ubiquitous haptic and multimodal interfaces brings together robotics, perception, attention, interaction and affect design with the larger goal of restoring physicality to embedded computation, and has been recently supported by Nokia, Immersion, Nissan, Spark Robotics, General Motors, Thought Technologies and others. She uses touch feedback as part of a multisensory HCI toolbox in the context of real design problems like mobile devices and steering controls to leverage new design techniques and define her studies of multimodal perception and attention. Peter Wall Early Career Scholar (2001); Izzak Walton Killam Memorial Faculty Research Fellowship (2007); Charles A. McDowell Award, 2008. Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Haptics, founding member of several other editorial and advisory boards; co-chair of the 2010 and 2012 IEEE Haptics Symposia.

*Contact*

Human-Robot Interaction Research Center

Director : Dong Soo Kwon

secretary: Eun-Hwa Kwak  , (Tel) 8249