Affective Computing and Interaction

With significant support from EPSRC, UCL together with the University of Oxford and a cohort of academic, industrial and deployment partners are embarking on an ambitious five-year programme of work on Engineering, Exploring and Exploiting the Building Blocks of Embodied Intelligence. The overarching aim of this research programme is to deliver autonomous systems which amplify human capacity and potential. Currently, robots are too specialised, uncooperative and too unsafe to be productive at scale. To contribute to productivity in strategically important areas such as social care, manufacturing, logistics, service, inspection or ... Read more…

EnTimeMent (EU H2020 FET project, 2019 to 2022) aims to radically change scientific research and enabling technologies for qualitative analysis, entrainment, and prediction of human movement based on a novel neuro-cognitive approach of multiple, interactive timescales. This approach will afford the development of computational models for the automated detection, measurement, and prediction of movement qualities from behavioural signals based on multi-layer parallel processes at non-linearly stratified temporal dimensions. It will radically transform technology for human movement analysis. EnTimeMent's innovative scientifically-grounded and time-adaptive technologies operate at multiple time scales in a multi-layered approach. ... Read more…

Funded by Bentley Ltd, this project explore the concept of Comfort in cars and how to automatically detect its different facets. Read more…

The MagicOutFit project investigates the use of sensory feedback to alter the way people perceive their body in order to drive positive changes in emotional and physical health in populations with body concerns. The project investigates the most effect sensory feedback to address individual body concerns, such as concerns with body appearance (such as body size or shape) and of body capabilities (such as agility or strength). The potential benefits of the MagicOutFit technology will be evaluated in non-clinical and clinical populations with different body concerns, including professional dancers, physically ... Read more…

weDraw is a two-year EU H2020 funded research project to investigate and design different types of digital learning environments using a range of senses (such as sight, sound, touch and movement) to teach mathematical concepts to primary school children (aged 6-10 years). Technology will be used to explore arithmetical concepts through rhythm and music, and geometrical concepts through body movement and drawing. For example, digital devices which use resistance and force to create and explore edges and shapes through touch; or moving in space to create and manipulate sounds as ... Read more…

The purpose of the Human Manufacturing project is to create a healthy workplace to supports the workers' capabilities so to increase the competitiveness of the manufacturing firms through the creation of an optimal environment for human automation integration and cooperation. We are investigating the use of Thermal cameras among other sensors to capture workers's mental stress Read more…

We are standing at an exciting moment when advanced thermography technology has emerged, producing a new category of thermographic systems: mobile, low-cost thermal imaging system. Despite the relatively low quality of their thermal imaging outputs, this technology could help bridge the gap between the findings from highly constrained laboratory environments and real-world applications in the wild. Indeed, its portability (e.g. small size and low computational resource requirement) allows it to not only be easily attached to mobile phones but also be integrated into our clothes and accessories. Inspired by ... Read more…

One of the main challenges facing healthcare providers in the UK today (and in Europe) is the rising number of people with chronic health problems. Almost 1 in 7 UK citizens experiences chronic pain, some due to chronic diseases such as osteoarthritis, but much of it mechanical low back pain (LBP) with no treatable pathology. 40% of these people experience severe pain and are very restricted by it. The capacity of our current health care system is insufficient to treat all these patients face-to-face. Pain experience is affected by physical, psychological, and social ... Read more…

We are investigating the use of real-time sound-based feedback on one’s movement to alter body perception and increase people’s positivity towards their bodies, with the final aim of enhancing behavioral patterns, confidence and motivation for physical activity. MAGICSHOES is a highly interdisciplinary project and combines quantitative and qualitative methodologies from neuroscience research, human-computer interaction and real-life applications. (read more: http://magicshoes.es/ ) Read more…

It is a European project (FP7). It aims to understand laughter and its emotional facets with the aim to incorporate technology with the ability to express the different type of multimodal laughter and understand people's laughter meaning. Laughter is a significant feature of human communication. ILHAIRE objectives are to help the scientific and industrial community to bridge the gap between knowledge on human laughter and its use by avatars, thus enabling sociable conversational agents to be designed, using natural-looking and natural-sounding laughter. Read more…