Students present human-computer interaction projects

Intelligent energy saving, skin cancer detection via app, or the simulation of a Mars rover - design and software prototypes on these and many other exciting topics were presented by students at the last "HCI Day".

The "HCI Day" is a joint final event of several courses related to human-computer interaction (HCI) in computer science, initiated by Prof. Dr. Daniel Buschek, Professor for Mobile Intelligent User Interfaces. The basis of all the courses involved are group projects that were developed as practicals or during lectures over the course of the semester. These are presented by the students in the style of a mini-conference. The concept of a "poster session" at conferences in the HCI department serves as a concrete model for the process.

At the beginning, the students present their projects in one-minute pitches to give an overview of the topics dealt with and to arouse the interest of the visitors. Afterwards, the groups present their projects at poster stands in conversation, similar to a trade fair. In addition to the poster itself, this also includes interactive demos, e.g. smartphone apps to try out. At the end, the course participants and external guests can vote anonymously for their favourite project for a "Poster Award".

The first edition of the event took place at the end of the winter semester 2019/20. Due to Corona, the "HCI Day" had to move into virtual space a few times, using the software gather.town - e.g. for the projects from the IUI lecture 2021.

Last summer as well as in the current winter semester, the course was again held in presence and as a combination of several courses: These included the two lectures "Intelligent User Interfaces" and "User-Centred Design", as well as the three projects "Creating Intelligent Interactive Systems", "Deep Reinforcement Learning in and around HCI" and "Physics Simulations and HCI".

Among other things, smartphone apps and concepts on 3D printing, health, nutrition, energy saving and shopping, as well as simulations of a bowling alley and a Mars vehicle were shown at the event on 15 February 2023. The students also dealt with theoretical problems that arise when simulating human movements using artificial intelligence.

For some projects, HCI Day is just the beginning: last year, the app "Summary Lens" by computer science student Karim Benharrak - enhanced with feedback from the event and a user study - made it to the international conference "Intelligent User Interfaces" of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) as a poster publication. The app allows users to scan documents with their smartphones in order to automatically summarise them and have them read aloud.

The "HCI Day" is scheduled to take place every semester towards the end of the lecture period and will be advertised in advance online and on notice boards. Students and staff from all disciplines are cordially invited to attend!