Applied Mathematics in Human-Computer Interaction

The last two decades have led to a massive growth in the design space of interaction techniques, e.g., by smartphones and virtual reality headsets. Moreover, user groups become more diverse as digital skill requirements are increasingly permeating all areas of life. However, the current design process for new interaction techniques still relies on extensive usability testing, a process that simply does not scale. A solution that does scale is to augment the tried-and-tested user-centred design process with models of the entire human-computer interaction loop. This allows for simulation and optimisation, augmented by artificial intelligence/machine learning when needed.

This talk touches on the development, usage, control, and optimisation of these models in the context of Acoustic Levitation and Biomechanical User Simulation using Model Predictive Control, Path Following techniques, and Reinforcement Learning, all while keeping the domain-specific difficulties – we are trying to model human behavior after all – in mind.

Dr. Arthur Fleig, junior research group leader at ScaDS.AI Leipzig with expertise in Model Predictive Control and Mathematics. He applies mathematics to HCI, integrates machine- and human-centred perspectives, combining user-centred design with simulation and optimization in modelling interactions with intelligent systems.