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I/O Magazine > October 2020

How can we create intelligent support for online

collaborations? How can a sensor-based e-coach

prevent us from burning out? These are two examples

of questions that the young research group ‘human-

centred computing’ at Utrecht University tries to answer.

In June 2018, professor Judith Masthoff started a new research
group at Utrecht University: human-centred computing. The
core idea is that the success of computing does not just depend
on the technology itself, but also — and sometimes even more
so — on the interaction with the user.

The field of human-computer-interaction (HCI) was already
investigated in the 1960s by computer pioneers such as
Douglas Engelbart (inventor of the computer mouse) and
Joseph Licklider (pioneer of interactive computing). Masthoff’s
group exploits both the miniaturisation and increasing power
of computing hardware and recent advances in artificial intelli-
Judith Masthoff
gence to develop future HCI and human-centred artificial
intelligence (AI). ‘My dream is that computing truly improves
people’s wellbeing’, Masthoff says. ‘My research group is inter-
ested in both computing and humans. Our computing research
is always inspired by what people do, what they want, what is
good for them and what they think of the technology. How can
interactive computing and AI be used to persuade passengers
to spread more evenly over the day in public transport? How
can it help create more efficient teams in online collaborations?
How can autonomous systems explain their decisions? This
is the type of questions that we investigate.’

To study such questions, the researchers in Masthoff’s group
combine an interest in computer science, especially AI, with
an interest in social sciences, especially psychology.

Masthoff’s group had just set up two laboratories when the
corona crisis broke out. ‘One lab had just been commissioned,
but it was not yet at the proper location. We call that lab the
Ideation & Creation lab. Here people can be creative, generate
new ideas and immediately start prototyping them. It is
equipped with things like 3D-printers, soldering equipment,
sensors and other electronics. Another lab is a Reconfigurable
area for user studies. There we perform studies that involve
users. We can do things like eye-tracking, video-recording
user behaviour, and measuring how users feel. We also
have a Pepper-robot and some other, smaller robots to
study human-robot interaction.’

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