Exertion Games Lab

We are in Cosmos Magazine with a story about Neo-Noumena called “Seeing Emotions“.

We will present the following at CHI 2023:

• Semertzidis, N., Hiung, A. L. P., Vranic-Peters, M. J., Mueller, F. Dozer: Towards understanding the design of closed-loop wearables for sleep. CHI 2023. Long paper. ACM. Online presentation. Video. Talk video.
• Buruk, O. O., Matjeka, L. P., Mueller, F. Towards Designing Playful Bodily Extensions: Learning from Expert Interviews. CHI 2023. Long paper. ACM. Online presentation. Talk video.
• Montoya, M. F., Ji, Y., Pell, S. J., Mueller, F. Demonstrating Fluito: A playful floatation tank experience. CHI 2023. Interactivity. ACM. Preview video.
• Li, Z., Huang, T., Patibanda, R., Mueller, F. AI in the Shell: Towards an Understanding of Integrated Embodiment. CHI 2023. Work in Progress. ACM. Online presentation.

2 new TOCHI articles:

• Li, Z., Wang, Y., Andres, J., Semertzidis, N., Greuter, S., & Mueller, F. (2023). A Design Framework for Ingestible Play. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI). 2023. 1-39. ACM.
• Mueller, F., Semertzidis, N., Andres, J., Marshall, J., Benford, S., Li, X., Matjeka, L., Mehta, Y. Towards Understanding the Design of Intertwined Human-computer Integrations. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interactions (TOCHI). 2023. 1-38. ACM.

Floyd has been ranked in the top 100 in HCI and therefore received an “AI 2000 Most Influential Scholar Honorable Mention“ by the automatic AMiner based on data from 2013 to 2022.

Yan received the MTI “Best PhD Thesis Award” for “a highly anticipated thesis with great academic potential”. Editor-in-Chief Prof. Dr. Mark Billinghurst of “Multimodal Technologies and Interaction (MTI)” awarded the prize that includes CHF 500. Congratulations Yan!

Wang, Y. Understanding the Design of Playful Gustosonic experiences. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis/dissertation. Monash University. 2021

Floyd has been inducted into the CHI Academy: https://sigchi.org/sigchi-awards-2023/

The list of awardees over the years is here.

Wikipedia says: “The CHI Academy is a group of researchers honored by SIGCHI, the Special Interest Group in Computer–Human Interaction of the Association for Computing Machinery. Each year, 5–8 new members are elected for having made a significant, cumulative contributions to the development of the field of human–computer interaction and have influenced the research of others.”

Yan Wang has officially graduated! Yan’s PhD thesis Understanding the Design of Playful Gustosonic experiences is now online in the Monash repository, congratulations Yan!

Wang, Y. Understanding the Design of Playful Gustosonic experiences. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis/dissertation. Monash University. 2021

Our Foundations and Trends article on “Human-Computer Integration” is published:

Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller, Nathan Semertzidis, Josh Andres, Martin Weigel, Suranga Nanayakkara, Rakesh Patibanda, Zhuying Li, Paul Strohmeier, Jarrod Knibbe, Stefan Greuter, Marianna Obrist, Pattie Maes, Dakuo Wang, Katrin Wolf, Liz Gerber, Joe Marshall, Kai Kunze, Jonathan Grudin, Harald Reiterer and Richard Byrne (2022), “Human–Computer Integration: Towards Integrating the Human Body with the Computational Machine“, Foundations and Trends in Human-Computer Interaction: Vol. 16: No. 1, pp 1-64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/1100000086

We will present the following works at CHI PLAY 2022 in Bremen, Germany:

Nisal, S., Patibanda, R., Saini, A., van den Hoven, E., Mueller, F. TouchMate: Understanding the Design of Body Actuating Games using Physical Touch. CHI PLAY 2022. Work-in-Progress. ACM. Talk video.

Montoya, M., Patibanda, R., Clashing, R., Pell, S., Mueller, F. Towards an Initial Understanding of the Design of Playful Water Experiences Through Flotation. CHI PLAY 2022. Work-in-Progess. ACM. Talk video.

Patibanda, R., van den Hoven, E., Mueller, F. Towards Understanding the Design of Body-Actuated Play. CHI PLAY 2022. Doctoral Consortium. ACM.

PhD opening on interactive food (HCI, Interaction Design)
in the Exertion Games Lab, Melbourne, Australia

The Exertion Games Lab (exertiongameslab.org) in Melbourne, Australia, is seeking an exceptional PhD candidate to research novel interfaces around interactive food.

The Exertion Games Lab is looking for candidates who value an interdisciplinary design studio environment. You will be highly motivated, willing to learn a variety of skills, extremely creative as well as technical, and also have highly developed analytical and communicative skills. Prior research experience (publications, etc.) is desirable and so are hardware prototyping abilities (Arduino, etc.) and programming skills. We are looking at potential for creativity, excellence and drive.

* Interactive eating: This project explores the role of technology in facilitating playful eating experiences, developing a novel understanding of how interactive technology can – and should – be designed to enrich eating experiences. Working with the hospitality industry, the candidate will engage with prototyping equipment (laser-cutters, carvers, 3D food printers, …) around food to invent a series of future playful eating experiences and study the associated user experiences. The result will be generative research as well as a thesis in the field of interaction design, contributing to our understanding of experiencing the human body as play.

Entry requirements for PhD candidates:

You will need to have a four-year degree that includes a thesis or a three-year Bachelor and a Master’s degree by research, for exact details see the link below. Typical backgrounds are interaction design, human-computer interaction, game design, computer science, industrial design, electrical engineering, human movement/performance, sports science, performing and media arts but we are curious to hear what you can contribute.

All positions are full-time, 3 years, available to all nationalities, onsite, and by thesis, i.e. conclude with a thesis in the field of interaction design/HCI supervised by CHI 2024 general co-chair Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller.

Scholarships are available according to the standard Australian Postgraduate Award rate of approx. AUD 28,000 per year. The Exertion Games Lab hosts weekly presentation, writing and reading group activities to support the candidate. We are also offering a large space to research, including a dedicated kitchen research lab, and an open plan lab environment.

Applicants will first email an expression of interest, then apply to the general university admissions office.

The Exertion Games Lab researches the future of interfaces for playful experiences. Our research is focused on the merging of play, technology and the active human body, drawing from research streams such as interaction design, human-computer interaction and computer games research. We publish mostly at CHI, CHI PLAY, DIS, TEI, Ubicomp (IMWUT), and UIST.

The culture in the Exertion Games Lab is one of interdisciplinary work. At the Exertion Games Lab, we do not just philosophize and write about the future, we actively invent it. We emphasize the development of working prototypes in order to fully understand what play is, why we play, and how we will play in the future. We do this because we believe playing is a fundamental part of what makes us humans who we are, and an understanding of this brings us closer to our vision of a better world filled with interactive technologies that support human values.

You might find it useful to read about the lab’s vision: Mueller, F., Byrne, R., Andres, J., Patibanda, R. Experiencing the Body as Play. Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI’18). ACM. Talk video. Best Paper Award (top 1%).

PhD entry requirements: https://www.monash.edu/graduate-research/faqs-and-resources/content/chapter-two/2-1
PhD information: https://www.monash.edu/it/our-research/graduate-research/how-to-apply
The Human-Centred Computing department at Monash (which was in the top 20 institutions at CHI’19, CHI’20, CHI’21 and CHI’22): https://www.monash.edu/it/our-research/strengths/chic

Please submit your expression of interest, including CV and portfolio website if available by email to info at exertiongameslab dot org, with subject line “APPLICATION”.

We are looking forward to reading your applications!

Thanks,
The Exertion Games Lab
http://exertiongameslab.org

We will present the following at UIST 2022:

Saini, A., Huang, H., Patibanda, R., Overdest, N., van den Hoven, E., Mueller, F. SomaFlatables: Supporting Embodied Cognition through Pneumatic Bladders. UIST 2022. Work-in-Progress. ACM.

We are co-organizing a Dagstuhl Seminar on SportsHCI with Carine Lallemand (TU Eindhoven, NL),
Dennis Reidsma (University of Twente – Enschede, NL), and Elise van den Hoven (University of Technology – Sydney, AU) from July 16-21, 2023.

Our book chapter Interactive Technology Integrating with the Physically Active Human Body: Learnings from Rider and Ebike Integration in the edited volume Interactive Sports Technologies by publisher Routledge is now out:

Andres, J., Mueller, F. Interactive Technology Integrating with the Physically Active Human Body: Learnings from Rider and Ebike Integration. Book chapter in: Interactive Sports Technologies. Tzankova, V., Filimowicz, M. (eds). Routledge, 2022, 14-26.

Nathan has received his PhD, entitled “Brain-Computer Integration”, and is therefore now Dr. Semertzidis, congratulations!

Semertzidis, N. Brain-Computer Integration. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis/dissertation. Monash University. 2022

We are co-organizing a Dagstuhl Seminar on Designing the Human-Computer Symbiosis with Ellen Yi-Luen Do (University of Colorado – Boulder, US),
Kristina Höök (KTH Royal Institute of Technology – Stockholm, SE), and Pattie Maes (MIT Media Lab – Cambridge, USA) from May 21-26, 2023.

Yan will be presenting our IMWUT article on the design of an interactive straw for playful drinking experiences called “SonicStraws” at Ubicomp’22 on 11 Sep 2022:

Wang, Y., Li, Z., Khot, R., Mueller, F. Toward Understanding Playful Beverage-based Gustosonic Experiences. Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies (PACM IMWUT/Ubicomp). Volume 6. Issue 1. March 2022. Article No.: 33. pp 1–23. ACM. Video.

Our TOCHI article is published. TOCHI is the ACM Transactions of Computer-Human Interaction journal, and considered an A* publication venue in HCI.

Andres, J., Semertzidis, N., Li, Z., Wang, Y., Mueller, F. Integrated Exertion – Understanding the Design of Human–Computer Integration in an Exertion Context. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interactions, March 2022. 1-30. ACM.

We have the following presentations at DIS’22 (The ACM SIGCHI Conference on Designing Interactive Systems):

Clashing, C., Smith, I., Montoya, M., Patibanda, R., Ananthanarayan, S., Pell, S., Mueller, F. Going into Depth: Learning from a Survey of Interactive Designs for Aquatic Recreation. DIS 2022. Long paper. ACM. Preview video. Video.

Greuter, S., Mueller, F., Hoang, T. Designing Public VR Installations. DIS 2022. Long paper. ACM. Preview video. Video.

Hakan Yılmazer (with primary supervisor Aykut Coşkun) will also participate in the Doctoral Consortium:

Yilmazer, H., Mueller, F., Coskun, A. Designing for Bouldering: Supporting Kinesthetic Learning of Action Sport Enthusiasts. DIS 2022. Doctoral Consortium. ACM.

We are thrilled that the “Machine In The Middle” case study with Rod Dickinson, University of the West of England, received an “Honorable Case Study Recognition” from CHI’22!

Dickinson, R., Semertzidis, N., Mueller, F. Machine In The Middle: Exploring Dark Patterns of Emotional Human-Computer Integration Through Media Art. CHI 2022. Case Study. ACM. Video. Talk video.

“Jogging at CHI” is running hybrid this year: we invite you to our joint remote and local run on Thursday, 7th May, 7am (New Orleans time (CDT)) – 2pm (Central Europe (CEST)) – 10pm (Australia (AET)). You jog (cycle, row, …) wherever you are (if you are in New Orleans, we physically meet at the “start” of the convention center up towards Canal street), we’ll go for about 30-45min, all levels catered for, and we’ll chat together about SportsHCI (all while jogging!) anywhere on earth via Discord: https://discord.gg/qJr7pyjm

Everyone welcome to join!