The human-computer interaction group explores novel approaches to simplify the interaction between humans and computers. We focus on mobile, wearable, and ubiquitous computing systems. At the moment we explore the following subjects in particular:

Nowadays the most feedback is mostly represented throughout visual and auditory stimuli. These stimuli need to be perceived and understood. Further, the user needs to react to them appropriately. In contrast, implicit feedback provides the opportunity to skip these steps and let the user perform the specific task automatically. A key technology in that area is electronic muscle stimulation (EMS). EMS can be used to let the user do specific movements.

Max Pfeiffer, Tim Dünte, Stefan Schneegass, Florian Alt, and Michael Rohs. 2015. Cruise Control for Pedestrians: Controlling Walking Direction using Electrical Muscle Stimulation. In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '15). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2505-2514. DOI: doi.org/10.1145/2702123.2702190

Mariam Hassib, Max Pfeiffer, Stefan Schneegass, Michael Rohs, and Florian Alt. 2017. Emotion Actuator: Embodied Emotional Feedback through Electroencephalography and Electrical Muscle Stimulation. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '17). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 6133-6146. DOI: doi.org/10.1145/3025453.3025953

Today's systems increase security through more complex passwords and PINs. Further, the number of passwords per user is increasing. As a result, users can not remember their password and use similar passwords for different systems or write them down. In the field of usable security, we explore novel identification and authentication methods. These methods do not require the user to remember a complex password. For example, these methods use properties of the user or the user's behavior for recognizing them.

Stefan Schneegass, Youssef Oualil, and Andreas Bulling. 2016. SkullConduct: Biometric User Identification on Eyewear Computers Using Bone Conduction Through the Skull. In Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '16). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1379-1384. DOI: doi.org/10.1145/2858036.2858152

Yomna Abdelrahman, Mohamed Khamis, Stefan Schneegass, and Florian Alt. 2017. Stay Cool! Understanding Thermal Attacks on Mobile-based User Authentication. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '17). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 3751-3763. DOI: doi.org/10.1145/3025453.3025461

Smart Clothing enables ubiquitous measurement of physiological and physical properties of the user. In contrast to other wearable computers, smart clothing allows to attach sensors and actuators to the user's body in a comfortable way.

Schneegass, Stefan, Amft, Oliver (Eds.). Smart Textiles: Fundamentals, Design, and Interaction. 2017. Springer International Publishing. DOI: doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50124-6

Virtual and augmented realities transform more and more from a niche product to a promising solution in entertainment, education, and communication. The technical requirements develop at a fast pace. However, through the rapid development, some important aspects still remain unaddressed. Controlling the immersion or the integration of haptic feedback are only two challenges in that area we are addressing.

Various sensors can be used as an input modality for the interaction with ubiquitous systems. Among others, we investigate thermal cameras and brain-computer interfaces. Both technologies allow the measurement of features that can be used to realize novel ways of interacting with the environment.

Alireza Sahami Shirazi, Yomna Abdelrahman, Niels Henze, Stefan Schneegass, Mohammadreza Khalilbeigi, and Albrecht Schmidt. 2014. Exploiting thermal reflection for interactive systems. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '14). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 3483-3492. DOI=http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557208

Jonna R. Häkkilä, Maaret Posti, Stefan Schneegass, Florian Alt, Kunter Gultekin, and Albrecht Schmidt. 2014. Let me catch this!: experiencing interactive 3D cinema through collecting content with a mobile phone. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '14). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1011-1020. DOI=http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557187