MRI: Development of an Interactive Immersive Environment that Senses and Responds to Humans

Howard University, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

This project seeks to create a prototype immersive human-in-the loop system for sensing and responding to human emotions and behaviors. It aims to develop a prototype system that utilizes human-body based measures like heart, skin temperature, and galvanic skin response aiming to understand how a person is feeling and behaving. Immersive environments are used in various settings including physical therapy for missing limbs, storytelling for children, and design of interactive building displays for architecture professionals. Affective computing researchers have utilized immersive worlds and physiological data to interpret, understand and respond to human emotion related to healthcare decision-making, teaching programming to kids, and hostile negotiation training. This effort utilizes mixed/virtual reality headsets, interactive computing displays, and audio systems with the specific aims of increasing understanding about gestures, words, facial expressions, and other behaviors involved in design-thinking when using an immersive environment, and improving undergraduate and graduate knowledge on use of an immersive human-in-the-loop system. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.