Last Fridays Talks: Extended Reality

Last Fridays Talks 

Each last-Friday-of-the-month, we are hosting the Last Fridays Talks, where one of our seven Collaboratories will present insights from their current work. Join us for a discussion on results and recent papers, followed by some socializing afterwards for everyone who wish to attend. 

Talk 1

Towards a (data) science of Extended Reality 

Abstract

Recent years have shown an increasing number of research papers investigating experiential qualities of extended reality (e.g., presence, embodiment) and their scientific implications (e.g., in learning, psychiatry, or gaming). Despite (or perhaps because of) the increased interest in XR research, the scientific rigor of studies being conducted seldom live up to modern standards of empirical research.

In this talk, I present work by myself and colleagues, that investigates the science of XR research. Using methods from experimental psychology and data science, we report on empirical practices, experimental pitfalls, questionable research paradigms, and opportunities for conducting better research; ultimately towards improving the empirical science of XR.

Bio

Aske Mottelson is an Associate Professor at IT University of Copenhagen. Mottelson is a computer scientist, with research interests in human-computer interaction, psychology, and data science. His research is about understanding user behavior of computer systems, and what this can tell us about humans more broadly. 

Mottelson’s work entails designing and conducting experiments with human participants, and modeling the interaction using statistical and machine learning techniques. He is studying, and ultimately aiming at improving, how to conduct empirical research in computer science. He is utilizing a range of technologies such as extended reality, mobile interfaces, and crowdsourcing to evaluate, understand, and improve interactions between humans and computers. Mottelson considers himself a fan of open science and reproducibility.

Talk 2

Eye-Hand Symbiosis

Abstract

Extended Reality (XR) is advancing at an incredible pace, yet despite these breakthroughs, it’s yet surprisingly hard to use. Enter eye-hand interfaces—like “gaze and pinch”—a revolutionary way to control digital environments with precision and ease. This new paradigm offers a more intuitive, efficient means of navigating XR. Major tech players like Meta and Apple are starting to adopt these interfaces, which represents the beginning of a paradigm shift of digital control with our eyes. In this talk, I describe the evolution and the scientific foundations of this paradigm, and zoom out into the future i.e. how it can reshape our connection to digital information at large.

Bio

Ken Pfeuffer is an Assistant Professor at Aarhus University, specializing in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) with a focus on augmented reality (AR) and eye-tracking to explore the future of input. He earned his PhD from Lancaster University and completed postdoctoral research at Bundeswehr University, with internships at Microsoft and Google Research. Ken’s work, recognized with honorable mention awards at top venues like UIST, SUI, and CHI, is renowned for advancing the foundations of spatial interfaces.

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