Human Computer Interaction
Project 1:
CODY: Co-Design for You, to enhance the ability of persons with Parkinson’s Disease
This research designed, developed, and tested CODY (co–design for you),a haptic-enabled Virtual Reality (VR) tool and Application Programming Interface (API), which uses an immersive, interactive environment for using, experiencing, and co-designing home alterations. The ‘co-design’ nature of CODY denotes that persons with movement disorders (notably, Parkinson’s Disease, or PD) can virtually interact with and experience a home alteration/modification (HM) in a virtual, simulated environment; have multiple variations of a HM that the user can choose from; and is able to assess and manipulate the HM for appropriateness to one’s condition. The two aims of this research were: (1) To develop the haptic-enabled Virtual Reality-based CODY tool and corresponding API; and (2) To assess the efficacy of using CODY to aid and enhance the ability of persons with PD to experience and choose appropriate home modifications.
Research Support & Team:
US Veteran Affairs (VA)
PIs: Sherry Ahrentzen, Ravi Srinivasan, Shabboo Valipoor, Sriram Kalyanaraman, Michael Okun, Leo Almedia, Adolfo Zamora, Charles Levy, Sherrilene Classen
Students: Jithin Gopinadhan, Siddhesh Gupte, Farah Akiely, Xiaojie Lu, Mahshad Kazemzadeh, Sivani Korukonda, Julie Emminger, Luz Semeah, Eleyn Fangonilo
Project 2:
Human Building Interaction (HBI) Model: Use of CFD and Augmented Reality
The method I developed for realtime airflow simulations supported the Human-Building Interaction (HBI) model I co-developed with Dr. Ali Malkawi (Harvard GSD), where users can situate in an actual space, and with the aid of an Augmented Reality (AR) immersive head-mounted device, they can immediately explore and interact with data using speech and gesture recognitions.
Using this AR system, the designer or engineer can “move” through a three-dimensional real environment onto which the thermal and airflow behaviors are mapped from Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation, and add or modify elements of the simulated environment through computer generated virtual objects. For example, using this integrated tool, a building engineer might go “in” to a room using the wearable AR system and move the cooling vents from near the window to near the door, and the AR system will display to the engineer, the effect of that change on the room’s airflow and, thereby, the building energy use. With the help of my HBI model, architects and engineers can explore multiple design options and analyze their effects in realtime before fitting them in actual-space, saving time and money. The Automation in Construction journal published this groundbreaking development of my HBI model in an article titled, “A New Paradigm for Human-Building Interaction: The Use of CFD and Augmented Reality.”