FULL TITLE:
Movement, Touch and Affective Technology: Opportunities in Physical Rehabilitation
ABSTRACT:
Physical rehabilitation is one of the most pressing global health needs, with disorders that affect engagement in everyday physical activities being one of the biggest burden worldwide. The analysis and modelling of human movement and touch behaviour can provide opportunities to not only gain insights into the impact of these conditions on daily living, but also enable the development of affective technology to support and facilitate physical rehabilitation. In this talk, I will present the lesson learnt from two case studies: chronic pain self-directed rehabilitation and occupational therapists training. I will first discuss how sensing body movement and touch can provide insights into the affective dynamics that take place during such activities and the barriers to overcome. I will also discuss how body sensing technology can be leveraged to support people by exploiting embodied bottom-up mechanisms that enhance the perception of one’s body and its capabilities.
BIOGRAPHY:
Nadia Berthouze is a Full Professor in Affective Computing and Interaction at the University College London Interaction Centre (UCLIC). Her research focuses on designing technology that can sense the affective state of its users and use that information to tailor the interaction process. She has pioneered the field of Affective Computing by investigating how body movement and touch behaviour can be used as means to recognize and measure the quality of the user experience. Her work has been motivated by real-world applications such as physical rehabilitation (EPSRC Emo&Pain, H2020 EnTiMeMent), textile design (EPSRC Digital Sensoria, EPSRC Textile Circularity Centre), education (H2020 WeDraw) and wellbeing (EPSRC Intelligent Embodied Interaction; H2020 Human Manufacturing, EPSRC Embodied Intelligence). She has published more than 300 papers in Affective Computing, HCI, and Pattern Recognition.