Interacting with Human Physiology

这个国家的人们把越来越多的工作和休闲时间花在电脑前。“人机交互”一词指的是双向交流，每个参与者都知道对方并做出适当的反应。在现实中，计算机可能经常显得粗鲁、令人沮丧、漠不关心，而且通常令人不快。这在很大程度上可以归因于这样一个事实，即当前的计算机几乎完全不知道人类用户的实际状态。研究界提出了让计算机理解和回应用户感受的方法，结果喜忧参半。重点放在压力和挫折感上，这些感觉往往是由使用计算机本身产生的。然而，以前没有关于在计算机使用期间监视用户的实际健康的工作。在这个项目中，PI将在人机界面中结合生理监测，并借助作为计算机外围设备的热成像相机。通过面部图像的生物热模型，他们将监测一系列生命体征，包括血流和心跳。这些生理信息随后将被用来推断各种健康症状，可能包括压力、头痛和心跳不规律。该项目的成果将包括新颖/改进的面部跟踪和生物热建模算法，这些算法将允许非接触式和准确地测量生命体征，而不会限制用户；将能够以前所未有的连续基础研究压力、心跳异常和头痛等无处不在的疾病；并将成为创建新的人机交互范例的催化剂，这些范例将计算机作为用户感知和响应的合作伙伴(例如，计算机可以为用户的利益对生理数据做出实时反应)。更广泛的影响：在短期内，这个项目的结果将为那些试图在可用性以及情感和情感界面领域进行研究的人提供不那么麻烦的工具。从长远来看，它们将支持我们与机器互动方式的根本性改变。今天，软件设计师创造的系统，他们希望不会让用户感到沮丧。在未来，软件设计师将创造真正的协作交互，在这种交互中，人和机器都在观察和响应。这有可能极大地提高老年人、少数族裔、经济弱势群体和其他受“数字鸿沟”影响的人群系统的可用性。在临床方面，开发能够监测个人健康状况的系统将彻底改变远程监测和对焦虑、心跳异常和头痛等慢性疾病的护理。

People in this country spend increasing amounts of their work and leisure time in front of computers. The term "human computer interaction" suggests a two-way exchange, with each participant aware of the other and responding appropriately. In reality, computers may appear frequently rude, frustrating, indifferent, and generally unpleasant. Much of this can be attributed to the fact that current computers are almost completely unaware of the actual state of the human user. The research community has proposed methods for computers to understand and respond to the user's feelings with mixed results. Emphasis has been placed on stress and frustration, feelings often generated by the use of the computer itself. There is no previous work, however, with regard to monitoring the actual health of the user during computer use. In this project, the PIs will incorporate physiologic monitoring in the human-computer interface, with the help of a thermal imaging camera employed as a computer peripheral. Through bio-heat modeling of facial imagery, they will monitor a range of vital signs including blood flow and cardiac pulse. This physiological information will then be used to draw inferences about a variety of health symptoms, possibly including stress, headaches, and heartbeat irregularities. Outcomes of the project will include novel/improved facial tracking and bio-heat modeling algorithms that: will allow contact-free and accurate measurement of vital signs without restricting the user; will enable the study of ubiquitous ailments like stress, heartbeat irregularities, and headaches on an unprecedented continuous basis; and will serve as a catalyst for the creation of new HCI paradigms that incorporate the computer as an aware and responsive partner with the user (e.g., in which the computer can react in real time to physiologic data for the benefit of the user). Broader Impacts: In the short term, the results of this project will provide less cumbersome tools for those attempting to conduct research in the areas of usability and of emotional and affective interfaces. In the longer term, they will support a fundamental change in the way that we interact with machines. Today, software designers create systems that they hope will not frustrate the users. In the future, software designers will create truly collaborative interactions in which human and machines are both observing and responding. This has the potential to greatly improve the usability of systems for the elderly, minorities, the economically disadvantaged, and other populations impacted by the "digital divide." On the clinical front, developing systems that can monitor the health status of an individual will revolutionize remote monitoring and the care of chronic conditions such as anxiety, heartbeat irregularities, and headaches.