Department of Computer Science & Engineering | IIT Guwahati
ucclabiitg@gmail.com

Vision & Mission

Our guiding philosophy and research approach

Vision

Recent years have seen remarkable advancements in computing technologies, both in hardware and software. Majority of these are consumer-facing, targeted to be used by the masses, in different contexts and applications. From single-user world-fixed computing systems (workstations & desktops), we have come a long way to the modern era, dominated by “smart” wearable & connected devices, serving varied purposes. The advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has accelerated the trend further.

In a sense, the most important stakeholder in this endeavor to transition from the “smart” to a “smarter” system are the end-users, or “users” in short. While building systems for the users, how can we ensure that the user gets what s/he needs? In other words, how we can ensure that the goals and expectations of the users of a computing system are met?

One way to ensure that is to follow the three stages: collect, study and analyze user behavior data, data-driven development of computational user models and integration of such models in the computing systems. This is the “user-centric computing” (UCC) approach. We envision undertaking all such activities pertaining to UCC with the aim to address major societal challenges through the development of appropriate user-centric computational systems.

Major Research Focus

  • Extended reality (virtual, augmented & mixed reality)
  • E-Learning interfaces and interaction
  • Natural user interactions
  • GenAI in human-computer interfaces
  • Real-time situational awareness from multi-sensory data streams
  • Affective & ubiquitous systems
  • Mobile & wearable systems & interactions
  • ICT applications in education, agriculture, & healthcare