Science Café Rotterdam: Expanding Human Capacities with (Wearable) AI

Evolution has always been the main driving force behind slow but steady change for the human brain and body. However, living in the Information era, our perceptual and cognitive capacities cannot simply rely on natural evolution to keep up with the immense advancements in emerging technologies.

On one hand, technologies we use daily (PCs, smartphones, wearables, etc.) remain largely uninformed about our perceptual levels, cognitive states and physical needs, thus forming an “awareness gap” between the human (user) and the machine (system). On the other hand, the same technologies, if properly actuated, can be prominent drivers for human augmentation: improved capture and sensing (e.g., cameras and sensors), in-situ information presentation (e.g., Extended Reality), and modalities for implicit input and adaptive control (e.g., eye-tracking, electromyography, and electroencephalography).

The impact of human augmentation can be substantial, multifaceted, and scalable, benefiting the able-bodied and the impaired, the layman and the expert, the institutional and the commercial, the individual and the masses. This talk will focus on research conducted at the crossroads of Human-Computer Interaction, Ubiquitous Computing, AI, Cognitive Psychology, and Neuroscience with the aim to expand human capacities beyond the humanly possible.