iLab

iLab is STRATUS interaction laboratory for evaluation and design

iLab is the revamped version of our well established usability laboratory. The primary goal for the refurbishing is to better suit studying group activities and update the recording capabilities. iLab is conveniently located within the Computer Science building in the heart of Aalto University’s  Otaniemi campus (Konemiehentie 2, FI-02150 Espoo).

With its modern display and interaction capabilities iLab can immerse its users with large and bright 57” displays for shared application, offer new interaction capabilities with SMART Board interactive whiteboard and 42” DiamondTouch multi-user touch table. Built in features include high definition recording and editing system to capture all relevant events, whether actions by its users or things taking place on the screens. Configurable four channel multiplexer lets you decide what to record and with what emphasis.

iLab has furnishings for both office and living room interiors, and can thus easily accommodate your stay, whether it is to innovate new product designs while reclining on a comfortable divan or execute a usability test in an office environment. The wall size one-way mirror allow even larger groups to observe the action taking place.

For reservations or more details please send your inquiries to ilab@soberit.hut.fi or contact Mika P. Nieminen.

Research and References

Shepherd – Multi-touch gaming

Shepherd was a student multimedia project by Niina Huttunen, Anniina Koskinen, Suvi Numminen and Ville Toivonen. It is a simple yet addictive game for four players where the goal is to herd all your sheep to their respective stall. The game is made with Flash and works on DiamondTouch multi-touch table.

The Shepherd game is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works.

UCD Holodeck

UCD Holodeck is a technology enhanced design space that enables the recreation of a specific context of use and thus provide the designers the opportunity to sample users’ experiences.
It leverages the available large displays and touch surfaces, and while providing the designers with rich access to both real and scripted/edited user content. As part of iLab Holodeck also records all the activities for later use or analysis.
The Holodeck concept was envisioned during fall 2009, and first tests of the Holodeck prototype were held in mid February 2010 in order to report the initial finding at the CHI workshop in April.  UCD Holodeck was presented as a position paper at  CHI2010 “Bridging the Gap: Moving from contextual analysis to design” workshop.  “UCD HoloDeck: Recreating Context and User Experience for Design and Evaluation” available at the workshop website: http://carmster.com/gap/uploads/Main/Nieminen.pdf. (If the link dies ask Mika P. Nieminen for a copy).