Prof. Dr. Jochen Huber

Brief Bio

Dr. Jochen Huber is Professor of Computer Science at Furtwangen University. Previously, he was a Senior User Experience Researcher at Synaptics and an SUTD-MIT postdoctoral fellow in the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT Media Lab and the Augmented Human Lab at Singapore University of Technology and Design. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and degrees in both Mathematics (Dipl.-Math.) and Computer Science (Dipl.-Inform.), all from Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany.

Before joining MIT and SUTD, Jochen was head of the Tangible Interaction group at the Telecooperation Lab at Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany (2012-2013). At the same time, he held regular positions as an adjunct lecturer in Interaction Design at the Institute for Media Design, University of Applied Sciences Mainz, Germany, since 2009. He was a visiting scholar at FXPAL (2011) and a research assistant at the European Media Lab (2006-2008).

Research Interests

My research investigates technology that empowers people who find themselves at the edge of sensorial capability. I design, implement and study novel human-machine-interfaces that provide enhanced interactive and perceptive capabilities. Such augmenting technology can for instance assist a worker in a smart factory to perceive and understand its "invisible" AI processes. Yet, my approach goes beyond developing custom solutions that live in silos—the novelty lies in putting sensorial ability and disability on a continuum of usability for certain technology, rather than treat one or the other extreme as the focus. To give an example from a different application domain: a reading aid for the visually impaired can also double as a literacy development tool in early childhood education.

I call this research thrust "Assistive Augmentation", an emerging subfield of computer science at the intersection of human-computer interaction and assistive technology. My work caters to the needs of our ongoing digital transformation with applications in mobile, healthcare, human-centered AI and automotive. It addresses high-impact societal problems like accessibility, sustainability and interoperability of human-machine interfaces.