Profile

My work involves researching ways in which the Web, mobile apps, and robots can better support human activities.  This involves programming new types of apps that can understand human intentions and preferences. It also involves looking at ways in which we can help people or robots work in teams. For example, my colleagues and I developed an app for Fantasy Football that could help a user get the best players for his or her fantasy team every week. We’ve also developed apps that would help create teams of flying robots that work together in to take pictures of a large area. Lately, we’ve also worked on apps to help users save energy. This meant developing new ways of presenting the information to users to help them understand how they consume energy and then to understand that they use a lot of energy when they play 3D games on their console or use the oven or dishwasher. I do most of this work as part of a big project called the ORCHID project (www.orchid.ac.uk).

I don’t work on my own – I really enjoy working in teams. My day starts with reading the tons of emails I get from my students and colleagues. I then plan the work for the day. I do a number of meetings with people in the lab and then do some work on my own such as programming some new algorithms or writing a paper for a major scientific conference. It gets crazy at times – too many meetings! I try to make them more fun by having coffee with my those I’m meeting with, buy some cookies to share with them, and discuss other things apart from work… all these really help create a very friendly environment.

There are a number of researchers and admin staff on my floor I regularly have coffee breaks with. I have a good coffee machine in my office which I use to make coffee for all of them when they are around early morning. In the afternoon, I’ll usually try to leave early to avoid too many interruptions and continue working from home.

On the days I have to give lectures, I’ll have prepared the slides a few days before and try to polish them up a few hours before the lecture. I try to make my lectures very engaging by getting the students to do some exercises in class.

The money will be spent towards designing a game that will help teach players of all ages the physics behind heating a home. Many people do not understand what it means to set their thermostat set point – some assume that setting it to a high value will mean that the home will heat up faster (which is not true!). The game will allow players to compete against each other and against an intelligent computer-based player. The game will thus also allow us to see how people learn to improve their understanding of home heating. The app will be co-funded by the ORCHID project which I’m part of.