Founding Director's Message

Dr. Hui Su
Hui Su, Founding Director

Advancements in cognitive computing, human-scale sensory research, and next-generation human-computer-interaction technology will enable a symbiotic relationship between groups of people and cognitive computers to augment group intelligence. The emerging paradigm of human-computer interaction will be a collaboration between humans and intelligent machines through a human-scale immersive experience. To conduct research in this field, we are tasked with answering some key questions: What current technological challenges must we address to enable this new paradigm? How will this paradigm engender new abilities in individuals and groups of people? And how can this paradigm transform society?

We introduce a vision for the future of cognitive and immersive “Situations Room,” an interactive and intelligent physical environment able to augment group intelligence for complex problem solving and decision making. It will enable a user experience that represents a new paradigm of human-computer interaction. That experience will be based on a rich and immersive conversation loop between groups of people and intelligent systems. The conversation loop revolves around 3 core areas of operation: sensation, cognition, and communication.

Room sensors function as “eyes and ears” to capture and recognize the content of group conversations. Cognitive computing functions as a “mind” to understand the context of group activity, deliver information analysis, validate hypothesis, and facilitate group decision making. Visual and audio systems then complete the conversation loop to join the group discussion and present multiple viewpoints through immersive narratives and effective data visualizations.

The future cognitive and immersive Situations Room is an integrated system that will augment group intelligence in business, government, and personal life. It creates opportunity for innovation in science and technology that will lead to a new era of computing, enterprise, and government that will enable humans and computers to collaborate in new ways and accomplish tasks that neither could accomplish on their own.

With 20 years research experience in Human Computer Interactions, Cloud Computing, and Cognitive Computing, I am excited to see the emergence of this new paradigm of Human-Computer Symbiosis. This is a unique opportunity for scientists and artists to collaborate, and to change the world.