Title: Designing virtual assistants to scaffold and help us in everyday life.   

Abstract: During the last few years we have witnessed the rise of virtual assistants entering the family home. Sometimes treated as a friend, othertimes a pet or even a confident, they are taking their place in family everyday life, helping establish new routines while being consulted to solve disputes. Our research has also shown how they can play a role in social bonding and emotional cohesion. The next generation of virtual assistants and domestic robots, that are being trained to become more intelligent and conversational, will open even more doors for what they can and will do.  In my talk, I will describe the research we are doing, investigating (i) how they can help children find their voice and (ii) groups to collaborate when making sense of data. 

Bio: Yvonne Rogers is a Professor of Interaction Design, the director of UCLIC and a deputy head of the Computer Science department at UCL. She will also start as an Excellence Chair from January 2020 at the University of Bremen. Her research interests are in the areas of ubiquitous computing, interaction design and human-computer interaction. A central theme of her work is how to design interactive technologies that can enhance life by augmenting and extending everyday, learning and work activities. This involves informing, building and evaluating novel user experiences through designing, implementing and deploying a diversity of technologies. A current focus of her research is on human-centred data and people in the Internet of Things in urban settings. She is also researching what human-centred AI means in practice.