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Human-Centered Technology (IHTE)

Current Projects

Illustration depicting a human and a robot engaging in eye contact, symbolizing human–robot interaction and human-centered AI research. IHTE specializes in human–technology interaction, AI design, social robotics in education, sustainable technology, and youth participation platforms.
Illustration by Matilda Kalving

To learn more about our current projects, read below. To explore our research approach and past work, please visit the respective sites.

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Explore Our Current Research Projects, Topics and Project Leaders:

MediaRoboLit65+ 2023–2027

MediaRoboLit 65+ focuses on the potential challenges of the present mediatized and digitalized information environment for citizens over 65 years of age, who may lack adequate media and robot literacies to support their lifelong learning, well-being, and participation in society. To use the increasing amount of information disseminated through media, citizens need media literacies: competencies in accessing, evaluating, and creating media messages across a variety of contexts.

In this project, robots are considered the next new media as they are becoming more popular as providers of information and services. The increasing use of robots requires citizens to have robot literacy, that is, competences to understand and interact with robots. IHTE studies older adults’ robot literacy, and how to enhance it with robot-assisted solutions. Developing  “Robotour for Seniors” co-learning model to enhance the seniors’ robot literacy. So far, we have studied the model in three care homes at Pirkanmaa, and in three locations in Sápmi.

Contact: Aino Ahtinen, aino.ahtinen@tuni.fi
Read more: MediRoboLit+65 – website

 

The logo of the Media Robo LIT65+ project, which explores social robotics, media literacy, and digital inclusion
Logo: Mixed Fleet research project will study how autonomous machines and human workers or manually operated machines are working together in the same work flow

Mixed Fleet 2023 - 2026

In the Mixed Fleet project IHTE focuses focuses on human-centered research and design to understand human behavior, experience, and roles in collaboration between manned and unmanned machines in various mixed fleet environments (e.g., indoor warehouse logistics, outdoor logistics).

Through participatory design, field studies, and knowledge from psychology, the research explores how people perceive these work environments and identifies the models necessary for seamless collaboration. It also examines natural communication and interaction methods between humans and machines.

Contact: Aino Ahtinen, aino.ahtinen@tuni.fi
Read more: www.fima.fi/mixedfleet

GameIN - Gamified and Digital Methods for Youth Participation 2024–2026

The GameIN Erasmus+ project that aims at mapping out digital and gamified participation methods and publishing the findings. It also pilots and refines the most promising methods with youth in different European countries in real-life situations. It visualizes and gathers the methods into an accessible online method bank service.

The project also disseminates the online method bank and encourages organizations and youth workers to use the tried and tested innovative participation methods.

 

Contact: Jari Varsaluoma, jari.varsaluoma@tuni.fi

 

An illustration depicting the GameIN project – Gamified and Digital Methods for Youth Participation, exploring interactive platforms for engaging young people in decision-making and community development.
A photo of the Pepper robot in Robostudio, where visitors can interact with Boston Dynamics' Spot and a variety of other advanced robots.

Robostudio

Robostudio is a multidisciplinary co-learning space to work with lovely social robots. It is dedicated for educational purposes and the activity is strongly connected to research as well. Social Robotics course runs in this space, as well as social robotics-related thesis projects. We have hundreds of visitors (school groups, research groups etc) every year. Robostudio collaborates tightly with Juniversity.

 

Contact: Aino Ahtinen, aino.ahtinen@tuni.fi
Read more: RoboStudio | Tampere universities
Social Media: Instagram Linkedin

INPERSO

The INPERSO project delivers inclusive, affordable, efficient, and sustainable renovation for residential and heritage buildings by addressing the entire building lifecycle from design to end-of-life.

IHTE focuses on the renovation context by evaluating smart technologies for user-friendliness, efficiency, and sustainability. End-users are involved in pre-, during-, and post-renovation stages through co-design. The aim is to foster the wider adoption of smart renovation solutions across Europe, guided by a human-centered approach.

 

Contact: Nur Samancioglu Patmore, nur.samancioglu( at )tuni.fi
Read more: inperso-project.eu

Logo of Inperso -project
An illustration from the INDUSTRYX project featuring industrial robots and human-machine collaboration in modern manufacturing environments

IndustryX 2022-2025

The Industry X project enables technology solution providers to establish the added value of digital edge and XR solutions. Through the development and demonstration of new services and technologies, the project aims to further enhance the competence of the metaverse ecosystem.

In particular, Industry X will tackle key barriers to adopting digital edge and XR technology in utilities, including edge computing, systems integration, and interoperability. The project focuses on strengthening Finnish companies and academia in becoming global leaders in edge-enabled research and technology within the industry 5G domain. This leadership will be realized on different fronts including academic research, product R&D, technology development and international collaboration including standardization.

Contact: Maria Hartikainen, maria.hartikainen@tuni.fi
Read more: industryx.dimecc.com

 

AI-DOC: Human-GenAI Collaboration in Creative Tasks 2024-2027

IHTE contributes to the  The Finnish Doctoral Program Network in Artificial Intelligence (AI-DOC), with a doctoral research project about Human-GenAI Collaboration in Creative Tasks: Creative Industry Perspective. Focusing on Human-AI collaboration in creative industries, and exploring how Generative AI (GenAI) influences creative tasks like design and writing.  The project is supervised by Kaisa Väänänen and Thomas Olsson, executed by Matilda Kalving.

 

Contact: Matilda Kalving, matilda.kalving@tuni.fi
Read more: fcai.fi/ai-doc/

 

IHTE and AI-DOC funding support research in Human-AI Collaboration, focusing on intelligent systems, co-creative processes, and responsible technology design
The Nordic Superblocks as Decarbonization Catalysts (NSDC)

Nordic Superblocks as Decarbonization Catalysts (NSDC) 2023–2025

The Nordic Superblock is a new planning, housing, and living concept which aims to provide affordable and sustainable living through a new scale of sharing and cooperation among residential buildings and blocks. The NSDC initiative, aims to develop and realize the vision for Nordic Superblocks through interdisciplinary cooperation. Three research groups from Tampere University represent expertise in urban planning, human-centered technology and project life-cycle. Six companies represent expertise in planning, construction, property management, energy systems, and citizen engagement

Key factors in the development of the Nordic Superblock concept include commitment to neighbourhood communality, and openness to utilising new technologies. The role of IHTE is in exploring digital and intelligent solutions for community building and sustainable living, e.g., designing methods of collecting residents’ and citizens’ feedback to Superblock developments, gathering understanding of people’s energy-efficient motivations, and developing a design framework for advancing advancing communality with intelligent technologies in Nordic Superblocks.

Contact: Jouko Makkonen
Read More: https://www.walcc.org/nsdc/

Research
Past Projects