University of Stuttgart

The University of Stuttgart (USTUTT) is situated in the middle of a highly dynamic economic region with a worldwide reputation for excellence in the fields of mobile and information technology, production, process engineering as well as in life sciences. The Institute for Visualization and Interactive Systems within the University of Stuttgart is internationally renowned for its excellence in research and development in the areas of computer graphics, visualization, and interactive systems.

Role in the project: The University of Stuttgart will be working on the concept, design, and implementation of hardware and software that will enable an easy creation of smart objects. An embedded modular hardware platform that provides sensing, actuation, processing, media capture and presentation, as well as wireless communication will be created to suit the needs of museums and curators. For this platform a runtime software system that provides means for customization and programming of smart objects will be implemented. Additionally the University of Stuttgart will work on development tools which will offer curators means to create interactive and context- aware exhibits. The focus is on the creation of a comprehensive solution for smart interactive and context-aware object with particular application in museums.

People involved:

Prof Dr Albrecht Schmidt holds a chair for Human Computer Interaction at the University of Stuttgart. He is a well know expert in human computer interaction and has made significant contributions to the field of ubiquitous computing. Albrecht is on the editorial board of IEEE Computer and of the IEEE Pervasive Magazine. He has created novel interactive artifacts and sensor platforms, comprising of hardware, software and development tools. He has extensively published in highly regarded venues in Human Computer Interaction and Ubiquitous Computing and his work is widely cited.
Thomas Kubitza is a researcher at the University of Stuttgart. He completed his MSc in Summer 2012 in System Engineering/Computer Science. His MSc thesis was in the context of the European project pd-net, where he spend 6 months in Lancaster to work on the system architecture and the implementation of public display networks. He has published in the domain of interaction with public display networks and has created and demonstrated interactive objects. Thomas Kubitz is working towards a PhD in computer science.
Norman Pohl is a PhD candidate of the “Promotionskolleg Digital Media” (a cooperation between the University of Stuttgart and the Stuttgart Media University). As part of the Human-Computer-Interaction group at the University of Stuttgart he is doing research with the focus on wearable devices. Additionally he is giving lectures on game development at the Stuttgart Media University.