HCI Group Showcases Research Initiatives for Local Conference Attendees  

Recently, the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research group of the School of Computing and Information Systems welcomed visitors from the 2025 Human-Robot Interaction Conference (HRI’25), showcasing their ongoing research initiatives and state-of-the-art lab facilities.

Figure 1:  A graduate researcher discussing his project with attendees.

The ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction took place in Melbourne March 4-6, 2025, with the HCI group’s Dr. Wafa Johal leading organisational efforts as co-general chair.  Other members of the FEIT community also served on the organisational committee, with Dr. Audrey Balaska, Dr. Jon Eden, and Sarah Schömbs acting as chairs.  The interdisciplinary conference welcomed hundreds of academics and industry professionals from around the globe to share contributions to the study of humans, robots, and artificial intelligence, and the varied ways in which they intersect. Multiple HCI graduate researchers served as student volunteers during the event, helping support the global academic community.

Figure 2:  Presenters speaking with attendees within the IxT lab.

Some attendees of the conference elected to spend the evening of March 6 at Level 5, Melbourne Connect as part of an organised visit to the HCI research group.  Over the course of two hours, 79 attendees interacted with over 15 HCI researchers, featuring eight demonstrations and six posters that highlighted the group’s wide breadth of human-computer interaction research.  Demonstrations highlighted a variety of technologies, including robots, hybridised games, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and smartphones, among others.  From Melbourne Connect, interested attendees were also escorted by Mechanical Engineering researchers to the Human-Robotics Laboratory, where they saw additional demonstrations and learned about the interdisciplinary research initiatives being completed through the collaborative efforts of both research teams.

Figure 3: Poster presentations taking place in Danda Gat Ith in Melbourne Connect.

Overall, it was an evening that promoted the high engagement of the University of Melbourne in the Human-Computer Interaction and Human-Robot Interaction fields, both through showcasing diverse research outputs and facilitating intentional promotion of the research teams and facilities.   New connections were made, fun conversations were had, and overall, the organisers describe it as a successful event!