KashyapTodi
Research Scientist
Meta Reality Labs
Redmond, USA
Email : kashyap.todi@gmail.com
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Research Projects Dissertations Publications About Me
KashyapTodi Research Projects Dissertations Publications About Me

Hey there! I am a research scientist at Meta Reality Labs. My research work typically combines Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) with computational methods and Artificial Intelligence (AI). I often design, build, and study intelligent interactive systems, adaptive user interfaces, and mixed-initiative design tools. I really enjoy thinking about a wide range of HCI problems and solutions, and occasionally dive into projects in other diverse areas and topics.

Previously, I was a postdoctoral researcher (2018-2021) at the User Interfaces Group (led by Prof. Antti Oulasvirta) at Aalto University. I completed my PhD Degree in June 2018 from Hasselt University, Belgium. My primary PhD advisor was Prof. Kris Luyten. The title of my dissertation is "Improving and Facilitating the Placement of Interactive Elements on User Interfaces".

Previous Research Activities

I visited Aalto University, Helsinki, twice for summer internships at the User Interfaces Research Group, with Prof. Antti Oulasvirta. In 2015, during my first research stay, we worked on concepts of interactive sketching and design exploration for layouts, which led to 'Sketchplore'. During my second research stay (2016), we worked on the concept of familiarity for restructuring interface layouts, which resulted in our work on 'Familiarisation'.

During my Master studies, and for a short while after, I worked as a research assistant at the Media Computing Group (RWTH Aachen, Germany), on two different projects.

Projects

Adapting User Interfaces with Model-based Reinforcement Learning

Adapting an interface requires taking into account both the positive and negative effects that a change may have on the user. A carelessly picked adaptation may impose high costs to the user – for example, due to surprise or relearning effort – or "trap" the process to a suboptimal design immaturely. However, effects on users are hard to predict, as they depend on factors that are latent and evolve over the course of interaction. We propose a novel approach for adaptive user interfaces that yields a conservative adaptation policy: It finds beneficial changes when there are such and avoids changes when there are none. Our model-based reinforcement learning method plans sequences of adaptations and consults predictive HCI models to estimate their effects. We present empirical and simulation results from the case of adaptive menus, showing that the method compares favourably to both a non-adaptive and a greedy frequency-based policy. (read more)
GRIDS: Interactive Layout Design with Integer Programming

GRIDS presents a complete formulation of the grid layout problem for GUIs, encapsulating key objectives such as alignment between elements, rectangularity of the overall composition, and preferential placement of certain elements. A mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model can efficiently generate several solutions that guarantee layout qualities and are systematically diverse from each other. In addition to supporting exploration, it can auto-complete partial designs, and search within constrained design spaces. The mixed-initiative GRIDS design tool implements these features, and assists designers by generating real-time interface design suggestions. The full paper was presented at CHI 2020. (read more)
SAM: Self-Adapting Web Menus

SAM is a modular and extensible JavaScript framework for self-adapting menus on webpages. It allows control of two elementary aspects of adapting web menus: (1) the target policy, which assigns scores to menu items for adaptation, and (2) the adaptation style, which specifies how they are adapted on display. Researchers can use SAM to experiment adaptation policies and styles. Practitioners can make websites self-adapting, and end-users can dynamically personalise typically static web menus. The open-source framework is available at: https://github.com/aalto-ui/sam. The short paper was presented at IUI 2019. (read more)
Familiarisation: Restructuring Layouts with Visual Learning Models

This project contributes computational approaches to restructuring layouts such that features on a new, unvisited interface can be found quicker. We explored four concepts of familiarisation, inspired by the human visual system, to automatically generate a familiar design for each user. Given a history of previously visited interfaces, we restructure the spatial layout of the new (unseen) interface with the goal of making its elements more easily found. Familiariser is a browser-based implementation that automatically restructures webpage layouts based on the visual history of the user.
The full paper was presented at IUI 2018. (read more)
Sketchplore: Sketch and Explore Designs with a Layout Optimiser

Sketchploration is the novel concept of sketching and exploring designs simultaneously. It pairs a designer with an optimiser, to augment sketching activities with systematic exploration and improvement of interactive layout designs such as web pages. The optimiser, backed by predictive models of human performance and aesthetics, can abstract the design task, to generate alternate layout designs. It can provide local improvements to a layout in the form of 'recolour' and 'fix' suggestions. Global optimisation provides designers with radically new ideas that attempt to improve the overall design. These concepts are integrated into an interactive design tool called Sketchplorer.
The full paper was presented at DIS 2016. In addition, a hands-on demo of Sketchplorer was presented at CHI 2016 Interactivity. (read more)
PaperPulse: An Integrated Approach for Embedding Electronics in Paper Designs

PaperPulse is a design and fabrication approach that enables designers to produce standalone interactive paper artefacts, augmented with electronics. With PaperPulse, designers specify the visual layout graphically, and the logic using a demonstration approach we call Pulsation. The tool generates printable electronic circuit designs, and microcontroller code. Designers follow step-by-step assembly instructions to create interactive end products.
For more info, watch the video on YouTube or read the full paper, presented at CHI 2015.
Suit Up!: Interactive Jacket Buttons

An interaction space for wearables located on jackets, coats and shirts. Buttons are made interactive by customising them with sensors and actuators. Each of these interactive buttons has a dedicated purpose, and several of them can be linked together to form customised workflows. They aim to provide users with eyes-free input mechanisms and glance-friendly or subtle outputs. (read more)







FINS: Understanding Finger Input Above Desktop Devices

Using the space above desktop input devices adds a rich new input channel to desktop interaction. However, designing these interactions is challenging because the lack of haptic and direct visual feedback easily leads to input errors. In this work, we present results from two user studies that inform the design of finger input above desktop devices. Additionally, we propose a technique that reliably distinguishes clicking from homing movements, based on the user’s hand shape. The full paper was presented at CHI 2014. (read more)



Sniper Pointing (2012–'13)

A novel mid-air interaction technique, which uses volume above the keyboard to provide pointing with multiple precision levels. We are interested in exploring further usage of this 3D volume, which opens up the possibility for a wider range of input interactions, including free-hand pointing and gestural interactions.



Gotcha! (2011–'12)

A location-based augmented reality game, developed as a part of the 'User-Oriented System Design and Personalized Information Services' Lab at Fraunhofer FIT. The project involved user-centric design, implementation and evaluation of a modern game based on the popular Tamagotchi toys.


Eco-mmunity (2011)

A prototype of a Facebook application, developed to make users aware of energy consumptions in their household. This mini-project was performed as part of a course on Designing Interactive Systems. It aimed to promote energy-awareness, and to reduce energy-consumption, by applying concepts of serious gaming and competition.


Touch 'n' Go Multitouch Game Controller (2011)

A multitouch game controller designed and built during a course on Current Topics in HCI. It uses Frustrated Total Internal Reflection to detect touches on a non-planar surface, using a camera and infrared light. The game controller, built from simple electronics and laser-cut parts, allows people to play games which require steering and two button commands —accelerate and break. Check the youtube video to see how finger touches are detected!

Facebook Profiler (2011)

A Facebook application developed to study social aspects and behavior of users on social networks, as part of the 'Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) Experience' Lab at Fraunhofer FIT.

PhD Dissertation

Title: Improving and Facilitating the Placement of Interactive Elements on User Interfaces

Completed on: 5 June, 2018.

Advisor: Prof. Kris Luyten (Hasselt University)
Co-Advisor: Prof. Andrew Vande Moere (KU Leuven)

Abstract:
A user interface is the primary mean by which a user interacts with a computer. Interactive elements, placed on an interface, define the scope of interactions afforded to users. This thesis investigates placement issues central to the design of user interfaces. The primary goal is support the construction of user interfaces by improving or facilitating the placement of interactive elements on (1) graphical user interfaces (GUIs), and (2) post-WIMP user interfaces.

GUIs are the most-commonly used method for interacting with computers. They consists of interactive elements organised in a visual interface layout. Improving the construction of interface layouts positively impacts user performance and perception of the interface. However, objectively improving the placement of elements is non- trivial. The first part of my thesis addresses challenges towards improving placement on GUI layouts. To this end, I make two main contributions. In Sketchplore, I investigate design-time improvements by enabling interface designers to sketch and explore layouts using an interactive optimiser. In Familiarisation, I discuss a use-time approach to improve placement for individual users by applying principles of familiarity.

Post-WIMP interfaces go beyond the GUI paradigm, and open up new interaction possibilities. They support a larger set of interactive elements, such as sensors and actuators. Due to the added technical complexity, it can be challenging to place interactive elements onto such interfaces. The second part of this thesis focuses on facilitating the placement of interactivity onto post-WIMP interfaces, and makes two contributions towards addressing placement challenges. I investigate the placement of interactive electronic elements onto physical interfaces. I present PaperPulse as a tool for non-expert to place electronics onto paper interfaces, and extend the discussion to other physical interfaces such as wearables and smart home interfaces. In BinPut, I discuss the placement of standard input controls onto a diverse set of interfaces, and present a universal technique that can be applied to different types of input and devices.

The concepts and principles discussed in the thesis contribute towards addressing placement problems central to the construction of user interfaces. They can result in design interfaces that are performant, and that support a wide range of interactions. Quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the resulting tools and techniques provide evidence for the approaches presented in this dissertation.

My full thesis is available here.

Master Thesis

Supervisor: Chat Wacharamanotham
Topic: Sniper Pointing: Above the Surface Pointing with Multiple Resolutions

I investigated the use of mid-air interactions to perform free-hand cursor manipulation. My thesis dealt with the design and evaluation of an interaction technique which allows users to acquire on-screen targets using the volume available above the keyboard, in a standard desktop environment. The interaction involves the use of multiple pointing granularities, allowing for both, fast as well as accurate cursor manipulation, while overcoming typical problems such as homing between devices, and the "fat-finger problem".
My full thesis is available here.

Fun Stuff

ACM CHI: Data and Stats

I played around with the available metadata for previous CHI publications, and analysed/summarised some of the data.
CHI 2023: www.WhatTheHCI.com/chi23
CHI 2022: www.WhatTheHCI.com/chi22
CHI 2021: www.WhatTheHCI.com/chi21
CHI 2020: www.WhatTheHCI.com/chi20
CHI 2019: www.kashyaptodi.com/chi2019
CHI 2018: www.kashyaptodi.com/chi2018
CHI 2017: www.kashyaptodi.com/chi2017
CHI 2016: www.kashyaptodi.com/chi2016
CHI 2015: www.kashyaptodi.com/chi2015
CHI 2014: www.kashyaptodi.com/chi2014

Aachener Frieden Exhibit

The Aachener Frieden is an interactive exhibit at the city hall of Aachen. It lets users explore the historical background of the Peace of Aachen in a playful tangible way. (read more)
User-Friendly Toasters (2012)

Nothing worse than beginning the morning with a burnt slice of toast. To avoid this, I recently modified my toaster dial and added a custom-made overlay to make it a bit more intuitive ;)



Publications

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2012

Academic Volunteering

Teaching and Supervision

Course Organiser & Lecturer:

Teaching Assistant:

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Guest Lectures & Talks

About Me

You can see my detailed Curriculum vitae (CV) here.

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