{"id":231439,"date":"2016-05-18T10:34:04","date_gmt":"2016-05-18T17:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/?post_type=msr-event&p=231439"},"modified":"2025-08-06T12:00:44","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T19:00:44","slug":"design-expo-2016","status":"publish","type":"msr-event","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/event\/design-expo-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Design Expo 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n

About:<\/strong> Be inspired by top design schools from around the world as they respond to the Design Expo 2016 Challenge. This year we are excited to again align with Faculty Summit and the 25th Anniversary of Microsoft Research.
\nAbout Design Expo<\/a><\/p>\n

Past Events:<\/strong>
\nDesign Expo 2017<\/a>
\nDesign Expo 2015<\/a>
\nDesign Expo 2014<\/a>
\nDesign Expo 2013<\/a>
\nDesign Expo 2012<\/a>
\nDesign Expo 2011<\/a>
\nDesign Expo 2010<\/a>Opens in a new tab<\/span><\/p>\n

2016 Design Challenge:
\nAchieving Symbiosis and the Conversational User Interface (CUI)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Watch the Full video of Design Expo 2016<\/a> or view individual videos per school in the Participating Schools and Liaisons section.<\/p>\n

The hope is that, in not too many years, human brains and computing machines will be coupled together very tightly, and that the resulting partnership will think as no human brain has ever thought and process data in a way not approached by the information-handling machines we know today.<\/em>
\n\u2014 J.C.R. Licklider, Man-Computing Symbiosis<\/em>, 1960<\/p>\n

Move ahead an astonishing 55 years. Licklider\u2019s prerequisites (and more) exist for Symbiosis. A plethora of chatty bots are offering to do things for us in our messaging experiences. A series of personal agent services have emerged that leverage machines, humans or both to complete tasks for us (x.ai, Clara Labs, Fancy Hands, Task Rabbit, Facebook \u201cM\u201d to name a few) \u2014 the commanding interface is email, text or a voice call. WeChat is perhaps the most stunning example of the power of chat-driven UI to date, providing indispensable value to users through millions of verified services in an all-in-one system that allows you to do everything from grabbing a taxi, to paying the electric bill or sending money to a friend. Offerings such as Siri, Google Now and Cortana are also demonstrating value to millions of people, particularly on mobile form factors, where the conversational user interface (CUI) is often superior to the GUI. Clearly, the value of the CUI is not found simply in \u2018speech\u2019.<\/p>\n

The CUI is more than just synthesized speech; it is an intelligent interface. It\u2019s intelligent because it combines these voice technologies with natural-language understanding of the intention behind those spoken words, not just recognizing the words as a text transcription. The rest of the intelligence comes from contextual awareness (who said what, when and where), perceptive listening (automatically waking up when you speak) and artificial intelligence reasoning.<\/em>
\n\u2014 Ron Kaplan, Beyond the GUI: it\u2019s Time for a Conversational User Interface<\/em>, Wired Magazine, March 2013<\/p>\n

While in complete agreement with Kaplan\u2019s statement \u2014 made a mere two years ago \u2014 it is the combination of the CUI, adaptive\/learning sensor technologies, a rich personal profile, increasingly pervasive user agents and service bots (powered by machines, humans or both), as well as the ability to fluidly transact, that will enable the most fluid, powerful, and human computing experiences spanning digital and physical environments and form factors that we have ever before been able to design, and build, and from which we will all benefit.<\/em> 2015 seems poised to be \u201cThe Year of the Conversational Bot\u201d but we are still just scratching the surface of the Symbiosis Promise.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The Goal<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Design a product, service or solution that demonstrates the value and differentiation of the CUI. Your creation should demonstrate the best qualities of a symbiotic human-computer experience which features an interface designed to interpret human language and intent. Of course, language takes many forms \u2013 from speech, to text, to gesture, body language, and even thought. Your creation should clearly demonstrate foundational elements the CUI calls upon in order to delight people. It should meet a clear need and be extensible to wider applications. It may be near-term practical or blue sky, but the idea must be innovative, technically feasible, and have a realistic chance of adoption if instantiated. Of course, to deliver an optimal experience, much is implied \u2013 from data and identity permissions to cross-app agent and\/or bot cooperation and coordination (first and third party); your design should minimally show awareness of these barriers or explore solutions to them.Opens in a new tab<\/span><\/p>\n

ArtCenter College of Design, Graduate Media Design Practices<\/strong> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>; Los Angeles, USA<\/strong>
\nProject: Trans-Actor: A UX for AI
\nProfessors: Philip van Allen, Anne Burdick
\nStudents: Lee Cody, Xing Lu, Sche-I Wang
\nMicrosoft Liaisons: Colleen Estrada, Shane Landry
\nCourse website: http:\/\/mediadesignpractices.net (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>
\nView presentation<\/a><\/p>\n

Carnegie Mellon University, School of Design<\/strong> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>; Pittsburgh, USA<\/strong>
\nProject: Opus: Connecting Parents and Children with the Power of Story
\nProfessors: Bruce Hanington, Peter Scupelli
\nStudents: Sarah Foley, Jiyoung Ko, Dixon Lo
\nMicrosoft Liaisons: Kevin Korpi, Irina Smolyanskaya
\nCourse website: https:\/\/graduatedesignstudio2.wordpress.com (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>
\nView presentation<\/a><\/p>\n

New York University, ITP<\/strong> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>; New York, USA<\/strong>
\nProject: Warren: A Friendly Guide and Manager for Freelancers
\nProfessors: Michael Dory, Dan O’Sullivan
\nStudents: Lirong Liu, Peiyu Luo, Jiashan Wu, Fengyuan Zhu
\nMicrosoft Liaison: Lili Cheng, Cindy Wong
\nView presentation<\/a><\/p>\n

Savannah College of Art and Design<\/strong> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>; Savannah, USA<\/strong>
\nProject: Co: The Story Building Companion
\nProfessors: Cyril Guichard, Mauricio Manhaes
\nStudents: Scott Brown, Maya Chatila, Ashley Gilliam, Andrew Lee
\nMicrosoft Liaison: Michael Gough
\nView presentation<\/a><\/p>\n

Umea University<\/strong> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>; Umea, Sweden<\/strong>
\nProject: Personalized Nutrition
\nProfessors: Monica Lindh-Karlsson, Stoffel Kuenen
\nStudents: Andre Kennedy, Yuanrui Li, Joanna Pruchnicka, Lene Rydningen
\nMicrosoft Liaisons: Soramist Chintanamanus, Don Coyner, Annika Ushio
\nView presentation<\/a><\/p>\n

University of California Los Angeles, Design Media Arts<\/strong> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>; Los Angeles, USA<\/strong>
\nProject: Murmur: Generative Drawing with Speech
\nProfessors: Christian Moeller
\nStudents: Adam Ferriss
\nMicrosoft Liaisons: Jiwon Choi, Sara Siritaratiwat, Moni Wolf
\nView presentation<\/a><\/p>\n

University of Dundee<\/strong> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>; Dundee, UK<\/strong>
\nProject: Otto: Communication Aid for Autistic Children
\nProfessors: Andrea Alessandrini, Graham Pullin, Martin Skelly
\nStudents:\u00a0<\/b>Jena Affleck, Sean Gooravin, Cameron Malcolm, Sarah Mchutchison, Andrew Shearer, Cameron Watt
\nMicrosoft Liaisons: Richard Banks, Helene Steiner
\nView presentation<\/a><\/p>\n

University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts<\/strong> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>; Los Angeles, USA<\/strong>
\nProject: B.U.D.D.Y.: Best Unique Device Dedicated to You
\nProfessors: Scott Fischer, Jennifer Stein
\nStudents: Roseli de Jesus, Anya Kolesnikoff, Max Kreminski
\nMicrosoft Liaisons: Vikram Bapat, Greg Melander
\nCourse website: Design Fiction and Speculative Futures (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>
\nView presentation<\/a><\/p>\n

University of Washington, Interaction Design Program<\/strong> (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>; Seattle, USA<\/strong>
\nProject: Polly
\nProfessor: Axel Roesler
\nStudents: Rishi Agarwal, Stephen Coyner, Angelica Cupat, Naoki Hisamoto, Chloe Lee
\nMicrosoft Liaisons: Nathan Auer, March Rogers, Gino Scarpino
\nView presentation<\/a>Opens in a new tab<\/span><\/p>\n

Presentations<\/strong><\/p>\n