The Interactive Systems Research Group (ISRG) at Nottingham Trent University focuses on the development of new technologies for cognitive and physical rehabilitation, and the promotion of users’ mental wellbeing. The main research focus of the group has always been on developing technologies for social inclusion.
This is a multi-disciplinary endeavour bringing together researchers, educationalists, psychologists and clinicians in virtual environments, serious games, games-based learning, assistive technologies, location-based services, mobile applications, robotics, health psychology and computational intelligence. Recently a strong focus has been on the application of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for the benefit of health and society.
The ISRG has expertise in the analysis and use of methods from the fields of artificial intelligence and data analysis to solve real-world problems. The Research Group has access to state-of-the-art research facilities, including high-performance computing, a variety of sensors, actuators and communication devices, different assistive robotic platforms, a Virtual Reality lab equipped with a multitude of Virtual and Augmented Reality technologies, and a smart home facility.
Our focus
The ISRG’s research has several strands, as described below:
User-centred design and user experience: Designing interactive systems involving users from project start to project finish (co-design methodology), and delivering systems, which focus on User Experience goals.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: This strand includes:
- Education: Using sensor data to track engagement and to determine personalised learning for neurotypical students, students with intellectual disability and students with autism. Our advanced learning systems track the affective state of learners through advanced real-time analysis of sensor data including camera feeds and physiological sensors. The goal is to increase the effectiveness of the learning process and engagement of learners by notifying educators when signs of disengagement or emotional dysregulation are detected, allowing early interventions.
- Health: Developing AI techniques to analyse secondary health data with the intention to create synthetic datasets and models that can help clinicians in early identification of important health problems including lung cancer, prostate cancer, ischemic stroke and Alzheimer’s disease.
Serious Games: Working with students in designing and co-designing serious games to promote cognitive, perceptual and independent living skills in people with intellectual disabilities, working alongside multiple stakeholders; and for educating students in sustainable development goals. We also work to establish the efficacy of serious games in educational contexts and identify barriers to their adoption. We utilise modern playful design techniques to co-develop high quality deployable prototypes.
Virtual environments: We have developed virtual environments to change attitudes and behaviours in health and social related contexts. A recent example is VR use in Exposure Therapy to equip students to be better able to deliver presentations in the real world.
Assistive technologies: Improving the accessibility of solutions and services, and assessment of the latest access techniques and interaction modalities to determine their worth for a more accessible, exploitable and deeply embeddable approach in mainstream ICT.
Robotics: Investigating the role of engagement in using robots with students with profound and multiple learning disabilities, the use of assistive technologies in controlling robots and the development of intelligent multimodal systems to promote communicational skills
We are seeking to generate research income through EPSRC, InnovateUK, NIHR, EU Horizon, European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) and other industrial partners.