Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin received an award to explore how AI can learn from human movement and interaction.
- Researchers Sinclair Emoghene of UT Austin’s Department of Theatre and Dance and Lillian Chin of the Chandra Family Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering have received a $613,000 research award to develop artificial intelligence that understands human movement as a form of language.
- By pairing expertise in dance and engineering, the research demonstrates how interdisciplinary collaboration can spark new approaches to both AI development and the study of human movement.
- Building on sensor technology developed by Chin’s lab, the research captures movement, touch, force and pressure data to help AI better understand how people communicate through movement.
The project grew out of a collaboration that began when newly hired Sinclair and Chin met at a UT Austin faculty orientation event and discovered a shared interest in movement and technology. Working alongside students in both the arts and engineering, the pair developed projects that used custom-built sensors to capture dancers’ movements and transform them into visual displays.
Watch students test out the sensors through dance on the College of Fine Arts website.
