Membres ESTIA Recherche

champs de compétences

Biographie

Prof. Nadine Couture  is full professor in Computer Science. INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. In 1994 she was awarded the degree of Doctor in Computer Science at Univ. Bordeaux and the Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches (Tenure) in Human-Computer Interaction in 2010. She teaches the fundamentals of computer science to engineering students, algorithms, web technologies, programming languages, mobile systems, Augmented Reality, Human Computer Interaction for Aeronautics. Her research is conducted at ESTIA-Recherche, the research lab of ESTIA, of which she is Director. Since 2001, she has been interested in Tangible Interaction, from the physical embodiment of data to interaction with the whole body. In 2014, she initiated the European Tangible Interaction Studios (ETIS) and has been a member of the steering committee since then. In 2010, she co-founded PEPSS platform about Human Factors for Interactive Technology. Nadine Couture develops research-enterprise links and as such she is involved in the eDIA ecosystem of Excellence, data economy and artificial intelligence, of the Aerospace-Valley Competitiveness Cluster and vice-president of CATIE, the Aquitaine Centre for Information Technologies and Electronics. 

Habilitée à Diriger des Recherches

Activités actuelles

See linkedin for past and current activities.

In 1998, creation of LIPSI Lab (S&T), then fusion of LIPSI (Science and Technology) and GRAPHOS (Human Sciences) in 2007 one pluridisciplinarity research lab called ESTIA-RECHERCHE/ESTIA-RESEARCH  within ESTIA Institute of Technology about Smart and Empowering interfaces.
In 2010, our dedication to bridging academia and industry was exemplified through the creation of the PEPSS platform. This platform facilitated collaboration among stakeholders, fostering the exchange and dissemination of research on Human Factors for Interactive Technology.
Development and support of research community by creating a new conference, the European Tangible Interaction Studio, from 2013 to 2022. 

My approach to mentoring and leadership revolves around fostering networking opportunities among researchers and practitioners, underpinned by a reflective methodology (see manifeste). 

Education

Lectures in the Engineering School  of Engineering, Bachelor and Master Degrees. Educational Innovation : Teaching Spatial Augmented Reality: a Practical Assignment for Large Audiences,  Brett Ridel, Patrick Reuter, Nadine Couture.

Publications

Les publications de Nadine COUTURE

Research

About Tangible Interaction at ESTIA.

 "Tangible Interaction for calm technology" . N. Couture. Talk at TEDx Basque Country (Biarritz, 2010).

Since the beginning of my research activity , I have supervised several master students, research engineers, 14 PhD students (3 in progress), 8 Post-Doctoral researchers. 45 HDR and Thesis committees (in France and Switzerland) from 2000 to 2021, 22 as reviewer and 12 as President.

Since 2000, I have been deeply involved in the advancement of Tangible Interaction, a field pioneered by HiroshiIshii and Brygg Ullmer at MIT in 1995. I had the privilege of being pioneer in France, contributing to its development. In 2011, I co-founded the TANGINT.FR research group with Guillaume Riviere, which operated until 2018. Our inspiration stemmed from the German Working Group on Tangibles, initiated by E. Hornecker and A. Schmidt in 2008 within the German Society of Informatics, which we integrated in our approach. 

Our journey began with a fundamental question: how can tangible forms enhance design processes, particularly in assembly phases? This led us to conceive and develop the ESKUA system, utilizing tangible props. Beyond the aesthetic appeal of interacting with representative physical objects, we sought to validate their efficacy in optimizing task performance. Building upon Fitzmaurice's hypothesis, we demonstrated the superiority of specialized tangible interactors over generic forms in optimizing task completion, notably showcased through the GeoTUI prototype in 2008. We showed that when users must solve a complex task in spatially multiplexed conditions, the manipulation of a specialized form for tangible interactors is more effective than a generic form. 

Our research delved further into the manipulation of complex data, notably within the realm of archaeology. Archaeological fragments found are often shattered into numerous fragments and archaeologists are faced with the task of reconstructing extremely difficult "3D puzzles". We introduced the ArcheoTUI system. The key idea behind it, is to use two interactors; ArcheoTUI not only physically represented digitized archaeological fragments but also facilitated their control, streamlining the reconstruction process. 

One of my significant contributions lies in the development of the "revealing flashlight". It is a tangible device allowing interactive spatial augmented reality for detail exploration of cultural heritage artifacts. We locally and interactively augment a physical artifact by projecting an expressive 3D visualization that highlights its features, based on an analysis of its previously acquired geometry at multiple scales. This novel interaction technique simulates and improves the behavior of a flashlight: according to 6- degree-of-freedom input, we adjust the numerous parameters involved in the expressive visualization (Exhibitions in Rome and Amsterdam (Allard Pierson Museum) in 2013 and 2014). 

More recent works explored a little bit out of the core definition of Tangible Interaction. One key concept I introduce with Swiss colleagues is the Internet of Tangible Things (IoTT). It is tangible interaction with IoT as well as for input or for output. W also introduce tangible shape changing in prototype design, with CAIRN, because it offers additional design flexibility and immersion, while tangible interaction is distinguished by its ease of use, tangible feedback, and accessibility ; Finally, right now, I am exploring the combination of embodied cognition with Tangible interaction and the potential benefits of giving a physical form to Artificial Intelligence.

La chaîne youtube de Nadine COUTURE

Utile : Orli Inter