he USER group has two labs, a design lab to explore technological capabilities and a user studies lab to understand human capabilities.

New Form Factors Design Lab: The latest advances in technology are tracked and integrated into new form factors devices to improve the way we live, work, play, learn, and belong to groups. This lab has created a hand held TrackPoint input device for the VisionPad wearable computer, an automated airline check-in prototype using smart badge and wireless communication technology, a stylish leather portfolio computer, and many, many other inventions. The gadgeteers, designers, and inventors in this lab lead our efforts to understand emerging technological capabilities from a user experience perspective. For example, exchanging the information associated with business cards via a simple handshake is one such user experience scenario based on the Personal Area Network (PAN) technology.

User Studies Lab: This lab performs empirical studies of the usability (ease of use) and sociability (social acceptance) of new form factor devices and other inventions. In addition, this lab works with existing product teams to perform user studies and create improved graphical user interfaces as well as physical designs for existing and emerging products. The cognitive scientists, social scientists, designers, and user interface programmers in this lab lead our efforts to understand human capabilities and apply this understanding to create improved user experiences.