Spatial Computing in Context

Abstract

The desktop computing paradigm has revolutionized the way we live, work, and communicate, but our interaction with these devices is limited by the physical location and boundaries of the devices themselves. More recently, mobile computing has extended these capabilities on the go, but the input and output mechanisms remain tied to the device surface, without interplay with the physicality of the surrounding environment. In contrast, spatial computing seeks to define a new generation of computing digital guidance, communication, and contextual information and derived from and integrated directly into the surrounding environment. This approach allows for in-context computing, where digital support is provided either actively or passively while users engage in other tasks. This shift introduces challenges in system interaction and input, which must operate seamlessly within dynamic contexts, but it also offers opportunities to harness spatialized information to enhance natural user interactions. In this research, I explore spatial computing from three angles: spatial computing interaction, spatial computing sensing, and spatial computing control. From the perspective of spatial computing interaction, we investigate how electrical engineers can benefit from spatial augmentations while debugging printed circuit boards, and develop an AR workbench that tailored to their needs. For spatial computing sensing, we design earbuds that isolates the user's voice and filters out disruptive background noise by leveraging the spatial information of interfering audio sources. Finally, for spatial computing control, we design a ring peripheral that facilitates interaction across a variety of always-available surfaces, thus supporting mixed reality device input from on-the-go to high-precision scenarios.