Sensing and cognition as prerequisite for the interaction between humans and technology

The research field “Humans and Technology” is one of the focus areas in the research profile of the Technische Universität Chemnitz (TUC). In contrast to a classical point of view, humans and technology no longer belong to distinct and separated realms, but they interact in common social environments and workspaces. Novel sensor systems facilitate this increasing interaction between humans and technology. These sensors exhibit increasing interconnectedness – both among each other and with the human user.  Efficient collaboration and communication between humans and technology remain the key challenges to translate these developments of technological sensory systems into true progress and benefit for the human user. The first step to meet these challenges is to understand the human-technology interfaces and to adapt and optimize them according to technological advancement. This requires a comprehensive knowledge of human sensory systems to provide the captured information to the human user in a form that is adequate for their perception and further processing. Besides signal capture and the representation of information, the internal information processing in the human and in the technological system need to be understood. In humans – and by analogy in technical systems - the entirety of these processes if referred to as “cognition”. Consequently, sensing and cognition on either side are the key to connect humans and technology. At the same time, each of the four areas – sensing and cognition in humans and technology – are active and highly topical fields of research in their own right, which demand interdisciplinary approaches and exchange. The Center for Sensing and Cognition established at the Faculty of Sciences (Fakultät für Naturwissenschaften) will integrate and focus the expertise in these fields that is available throughout the TUC.