Dr.-Ing. Thomas Fröhlich
HCI Research and Development

Work Experience

Senior Customer Interactions Researcher (seit 01/2021)
BEENIC GmbH
Oldenburg, Germany

Postdoctoral Researcher (09/2019 – 12/2020)
OFFIS – Institute for Information Technology
Oldenburg, Germany

Teacher for Media Technology (08/2018 – 07/2019)
BZTG Oldenburg, Germany

Research assistant (08/2016 – 07/2018)
Digital Media Lab – University of Bremen
Bremen, Germany

Research assistant (08/2013 – 06/2016)
OFFIS – Institute for Information Technology
Oldenburg, Germany

Education

Doctoral Student at Digital Media Lab
University of Bremen, Germany
Thesis: Natural and Playful Interaction for 3D Digital Content Creation
Advisor: Prof. Dr. Rainer Malaka and Prof. Dr. Frank Steinicke

Master of Science – Computer Science (2013)
University of Bremen, Germany
Thesis: Valence Detection in Computer Games using Psychophisiological Measures
Advisor: Prof. Dr. Rainer Malaka

Bachelor of Science – Media Informatics (2010)
University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück, Germany

Bachelor of Science (With Distinction) – Computing (2010)
Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, UK

Research Experience

SUITE (05/2021 – 05/2023) Gefördert vom BMWi
Auf Basis von Smart Services sucht SUITE nach innovativen Lösungen, ältere Menschen im Alltag zu begleiten. Maschinelles Lernen auf der Basis von Smart Home Daten sowie weitere Komponenten aus der künstlichen Intelligenz sollen dabei eine individuelle Anpassung der Dienstleistung an die Nutzungsgewohnheiten und Bedürfnisse ermöglichen. Dabei soll eine individuelle Anpassung der Services an die jeweilige technische Wohnungsausstattung, die Nutzungsgewohnheiten und die Bedürfnisse möglich sein. SUITE legt die technischen Grundlagen für flexibel durch die Bewohner von Mietswohnungen zubuchbarer Serviceleistungen und einer Vernetzung von Familie, Angehörigen, Freunden sowie sozialen und gesundheitlichen Diensten.

PANDIA (03/2020 – 09/2023) Gefördert vom BMBF
PANDIA bietet eine automatisierte Überprüfung und Auswertung von Datennutzungsbedingungen und verschafft Nutzer*innen einen ersten Überblick, worauf bei interaktiven Assistenzsysten und Apps zu achten ist und welche Daten von wem in welcher Weise an welchem Ort gespeichert, übertragen oder verarbeitet werden. Dafür wird ein System entwickelt, dass die Datennutzungsbedingungen prüft und eine leicht verständliche inhaltliche Zusammenfassung der wichtigsten Punkte erstellt.
– Anforderungsanalyse und Nutzerforschung
– Prototyping und Evaluation von frühen Entwürfen

Smart Diabetes 24/7 (10/2019 – 06/2020) Funded by the European Union Interreg Programme
By using sensor technology, the project aims to provide insight into the cause(s) of blood sugar fluctuations in type 1 diabetics. By understanding the causees, patients can act accordingly, either by intervening in his lifestyle or by dealing with his diet and the administration of insulin or a combination of these.
– Research on user requirements for a diabetes management and reflection application
– Design and Development of an interactive mobile prototype
– Study design and material preparation
– Data analysis and documentation

AwareMe (09/2019 – 09/2020) Funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research
The project aims to develop modular and interactive wearables to unobtrusively support self-management for young adults with mental disorders. Objective and subjective data are collected and interpreted. Interactive wearables are visualizing a patients mental state or behaviors and help them to reflect their day-to-day life.
– Technical management for research prototype implementation
– Study preparation and data analysis

first.stage (06/2016 – 07/2018) Funded by the European Union Horizon 2020
The goal of the project is to research, design, develop, evaluate, and showcase natural user interfaces that improve previsualisation in film, animation, and the performing arts by speaking the language of the artist rather than that of a technician, providing efficient workflows, and offering the high degree of control required by practitioners.
– Design of natural user interfaces for previs using Virtual and Augmented Reality
– Research on user requirements and user preferences across all application domains
– Prototyping and development software and hardware
– Design, execution, and analysis of user studies

COMPANION (10/2013-06/2016) Funded by the European Union Framework Programme 7
In COMPANION, a real-time coordination system to dynamically create, maintain and dissolve platoons, according to a decision-making mechanism, taking into account historical and real-time information about the state of the infrastructure (traffic, weather, etc.) is developed. Furhter, the project investigated how to support drivers in a platoon with information regarding status, and maneuvers like joining, driving, and leaving platoons.
– Research on user requirements and interaction concepts for semi-automated driving
– Design and development of on-board software prototypes using industry platforms
– Quantitative and qualitative User studies in lab and field conditions
– Development of web prototypes for back-end administration

Professional Service

2020 PC-Member with IEEE International Conference on Healthcare Informatics (ICHI 2020)

2018 Co-Organizator of Workshop “Be-greifbare Interaktion” (Tangible Interaction)
Mensch und Computer Conference (MuC), Dresden, Germany

2017 Co-Organizator of Workshop “Be-greifbare Interaktion” (Tangible Interaction)
Mensch und Computer Conference (MuC), Regensburg, Germany

2013 Student Volunteer
IFIP International Conference on Entertainment Computing (ICEC)

Reviews

ACM CHI – Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2017*, 2018, 2020
ACM CHI Play – Conference on Human Factors in Play 2020
GI Mensch und Computer Conference 2017, 2018
ACM DIS – Conference on Designing Interactive Systems 2017*
ACM ISS – International Conference on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces 2016
NordiCHI – Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction 2016, 2020

* = Excellent Reviewer Recognition (2)