Study at HIT Lab NZ

I was looking for PhD topics and then I saw one on robot bullying which was pretty interesting. It said that it was being held at the University of Canterbury which I assumed was in the UK. So, I applied and then my [soon to be] supervisor emailed me and said ‘Happy that you’re interested. I will be in Europe soon so we can meet up.’ And then I thought ‘How do you mean you will be in Europe!?’, and that’s when I found out there is a Canterbury in NZ… That’s how I ended up here.

My interest was initially methodological – it was the idea that I could do the type of studies you wouldn’t normally be able to do in human-human interactions and with the precision you wouldn’t normally be able to get. I saw robots as holding up a mirror to humanity in that if you roughly perform this kind of way to a robot you will roughly behave in this sort of way to a human.

Robots don’t have a certain place [in the gradient of human behaviour] – how we perceive the robot affects how we interact with them [as individuals]. I became a lot more fascinated overtime about what determines how we perceive a robot and underlying this, how we behave towards [a robot].

As a psychologist, working with robots the perks are the downsides at the same time. Human perceive robots to such an extent as to be human-like that you can do a whole bunch of research that would be unethical or impossible with humans – a robot allows you to replicate the exact same situation between participants over and over again. It’s a removal of variance that as a psychologist is extremely exciting. HCI desperately needs psychologists because they started out with engineers, so when the robot gets bullied, they just have an engineering perspective. They think its annoying that they cannot collect data and try to think of a million ways to avoid the bullying behaviour rather than understanding, ‘hey, that’ san odd behaviour. Where did that even come from?’. There are so many interesting facets to be researched, its really cool. 

I wouldn’t mind continuing in academia, but more generally I want to continue with research with universities, companies, or governments that are developing robots. I would be very happy to continue to tinker around with robot behaviour

Being at the Hitlab gave me a degree of freedom and individuality that I never had before. You are not held by the hand; you have to figure it all out yourself. There isn’t a lot of people at the Hitlab doing robots, so I didn’t have to find my own little niche – everything was still open. But it did mean I didn’t have as many people to bounce ideas off. The Hitlab provided me with both robots and a different mindset that was interdisciplinary – it was frustrating but also really good because it forced to think about new things. You realize everything needs to come together in order for it to work.

Something I cannot put into my thesis is being there and seeing people’s response to the robots. One participant had to handle a robot who was programmed to keep giving the wrong answers and after the 5^th or 6^th wrong answer she was like, ‘no, but you almost got it right!’. Another time I called the robot over, and the look on the participants face [when it did] – I can’t easily put those [reactions] into a thesis, but it’s that kind of experience that makes you understand the phenomenon you are trying to study a little deeper. That’s the cool thing about a PhD, you get the whole process. I enjoy that. Every once in a while, I am sitting here wondering how on earth I got into a position where people are paying me to chase whatever weird nerd question I have with robots.

A lot of the time a PhD feels like a job where you come in the morning, sit at your desk, check your emails, and pound your head against the wall because you can’t think of anything new.

I like how they have started the Friday meetings now as they will hopefully draw people together now a little bit more. The Hitlab is supportive but everyone is still doing their own little thing. This isn’t a bad thing per se, it would be nice to have people to bounce ideas off. I am also happy that there are new psychologists coming in as you get a different kind of feedback.

The projects where I was working with someone was amazing. The moment where I sit behind my desk and realize I am getting payed to get people to bully robots, and just for a moment you feel like the luckiest person. You almost feel like your knowledge is expanding as you are either gathering data or bouncing ideas off someone or your collaborating. Suddenly, it feels like there are so many opportunities that are exciting.

It was the topic that caught me. I had not heard of the Hitlab. I picked it because the whole idea of human-robot interaction as a psychologist is very interesting and for the opportunities it would give me.

I come from one of the most densely populated parts of Europe, coming to Christchurch I am always surprized about how quiet it is. I used to go to the city centre and do what I needed to do and get out of there because there is nothing else to do. NZ does have the benefit that its not overrun by large corporations yet. There are too many shopping streets in Amsterdam that are just [big brand names], NZ doesn’t have that, NZ still has its identity in a lot of little boutique shops which is amazing. At the same time there in Summer you can be out there, and I know in a day like that back in the Netherlands people will be in the parks or at the cafes, and Christchurch will be dead – its strange. Life on the [big] city streets I miss dearly.

At the same time, the Netherlands doesn’t have nature, I won’t even call it nature – we have big parks, that’s it. The opportunities to go out here [in Christchurch] is limitless, and they are so close – its amazing! I can just bike, I don’t even need a car and I can just go there [to nature]. There is a once in a lifetime opportunity and its just an hour and half drive from Christchurch. Thats quite magical.

[Christchurch] doesn’t have public transport outside of buses. There is no public bus that will take me to [specific nature spots]. The Netherlands does have an elaborate train system.

Covid-19: I realize if something happens to my parents, I am a full two days flying away. And that is part of being an international student. All your friends back home continue with their own life. Its not a bad thing per se but its just a factor of moving abroad.

The entire PhD process means that you can explore every little nook of a topic yourself. Even within the study you came up with the questions, you designed the study, you came up with the analysis, you collected the data and saw how people responded… That’s a sense of understanding that’s really overwhelming because you have to make a million decisions and you can’t make an informed decision on every single one of them. Then you find out latter on that it wasn’t the smartest thing you could have done. But at that time that was the best that I could do. That’s a learning process.

I have never had [a proper plan], even when I have had a plan I tend to abandon it. I think that is the best way to go through studies. Take on something that seems interesting but don’t cling to it to tight. I have seen friends through themselves into something and then continue to long and too far until they are pretty close to being burned out.

Christchurch is a lot quieter than I expected. I love to complain about Christchurch, its so easy. But at the same time, I am getting begrudgingly a lot more fond of it. Its surprisingly easy to make friends here and create social connections.

I did my graduate in industrial design at Victoria, Wellington

I got turned on to the HIT Lab NZ because one of my lecturers mentioned Quiver vision which is from the HIT Lab NZ. I thought it was such a cool project and seeing how all sorts of people like kids were engaging with technology seemed very cool to me, and how it was kinda merged with design was very interesting.

My research topic is designing an applied game for people or individuals who have stroke or traumatic brain injury to help rehabilitate their social functioning skills. The reason I am passionate about this area is because my dad had a stroke when I was five years old. So, I grew up understanding how debilitating these diseases can be. Not only how these diseases affect the person who has it but their family and people around them as well.

I was talking about it with my Dad last year and trying to come up with a research topic. I was wanting to create something to help rehabilitate patients when my Dad told me about the social side of things. People focus on the physical side because this is what they see and so people think it’s the biggest issue, but it’s actually not. My dad actually got over the physical stuff quite quickly and it was easy to see improvements, and these were really motivating. But once you are put back out into the community you feel stuck. He really struggled to reintegrate with his friends and just getting back into social interaction. And these were just really simple social interactions like going to the supermarket, buying things, and having that little social interaction with the checkout person was really hard for him. So, this is why the topic is really important for me.

Looking at the topic from the angle of applied immersive game design I have had Simon [my supervisor] which has been great because he is very knowledgeable in that area. Honestly, I came into this [degree] thinking “Gaming… surely it can’t really help much” – I didn’t really know much about it. Now, through all the research I have done and reading about it and hearing from Simon about it I realise that gaming can actually be used as a tool, a really powerful tool to change people’s lives. Gaming can be a super powerful tool for helping people.

It has changed a lot because I have learned so much through the course of my studies. I have learnt so much about technology and the latest developments that have come out. It has definitely broadened my horizons in what I could actually do. I would love to come out and do some kind of UX or something design based. Possibly going into some kind of rehabilitation design, working for a health care company.

Doing the research has made me interested in the communication side of [rehab]. My co-supervisor’s background is in Speech and Language therapy and its been so interesting to hear about what people are doing and how it really helps people’s lives in ways we can’t even appreciate because it just doesn’t affect us.

Going through the MHIT course was really good because there were other like-minded people, or they had the same goals. Some of the lecturers we had last year were really cool. Anthony Steed was a research fellow from the University college London, and he was interesting. Just having access to industry leading people is really good. The way the hitlab is set up, you have other researchers that you can just turn around and talk to, its quite nice.

The social side of things. UC in generally is really good for getting people involved and make it easy for people to make friends. At the Lab, it’s the little get togethers we do like the lunches and Christmas events – it was fun!

When I am there you get greeted every time you walk in with a friendly face. Its nice just to see stuff happening. Everyone is working on really interesting projects – its inspiring.

Make the most of it while you have it – there are great facilities and people around you. It’s a great opportunity and fingers crossed it’s the start of a really great career for you.

I am going to take a mental health break but then I would like to look overseas for a job, or perhaps do some traveling. Because my dream would be to get a job in the UK or somewhere in Europe.

Being in Christchurch is cold (than Wellington)! It’s a really nice city during the Summer. But the longer I have lived here the more I have learned to love it. It’s a nice biking city for sure because its all flat. Its definitely reinvented itself after the earthquakes (2011) and is turning itself into a creative hub.

I am from China originally and was working as a virtual reality game developer as well as developing for the mobile platform, mainly on the technology side.

I was developing games in VR in China and I decided I wanted to know more about VR technology from a different perspective. So I started looking at different university programmes for VR or HCI related projects all over different places like Australia, NZ, and the US. I happened to be visiting NZ as a tourist and I had a very good impression of the country so I googled “VR and NZ” and up came the HITLab as the first hit!

What is interesting about the PhD research here is that students do independent research. There’s no class and you’re not told what to do. They give you all kinds of freedom and you have 3 or 4 years to figure out what you’re going to do. I think the [research] freedom is very different to what I know about other PhD programs. For example, in the US you must go through seven years under a controlled environment. I am a person who does stuff on my own schedule rather than be guided all the way along. This is the unique feature of the program – you get given a bunch of time and you really can do whatever you want. It is attractive and difficult at the same time. You get given a blank page and you have to fill it in with whatever you want to do, and it takes some time.

First, I did my master’s in Human Interface Technology here. I discovered the PhD programme later after I arrived [in NZ].

My research topic is on immersive storytelling, currently with 360-degree video VR. It can also be swivel chair or cinematic VR. I choose 360-degree video VR as it is easier to access and is economic. It’s also to do with videos and movies which aligns with my personal interests. I also use to do product design and 360-degree video VR seems like it can be put into the hands of consumers someday as it has a tendency to be a product.

I wanted to do it because I think every human wants to tell a story, everyone is a storyteller, everyone has their own story and wants to share things with others. 360-degree video is very new and so people don’t know what to do with it. I want to figure out how to use 360-degree video to tell stories and enable everyone to use it. I think sometime in the future there will be a turning point for virtual reality and it becomes a daily technology. I am looking at how we can use this technology and the proper way of using it and where it can be applied. As I am not from a technical computer science background, I chose this research topic because it felt less tech savvy and more humanity or daily life orientated.

It can be a combination of academia with a media producer or director, I think I will fall somewhere between those areas. Someone who either teaches someone to do research about story telling or does the research. I am not too sure yet.

The growing stuff is to do with the fact that they have a lot of resources to help you, and with the HITLab’s connection with UC and with the HCI community it gives you the opportunity to carry out projects and see if they will work. From my perspective that’s how the Lab is helping us, by providing all the resources we need and providing all the connections you need.

With your research you have a very clear goal that’s towards your PhD and you might find something interesting. And you want to grab a bunch of people and design something – it might be interesting; it might be useless you don’t know. One direction is you ask, “will this help my PhD?” before you decide if you should do it, or the other direction where you just do it first. The Lab tends to go with the first principle.

The HIYLab has open days which is an exciting time when general people are let into the lab, it is really fun. For me, it was a great chance to try and explain my research to others and see how they would react to it. It gives you a very different perspective.

It is very different from where I come from the South-East of China near Shanghai which I would describe as very gloomy – there are a lot of things to do, a lot of people, and everything happens very fast. Christchurch is the opposite of this. In China, the outside environment tells you what to do right now, this is the trend, this is the focus of everyone – this is where you should go, what you should buy, or do that. Here it’s the reverse, no one tells you what to do – you have to figure out everything for yourself. In NZ you really have few distractions and you can really focus on yourself. So, this is a really good place for PhD research because you have this luxury of this time resource at you dispense and focus on one thing.

You need to be the sort of person who is really clear on what you want to do and what you like. You need to have a plan for yourself or at least a general goal of were your going to be. You also really need to like doing research as the research at the Hitlab.

I somehow got in contact with Rob from the Hitlab, I got talking to Rob about his research (which was related to my master’s thesis). I told him I wanted to do a PhD and he said that [the Hitlab] also had two Germans coming in also from the Netherlands, Heide and Stephan.

Everything [appealed to me]. When I first started thinking about PhD topics and what I did want to do what I am interested in is not narrow but is multidisciplinary. It’s the game aspect in combination with the education aspect and in combination with the psychology aspect. Back in the Netherlands and Germany the PhD [studies] are like a job position and it’s a fixed project and that’s what you have to do most of the time if it’s not self-funded. I couldn’t find a project that appealed to me, I wasn’t really passionate about the projects that I found. With the Hitlab I couldn’t have asked for anything better! I get to define my own topic, I get money for doing what I like, I get to move to NZ. I think in the end it’s the research freedom that appealed to me and it also gave me comfort after first talking to Rob and to Heide and to Stephan after coming to NZ. I felt that they understood me and would provide me with all the necessary guidance that I needed, and it was very nice on a personal level that they were very welcoming.

It really got confirmed from me when I got to meet all the people in the Hitlab – it felt really like a place where opinions are appreciated and people do support you and also are not hesitant to give you suggestions or give you guidance or advice. I felt like I wasn’t treated just as a number or a PhD student. You can really do what your passionate about in your own area of expertise. Sometimes I think “Do I even deserve that? To come here [to NZ], get paid, and just do anything I would like to!” It feels too good to be true sometimes.

ADHD often comes with common disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder or secondary disorders such as depression. The conditions are all affecting each other, some are reinforcing ADHD symptoms. What motivates me about this is that I even had a little personal experience with it. I know how it feels to struggle in education because education is set up in such a traditional way that people have to all learn in the same way. Its illogical because you cannot accommodate all the different learning styles in a traditional learning platform setting. And so, people fall off [the wagon] not because they are stupid but because they can’t cope – especially when you’re a kid because you’re not self-reflective enough yet or mature enough to express what is going on. Sometimes it’s impossible to accommodate these students. So, I figured through learning games especially for ADHD kids could even just move around or do something else rather than just listening accommodates their way of thinking where their brain works very well.

One symptom of ADHD is a really bad attention span where they cannot focus or listen for 10 minutes to a teacher, but they can be very well engaged for over half an hour in a gameplay. I think we are at a point now where gamers are not just like shady people who hide in the basement all day anymore – this kind of stigma. Games are a great way for transferring knowledge, so many people learn so many different things through games – it has great potential. Where it can go wrong with games is that game developers are not subject matter experts, they wouldn’t necessarily know about curriculums – what we do need to teach, where the knowledge is, what is the content. I really would like to see a little more progress in that area. This is where my research fits because I want to be right in there in that movement of using technology in a meaningful way. We are at a point where we can supply the technology for the people. They [the teacher] often have the technology but its misused because the teacher didn’t know how to use the technology in the classroom. On the psychology side of it, how to design the technology so that kids with disabilities can really work with it.

I definitely want to stay in academics. When I decided to do a PhD, I asked myself “What could I do for the rest of my life without hating it? Researching. Teaching, its exactly what I want to do” I had this “ah ha!” moment where I realized I am at my best and am my most passionate self when I am researching or teaching.

I could tell right away that people are really supportive, everybody is really respectful and so I haven’t really seen anything of a competitive environment which is very nice and comforting as well. Everybody has the space to do whatever they are best at doing and so people encourage each other to be themselves, to find they’re on way, their own style and way of working. I really appreciate the weekly meetings I think that input is valuable – everybody comes together and there is no pressure for anyone to say anything. You get feedback from your safe space. There is a low power distance across the team which is good because it makes you feel like you can approach anybody, and it will be fine. The hierarchy is flat which is good.

Compared to back home to Germany and the Netherlands, Christchurch is quiter. The weather is way better, I can say that for sure! It makes me more motivated to leave the house. People here are more outdoors and go for a lot of walks which is very nice. The people here are really friendly, they say thank you when they leave the bus sometimes which is a really remarkable difference. The people are open minded and really helpful.

Strong sense of community and feels safe, especially during a time of crisis.