Research Interests

The scope of my work is the development of novel user interface technologies and new interaction techniques that aim to minimize the complexity of human-computer interaction and improve the experience of working and playing with technology.

I am particularly interested in the use of embedded systems - programmable microcontrollers, wireless communication devices, sensors and actuators - as building blocks in the design of physical interactive objects and user interface devices that are engaging, useful and usable.

One aspect of my current research focuses on understanding and developing technologies that enable interactive devices to be rapidly prototyped, manufactured and deployed. The work is driven by a vision for customizable and reusable devices that are fully specified in software, and designed to be adaptable, upgradeable and modular.

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Previous Work

I was previously at the Lancaster University Computing Department, where I worked as a Research Associate and PhD student in the Embedded Interactive Systems research group. During that time I had the good fortune to be involved in a number of very interesting collaborative projects, including the Equator IRC, Pin&Play, Smart Surroundings and Smart-Its.

VoodooIO My PhD work was centred around the development of VoodooIO: a novel platform for flexible user interfaces that allows end-users to compose and adapt physical control interfaces in a manner that is both versatile and simple to use. With VoodooIO, users can quickly put together fully functional interfaces out of a pliable substrate material and physical control devices such as buttons, switches, sliders and dials. Every control is in fact a minimal computing device, equipped with small pin-like connectors at their base . By pinning a control into the substrate material, the control becomes connected to a power and communication network that is built into the substrate. Controls can be freely attached, detached and arranged in any orientation, even during use: physical attachment equals digital connectivity.

More information about VoodooIO, including videos and a list of relevant publications, can be found on the project website here.

Details of some of the other projects that I worked on and collaborations carried out during my time at the Lancaster University Computing Department can be found on my personal website there.

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Publications

Nicolas Villar. Interaction-Powered Devices. To appear in proc. ACM Tangible and Embedded Interaction (TEI’10). 2010
Nicolas Villar, Shahram Izadi, Dan Rosenfeld, Hrjove Benko, John Helmes, Jonathan Westhues, Steve Hodges, Alex Butler, Xiang Cao, Eyal Ofek, Billy Chen. Mouse 2.0: Multi-Touch Meets the Mouse. To appear in Proc. ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST’09). 2009
Jonathan Hook, Stuart Taylor, Alex Butler, Nicolas Villar, Shahram Izadi. A Reconfigurable Ferromagnetic Input Device. In Proc. ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST’09). 2009
Florian Block, Hans Gellersen and Nicolas Villar. Touch-Display Keyboards and their Integration with Graphical User Interfaces. In Proc. ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST’09). 2009
David Kirk, Abigail Sellen, Stuart Taylor, Nicolas Villar, Shahram Izadi. Putting the Physical into the Digital: Issues in Designing Hybrid Interactive Surfaces. In Proc. ACM/BCS Conference on Human Computer Interaction (ACM/BCS HCI’09). 2009
Shahram Izadi, Steve Hodges, Stuart Taylor, Dan Rosenfeld, Nicolas Villar, Alex Butler, Jonathan Westhues.
"Going Beyond the Display: A Surface Technology with an Electronically Switchable Diffuser"
In Proc. ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST '08). 2008
Nicolas Villar
"Flying Low: A minimalist wearable computer to curtail embarrassing situations"
In Adj. Proc. International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp'08). 2008
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William Gaver, Andy Boucher, And Law, Sarah Pennington, John Bowers, Jacob Beaver, Jan Humble, Tobie Kerridge, Nicolas Villar, Alex Wilkie.
"Threshold Devices: looking out from the home"
In Proc. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI'08). 2008.
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Thomas Seifried, Matt Jervis, Michael Haller, Masood Massodian, Nicolas Villar
"Integration of Virtual and Real Document Organization"
In Proc. Tangible and Embedded Interaction Conference (TEI '08) . 2008
Florian Block, Nicolas Villar, Hans Gellersen
"A Malleable Physical Interface for Copying, Pasting, and Organizing Digital Clips"
In Proc. Tangible and Embedded Interaction Conference (TEI '08) . 2008
Nicolas Villar, Matt Jervis, Alexander Lang, Hans Gellersen
"The ColorDex DJ System: A Novel Interface for Music Mixing"
To appear in Proc. New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME'07).
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Nicolas Villar and Hans Gellersen
"A Malleable Control Structure for Softwired User Interfaces"
In Proc. Tangible and Embedded Interaction (TEI '07).
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Wolfgang Spiessl, Nicolas Villar, Hans Gellersen and Albrecht Schmidt
"VoodooFlash: Authoring across Digital and Physical Form"
In Proc. Tangible and Embedded Interaction (TEI '07).
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Nicolas Villar, Florian Block
"Distributed and Adaptable Home Control." In Adj. Proc. ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST '06.) Montreux, Switzerland.
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Nicolas Villar and Hans Gellersen
"The Friday Afternoon Project: A Two-Hour Prototyping Exercise"
In proceedings of Mobile and Embedded Interactive Systems (MEIS'06). Dresden, Germany.
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Nicolas Villar, Kiel Gilleade, Devina Raymundy-Ellis and Hans Gellersen.
“The VoodooIO Gaming Kit: A Real-Time Adaptable Gaming Controller.” In Proc. of Advances in Computer Entertainment (ACE '06).
* Best paper and demo awards at ACE '06!
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John Bowers and Nicolas Villar.
“Creating Ad Hoc Instruments with PPP”. In Proc of. New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME ‘06), Paris, France. June 2006.
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Florian Block, Nicolas Villar, Mike Hazas, Dave Molyneaux and Hans Gellersen. "Locating Physical Objects on Interactive Surfaces"
In proceedings of Mobile and Embedded Interactive Systems (MEIS'06). Dresden, Germany.
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William Gaver, John Bowers , Andy Boucher, Andy Law, Sarah Pennington , Nicolas Villar. "The History Tablecloth: Illuminated Domestic Activity". In Proc. of ACM DIS 2006.
Nicolas Villar, Adam Lindsay and Hans Gellersen.
"A rearrangeable tangible interface for musical composition and performance." In Proc. of New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME '05), Vancouver, Canada. May 2005.
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Bayliss, A., Sheridan, J.G., & Villar, N.
"New Shapes on the Dancefloor: Influencing ambient sound and vision with computationally-augmented poi". International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media. Intellect: Bristol. March 2005.
N. Villar, G. Kortuem, K Van Laerhoven and A. Schmidt.
"The Pendle: A Personal Mediator for Mixed Initiative Environments" In Proc. of the IEE International Workshop on Intelligent Environments 2005.
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Keith Cheverst, Hee Eon Byon, Dan Fitton, Corina Sas, Chris Kray and Nicolas Villar. “Exploring Issues of User Model Transparency and Proactive Behaviour in an Office Environment Control System”. User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction, special issue on Ubiquitous Computing and User Modeling
N. Villar, K. Van Laerhoven, H.-W. Gellersen. "A Physical Notice Board with Digital Logic and Display". In Adjunct Proceedings of the European Symposium on Ambient Intelligence 2004; ACM ISBN: 1-58113-992-6.
F. Block, A. Schmidt, N. Villar, H.-W. Gellersen. "Towards a Playful User Interface for Home Entertainment Systems." In Proc. of the European Symposium on Ambient Intelligence 2004; ISBN: 3-540-23721-6. Springer, pp. 207-217.
William W. Gaver, John Bowers, Andrew Boucher, Hans Gellersen, Sarah Pennington, Albrecht Schmidt, Anthony Steed, Nicolas Villar, Brendan Walker "The drift table: designing for ludic engagement." Extended abstracts CHI '04. Vienna, Austria. ACM Press. ISBN:1-58113-703-6.
K. Van Laerhoven, N. Villar and H.-W. Gellersen. "Multi-Level Sensory Interpretation and Adaptation in a Mobile Cube". In Proc. of the third workshop on Artificial Intelligence in Mobile Systems (AIMS), Ubicomp 2003. , ISSN 0944-7822. pp. 111-117. Seattle, WA.
K. Van Laerhoven, N. Villar, A. Schmidt, G. Kortuem and H.-W. Gellersen. "Using an Autonomous Cube for Basic Navigation and Input". In Proceedings of ICMI/PUI 2003. ISBN: 1-58113-621-8; ACM Press. Vancouver, Canada. 2003, pp. 203-211.
N. Villar, A. Schmidt, G. Kortuem and H.-W. Gellersen. "Interacting with Proactive Community Displays" Computers & Graphics Magazine, Vol. 27, No. 6, 2003.
K. Van Laerhoven, N. Villar and H.-W. Gellersen. "Pin&Mix: When Pins Become Interaction Components." In Proceedings of the Workshop on Real World User Interfaces (PI03) at the Fifth International Symposium on Human Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (MobileHCI 2003), September 2003, Udine, Italy.
K. Van Laerhoven, N. Villar, A. Schmidt, H.-W. Gellersen, M. Hakansson, and L. E. Holmquist. "Pin&Play: The Surface as Network Medium" In IEEE Communications Magazine, April 2003, Vol.41 No.4., ISSN: 0163-6804, IEEE Press, pp. 90-96.
K. Van Laerhoven, N. Villar, M. Hakansson, and H.-W. Gellersen. "Pin & Play: Bringing Power and Networking to Wall-Mounted Appliances". In Proceedings of the 5th IEE International Workshop on Networked Appliances, Liverpool, UK, ISBN 0-7803-7686-2, IEEE Press, 2002, pp. 131-137.

Exhibits and Installations

VoodooIO SIGGRAPH 2006 Emerging Technologies exhibition. Boston, USA, August 2006.
Pin&Play&Perform Installation at Circuits of Malpractice, curated by the School of Music, University of East Anglia. November 2005.
Electronic Furniture for the Curious Home. “Drift Table” and “History Tablecloth”. Equator Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration project. Shown as part of the Touch Me Exhibition, V&A Museum, London. August 2005. “Drift Table” exhibited at the Tate Britian “A Picture of Britain” exhibition. July 2005.
Ingot arterfact, with Kirsty Stansfield, incorporated into her piece “(Aerial) Brass”, exhibited at the NOW Festival, Nottingham October 2004