Scott Davidoff
California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Lab, Faculty Member
- As Manager of the Human Interfaces Group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Dr. Scott Davidoff leads design and dev... moreAs Manager of the Human Interfaces Group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Dr. Scott Davidoff leads design and development of the user interfaces that command all JPL spacecraft. His expertise includes Human-Computer and Human-Robot Interaction, Visualization, and Design.
As a Principal Investigator, Dr. Davidoff researches new ways to more naturally control complex, future space exploration platforms (like the Athlete rover). Davidoff is also the creator of numerous lightweight prototyping methods that now form part of Design and HCI curricula.
Across his over 15 years of experience, Davidoff has authored over 20 research papers, including best papers at the 2012 ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems and the 2008 Design and Emotion Society Conference. He has served on the program committees for the ACM Conferences on Computer-Human Interaction (CHI), and Tangible and Embedded Interfaces (TEI). Prior to JPL, Davidoff taught Human-Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to that, he was the Principal Designer at Scott Davidoff Design, where he led advanced development projects for companies like SBC Ameritech, Nortel Systems, and America Online.
His work has been featured in media worldwide, including Engadget, CNET, Adaptive Path and Dorkbot. He also wrote the introduction to Graphis Interactive No. 2. His research is funded by grants from the National Science Foundation and Google Research.
Dr. Davidoff has a Ph.D. in Human-Computer Interaction, an MS in Computer Science (Research), and an M.HCI in Human-Computer Interaction (Practice), all from Carnegie Mellon.edit
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ABSTRACT Effective data visualization is a key part of the discovery process in the era of big data. It is the bridge between the quantitative content of the data and human intuition, and thus an essential component of the scientific path... more
ABSTRACT Effective data visualization is a key part of the discovery process in the era of big data. It is the bridge between the quantitative content of the data and human intuition, and thus an essential component of the scientific path from data into knowledge and understanding. Visualization is also essential in the data mining process, directing the choice of the applicable algorithms, and in helping to identify and remove bad data from the analysis. However, a high complexity or a high dimensionality of modern data sets represents a critical obstacle. How do we visualize interesting structures and patterns that may exist in hyper-dimensional data spaces? A better understanding of how we can perceive and interact with multi dimensional information poses some deep questions in the field of cognition technology and human computer interaction. To this effect, we are exploring the use of immersive virtual reality platforms for scientific data visualization, both as software and inexpensive commodity hardware. These potentially powerful and innovative tools for multi dimensional data visualization can also provide an easy and natural path to a collaborative data visualization and exploration, where scientists can interact with their data and their colleagues in the same visual space. Immersion provides benefits beyond the traditional desktop visualization tools: it leads to a demonstrably better perception of a datascape geometry, more intuitive data understanding, and a better retention of the perceived relationships in the data.
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The complexities and costs of deploying Ubicomp applications seriously compromise our ability to evaluate such systems in the real world. To simplify Ubicomp deployment we introduce the robotic pseudopod (P.Pod), an actuator that acts on... more
The complexities and costs of deploying Ubicomp applications seriously compromise our ability to evaluate such systems in the real world. To simplify Ubicomp deployment we introduce the robotic pseudopod (P.Pod), an actuator that acts on mechanical switches originally designed for human control only. P.Pods enable computational control of devices by hijacking their mechanical switches -- a term we refer to as mechanical hijacking. P.Pods offer simple, low-cost, non-destructive computational access to installed hardware, enabling functional, real world Ubicomp deployments. In this paper, we illustrate how three P.Pod primitives, built with the Lego MindStorm NXT toolkit, can implement mechanical hijacking, facilitating real world Ubicomp deployments which otherwise require extensive changes to existing hardware or infrastructure. Lastly, we demonstrate the simplicity of P.Pods by observing two middle school classes build working smart home applications in 4 hours.
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Autonomous planning and scheduling is a key enabling technology for future robotic Solar System explorers: as missions venture farther in the Solar System, light-speed delays and low available bandwidth make on-board autonomy increasingly... more
Autonomous planning and scheduling is a key enabling technology for future robotic Solar System explorers: as missions venture farther in the Solar System, light-speed delays and low available bandwidth make on-board autonomy increasingly attractive to maximize science returns and enable otherwise-infeasible observations of transient phenomena, e.g. storms on gas giants and plumes on icy worlds. However, ground operations of future autonomous explorers will require a paradigm shift, moving from the current practice of specifying timed sequences of commands, to specifying high-level goals that on-board autonomy should elaborate based on the spacecraft's state and the sensed environment. In this paper, we explore the problem of adapting ground operations processes, roles, and tools to accommodate on-board planning and scheduling. We design and prototype a framework of user interfaces and algorithmic tools to support uplink and downlink processes of future autonomous spacecraft. The framework's goals are to allow scientists and engineers to both convey their desired intent to the spacecraft in a format compatible with the on-board planner, and reconstruct and explain the decisions made onboard and their impact on the state of the spacecraft. We assess the performance of the framework through a design simulation where JPL scientists and operators simulate realistic operations of an Ice Giant multi-flyby mission concept, aided by the proposed framework. The design simulation confirms that the proposed approach holds promise to enable operators to interact with on-board autonomy, and suggest a number of recommendations for the next generation of operations tools supporting autonomous spacecraft.
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Collocated crystal sizes and mineral identities are critical for interpreting textural relationships in rocks and testing geological hypotheses, but it has been previously impossible to unambiguously constrain these properties using in... more
Collocated crystal sizes and mineral identities are critical for interpreting textural relationships in rocks and testing geological hypotheses, but it has been previously impossible to unambiguously constrain these properties using in situ instruments on Mars rovers. Here, we demonstrate that diffracted and fluoresced x-rays detected by the PIXL instrument (an x-ray fluorescence microscope on the Perseverance rover) provide information about the presence or absence of coherent crystalline domains in various minerals. X-ray analysis and multispectral imaging of rocks from the Séítah formation on the floor of Jezero crater shows that they were emplaced as coarsely crystalline igneous phases. Olivine grains were then partially dissolved and filled by finely crystalline or amorphous secondary silicate, carbonate, sulfate, and chloride/oxychlorine minerals. These results support the hypothesis that Séítah formation rocks represent olivine cumulates altered by fluids far from chemical eq...
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The geological units on the floor of Jezero crater, Mars, are part of a wider regional stratigraphy of olivine-rich rocks, which extends well beyond the crater. We investigated the petrology of olivine and carbonate-bearing rocks of the... more
The geological units on the floor of Jezero crater, Mars, are part of a wider regional stratigraphy of olivine-rich rocks, which extends well beyond the crater. We investigated the petrology of olivine and carbonate-bearing rocks of the Séítah formation in the floor of Jezero. Using multispectral images and x-ray fluorescence data, acquired by the Perseverance rover, we performed a petrographic analysis of the Bastide and Brac outcrops within this unit. We found that these outcrops are composed of igneous rock, moderately altered by aqueous fluid. The igneous rocks are mainly made of coarse-grained olivine, similar to some martian meteorites. We interpret them as an olivine cumulate, formed by settling and enrichment of olivine through multistage cooling of a thick magma body.
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The space-based gravitational-wave (henceforth, GW!) observatory LISA (Amaro-Seoane et al., 2017) will o˙er unparalleled science returns, including a view of massive black hole mergers up to high redshifts, precision tests of general... more
The space-based gravitational-wave (henceforth, GW!) observatory LISA (Amaro-Seoane et al., 2017) will o˙er unparalleled science returns, including a view of massive black hole mergers up to high redshifts, precision tests of general relativity and black hole structure, a census of thousands of compact binaries in the Galaxy, and the possibility of detecting stochastic signals from the early Universe. While the Mock LISA Data Challenges (2006–2011) gave us confidence that LISA will be able to fulfill its scientific potential, we still have a rather incomplete idea of what the end-to-end LISA science analysis should look like. The task at hand is substantial: 1) Our data reduction process needs to ensure the phase coherence of GW measurements across data gaps and instrument glitches over multiple years. 2) Our waveform models need to reach part-in-105 accuracy to maximize the science payo˙ of the mission, with suÿcient computational eÿciency to sample parameter space broadly. 3) Our ...
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Substantial stumbling blocks confront computer-illiterate elders. We introduce a novel user interface technology to lower these start up costs: the book as user interface, or BUI. Book pages contain both step-by-step instructions and... more
Substantial stumbling blocks confront computer-illiterate elders. We introduce a novel user interface technology to lower these start up costs: the book as user interface, or BUI. Book pages contain both step-by-step instructions and tangible controls, turning a complex interaction into a walkup -and-use scenario. The system expands support past the technical artifact to a go-to relationship. ElderMail users designate an internet-savvy trusted friend or relative to help with complex tasks. In this paper, we conduct a preliminary evaluation of a BUI-based email system, and report our findings. While research has augmented paper artifacts to provide alternate access into the digital world, we find that elders use the BUI as a way to circumvent the digital world.
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This study investigates the efficacy of a 3D visualization application used to classify various types of stars using data derived from large synoptic sky surveys. Evaluation methodology included a cognitive walkthrough that prompted... more
This study investigates the efficacy of a 3D visualization application used to classify various types of stars using data derived from large synoptic sky surveys. Evaluation methodology included a cognitive walkthrough that prompted participants to identify a specific star type (Supernovae, RR Lyrae or Eclipsing Binary) and retrieve variable information (MAD, magratio, amplitude, frequency) from the star. This study also implemented a heuristic evaluation that applied usability standards such as the Shneiderman Visual Information Seeking Mantra to the initial iteration of the application. Findings from the evaluation indicated that improvements could be made to the application by developing effective spatial organization and implementing data reduction techniques such as linking, brushing, and small multiples.
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B. Clark, L. Cinquini, S. Davidoff, R.W. Denise, W.T., Elam, M.C. Foote, D.T. Flannery, J.H. Gerhard, J.P., Grotzinger, C.M. Heirwegh, C. Hernandez, R.P. Hodyss, M.W. Jones, J.L. Jørgensen, J. Henneke, P.R. Lawson, Y. Liu, H. MacDonald,... more
B. Clark, L. Cinquini, S. Davidoff, R.W. Denise, W.T., Elam, M.C. Foote, D.T. Flannery, J.H. Gerhard, J.P., Grotzinger, C.M. Heirwegh, C. Hernandez, R.P. Hodyss, M.W. Jones, J.L. Jørgensen, J. Henneke, P.R. Lawson, Y. Liu, H. MacDonald, S.M. McLennan, K.R., Moore, M. Nachon, P. Nemere, L. O’Neil, D.A.K. Pedersen, K.P. Sinclair, M.E. Sondheim, E. Song, N.R. Tallarida, M.M. Tice, A. Treiman, K. Uckert, L.A. Wade, J.D. Young, P. Zamani, NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA, Department of Geosciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, joel.hurowitz@stonybrook.edu, Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, AU, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, Danish Technical University, Lyngby, DK, College of Geosciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, TX
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Model-based systems engineering (MBSE) is a relatively new field that brings together the interdisciplinary study of technological components of a project (systems engineering) with a model-based ontology to express the hierarchical and... more
Model-based systems engineering (MBSE) is a relatively new field that brings together the interdisciplinary study of technological components of a project (systems engineering) with a model-based ontology to express the hierarchical and behavioral relationships between the components (computational modeling). Despite the compelling promises of the benefits of MBSE, such as improved communication and productivity due to an underlying language and data model, we observed hesitation to its adoption at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. To investigate, we conducted a six-month ethnographic field investigation and needs validation with 19 systems engineers. This paper contributes our observations of a generational shift in one of JPL’s core technologies. We report on a cultural misunderstanding between communities of practice that bolsters the existing technology drag. Given the high cost of failure, we springboard our observations into a design hypothesis – an intervention that blends ...
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2002-2012 Theses by Author Human-Computer Interaction Institute School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University. Please see abstracts for all citations/formats related to each thesis. ALEAHMAD, Turadg CMU-HCII-12-105. ALLIN, Sonya... more
2002-2012 Theses by Author Human-Computer Interaction Institute School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University. Please see abstracts for all citations/formats related to each thesis. ALEAHMAD, Turadg CMU-HCII-12-105. ALLIN, Sonya J. CMU-HCII-07-103. ANKOLEKAR, Anupriya CMU-HCII-05-103. ANTHONY, Lisa CMU-HCII-08-105. AVRAHAMI, Daniel CMU-HCII-07-102. BAKER, Ryan Shaun CMU-HCII-05-104. BALAKRISHNAN, Aruna D. CMU-HCII-11-104. BAUER, Aaron CMU-HCII-08-103. BURKE, Moira CMU-HCII-11-107. ...
2002-2012 Technical Reports by Author Human-Computer Interaction Institute School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University. ALEAHMAD, Turadg CMU-HCII-12-105. ALLIN, Sonya J. CMU-HCII-07-103. ANKOLEKAR, Anupriya CMU-HCII-03-103.... more
2002-2012 Technical Reports by Author Human-Computer Interaction Institute School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University. ALEAHMAD, Turadg CMU-HCII-12-105. ALLIN, Sonya J. CMU-HCII-07-103. ANKOLEKAR, Anupriya CMU-HCII-03-103. ANTHONY, Lisa CMU-HCII-06-101, CMU-HCII-08-100, CMU-HCII-08-105. AVRAHAMI, Daniel CMU-HCII-07- 102. BAKER, Ryan Shaun CMU-HCII-04-100, CMU-HCII-05-104. BALAKRISHNAN, Aruna D. CMU-HCII-11-104. BAUER, Aaron CMU-HCII-08-103. BENNETT, Rachael CMU-HCII-06-102. ...
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Data visualization frequently provides audiences with novel semantic and computational presentations. How does a multifaceted team expand this scope by harnessing the power of visualization as a tool to think with? The NASA JPL/Caltech/... more
Data visualization frequently provides audiences with novel semantic and computational presentations. How does a multifaceted team expand this scope by harnessing the power of visualization as a tool to think with? The NASA JPL/Caltech/ ArtCenter data visualization program demonstrates how scientific knowledge, shaped from data and theory, is equally co-constructed from diverse human perspectives. We will share case studies from Mars Rover Path planning and PIXLISE, a visual reasoning tool for understanding planetary geology. Working from source data through mixed media artifacts, these projects explore co-design methods for complex scientific domains with real-world applications. Our methodology emphasizes that all participants in the co-design process are both learners and experts. In this dynamic, the design and coding process are unique modes of critical discovery.
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For many years technology researchers have promised a smart home that will provide the appropriate assistance to improve human experience. While technology researchers have focused on how people can control devices in their homes, our... more
For many years technology researchers have promised a smart home that will provide the appropriate assistance to improve human experience. While technology researchers have focused on how people can control devices in their homes, our ethnographic research and findings by other social scientists have revealed that families want more control over their lives. We believe a smart home should provide families with a feeling of control over their lives: being relieved from breakdowns in their daily routines, and getting emotional satisfaction from the things they value – identity, time, and relationships. In this paper, we explore the roles that a smart home can play for families to regain control over their lives. We present our human-centered design research on dual income families and suggest insights about the potential roles of a smart home based on this research.
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NASA JPL scientists working on the micro x-ray fluorescence (microXRF) spectroscopy data collected from Mars surface perform data analysis to look for signs of past microbial life on Mars. Their data analysis workflow mainly involves... more
NASA JPL scientists working on the micro x-ray fluorescence (microXRF) spectroscopy data collected from Mars surface perform data analysis to look for signs of past microbial life on Mars. Their data analysis workflow mainly involves identifying mineral compounds through the element abundance in spatially distributed data points. Working with the NASA JPL team, we identified pain points and needs to further develop their existing data visualization and analysis tool. Specifically, the team desired improvements for the process of creating and interpreting mineral composition groups. To address this problem, we developed an interactive tool that enables scientists to (1) cluster the data using either manual lasso-tool selection or through various machine learning clustering algorithms, and (2) compare the clusters and individual data points to make informed decisions about mineral compositions. Our preliminary tool supports a hybrid data analysis workflow where the user can manually r...
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Research Interests: Computer Science, Human Computer Interaction, User Experience (UX), Ubiquitous Computing, Design Methods, and 14 moreInteraction Design, Reflection, Sketching, Prototyping, Design method, Smart Home, User Centered Design, Risk factors, Intelligent environments, Matrix, Sketch, Risk Factors, Situated, and Springer Ebooks
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Research Interests: Computer Science, Human Computer Interaction, Anthropology, Design, Ubiquitous Computing, and 13 moreDesign Methods, Interaction Design, User Experience Design, HCI, User eXperience, Prototyping, Ubicomp, Design process, Design method, Design Methodology, Internet of Things (IoT), Ethnography Research methodology, and Boundary Object
Researchers recently gathered at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, to share their accomplishments at the 13th annual ACM Conference on Ubiquitous Computing. This multidisciplinary conference featured advances in sensing technologies... more
Researchers recently gathered at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, to share their accomplishments at the 13th annual ACM Conference on Ubiquitous Computing. This multidisciplinary conference featured advances in sensing technologies and activity-recognition algorithms, novel applications, and results from end-user evaluations. This department samples work presented at the conference, providing an overview of the themes addressed as well as reference pointers
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The majority of smart home research has focused on novel technical artifacts, but has overlooked the issues surrounding social relationships in the home. We argue in favor of research that is sensitive to and functions within the social... more
The majority of smart home research has focused on novel technical artifacts, but has overlooked the issues surrounding social relationships in the home. We argue in favor of research that is sensitive to and functions within the social constraints of dual income family homes. This paper describes our grounded contextual fieldwork with real families in their homes, and identifies socially-aware concepts smart home systems will need to address.
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Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) is a micro-focus X-ray fluorescence spectrometer mounted on the robotic arm of NASA's Perseverance rover. PIXL will acquire high spatial resolution observations of rock and soil... more
Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) is a micro-focus X-ray fluorescence spectrometer mounted on the robotic arm of NASA's Perseverance rover. PIXL will acquire high spatial resolution observations of rock and soil chemistry, rapidly analyzing the elemental chemistry of a target surface. In 10 seconds, PIXL can use its powerful 120 µm-diameter X-ray beam to analyze a single, sand-sized grain with enough sensitivity to detect major and minor rock-forming elements, as well as many trace elements. Over a period of several hours, PIXL can autonomously raster-scan an area of the rock surface and acquire a hyperspectral map comprised of several thousand individual measured points. When correlated to a visual image acquired by PIXL's camera, these maps reveal the distribution and abundance variations of chemical elements making up the rock, tied accurately to the physical texture and structure of the rock, at a scale comparable to a 10X magnifying geological hand lens. The many thousands of spectra in these postage stamp-sized elemental maps may be analyzed individually or summed together to create a bulk rock analysis, or subsets of spectra may be summed, quantified, analyzed, and compared using PIXLISE data analysis software. This hand lens-scale view of the petrology and geochemistry of materials at the Perseverance landing site will provide a valuable link between the larger, centimeterto meter-scale observations by Mastcam-Z, RIMFAX and Supercam, and the much smaller (micron-scale) measurements that would be made on returned samples in terrestrial laboratories.
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NASA JPL scientists working on the micro x-ray fluorescence (mi-croXRF) spectroscopy data collected from Mars surface perform data analysis to look for signs of past microbial life on Mars. Their data analysis workflow mainly involves... more
NASA JPL scientists working on the micro x-ray fluorescence (mi-croXRF) spectroscopy data collected from Mars surface perform data analysis to look for signs of past microbial life on Mars. Their data analysis workflow mainly involves identifying mineral compounds through the element abundance in spatially distributed data points. Working with the NASA JPL team, we identified pain points and needs to further develop their existing data visualization and analysis tool. Specifically, the team desired improvements for the process of creating and interpreting mineral composition groups. To address this problem, we developed an interactive tool that enables scientists to (1) cluster the data using either manual lasso-tool selection or through various machine learning clustering algorithms, and (2) compare the clusters and individual data points to make informed decisions about mineral compositions. Our preliminary tool supports a hybrid data analysis workflow where the user can manually refine the machine-generated clusters. CCS CONCEPTS • Applied computing → Chemistry.
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Automation is gaining momentum in spacecraft operations, however, at a much slower pace than comparable application domains. The reasons behind slow adoption is (1) the need for high reliability and (2) the limited interaction between... more
Automation is gaining momentum in spacecraft operations, however, at a much slower pace than comparable application domains. The reasons behind slow adoption is (1) the need for high reliability and (2) the limited interaction between human operators and the automated systems. For automated systems to be adopted and trusted by humans, humans need to gain intuition about the decision making process of the automated system and trust in its execution [1]. In this paper, we present how simulation and visualization can enhance adoption of an automated on-board activity scheduling system, specifically in the context of Mars2020 rover mission [2]. The visualization aims to communicate to the users degree of variance and uncertainty in possible schedule execution. Our preliminary validation results suggest that the proposed visualization increases operators' confidence in-and likelihood of adopting-the automated scheduling system.
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This study investigates the efficacy of a 3D visualization application used to classify various types of stars using data derived from large synoptic sky surveys. Evaluation methodology included a cognitive walkthrough that prompted... more
This study investigates the efficacy of a 3D visualization application used to classify various types of stars using data derived from large synoptic sky surveys. Evaluation methodology included a cognitive walkthrough that prompted participants to identify a specific star type (Supernovae, RR Lyrae or Eclipsing Binary) and retrieve variable information (MAD, magratio, amplitude, frequency) from the star. This study also implemented a heuristic evaluation that applied usability standards such as the Shneiderman Visual Information Seeking Mantra to the initial iteration of the application. Findings from the evaluation indicated that improvements could be made to the application by developing effective spatial organization and implementing data reduction techniques such as linking, brushing, and small multiples.