ABOUT

My name is Andrea Bianchi and I am assistant professor in the School of Information and Communication Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University, starting in March 2013. In 2004 I graduated from Bocconi University (Italy) in Business Administration (BS+MS), then in 2007 from New York University (USA) in Computer Science (MS), worked as video game programmer in New York, moved to KAIST (Korea) and in 2012 obtained my PhD working in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) with a thesis on haptic interfaces for security devices (PIN entry systems). I published in ACM CHI, TEI, OzCHI, IEEE Computer, Elsevier Interacting with Computers, and my PhD work appeared on Engadget, ZDnet, New Scientist, MAKE, Gizmodo, and Slashdot. For two years I was also the director of the DALSMA conference on digital architecture and large scale media art. I collect eyeglasses.

Research statement

I am a maker. I invent and make new systems, often physical hardware or mobile-based interfaces. Through user-centered design, iterative prototyping (based on multidisciplinary skills such as programming, 3D CAD design, making electronic circuits) and analysis through users studies, I try to make things to understand and solve real-world problems.

My long term research objective is creating work that attempts to seamlessly integrate the computing devices around us with people's daily activities. I am interested in building interactive computer systems based on natural and tangible interfaces that help us accomplishing better routine and critical tasks, as for example password input for terminals and mobile devices, safety measures in work environments, language learning tools, input on portable devices, and using robots at home.

Personal information & skills

  • Languages: Italian (mother tongue), English (fluent), Korean (intermediate - level 4/6), Latin and Ancient Greek (written).
  • Research interest: Human Computer Interaction (HCI), interfaces.
  • Skills: Programming, physical computing and prototyping, electronics, UX design, user studies and statistics.
  • Korean name:.
Last update on 3 February 2013.

PUBLICATIONS

Journal and conference papers

    2013

  1. [C17] Bianchi, A., Oakley, I., Designing Tangible Magnetic Appcessories, to appear in Proceedings of ACM TEI 2013, Barcelona, Spain. 

    2. 2012

  2. [C16] Oakley, I., Bianchi, A., Multi-Touch Passwords for Mobile Device Access, to appear in Ubicomp 2012 (poster). 
  3. [PhD Thesis] Bianchi, A., Haptic and Audio Authentication: Empirically Exploring the Usability, Security and Feasibility of Non-Visual Passwords, Ph.D. Thesis, KAIST, Korea, 2012.
  4. [J2] Bianchi, A., Oakley, I., Kwon, D. S. Counting Clicks and Beeps: Exploring Numerosity Based Haptic and Audio PIN Entry, Interacting with Computers (SCI), Elsevier,  14 July 2012. 
  5. [J1] Bianchi, A., Oakley, I., Kwon, D. S. Open Sesame: Design guidelines for invisible passwords, in IEEE Computer (SCI), 45 (4), 58-65, April 2012. 
  6. [C15] Hwang, S. J., Bianchi, A.,. Wohn, K. Y., MicPen: Pressure-Sensitive Pen Interaction Using Microphone with Standard Touchscreen, in Ext. Proc. of ACM CHI 2012. 
  7. [C14] Bianchi, A., Oakley, I., Kwon, D. S., Luxpass - Using Light for PIN Entry Authentications, in Proc. KHCI 2012,Alpensia Resort, Jan.11~13 2012. 

    8. 2011

  8. [C13] Bianchi, A., Oakley, I., Kwon, D. S., Using mobile device screens for authentication, in Proc. of ACM OZCHI 2011, pp 50-53. 
  9. [C12] Bianchi, A., Oakley, I., Kwon, D. S., Spinlock: a Single-Cue Haptic and Audio PIN Input Technique for Authentication, in Proc. of HAID 2011, LNCS, pp. 81-90. 
  10. [C11] Bianchi, A., Oakley, I., Kwon, D. S., Haptic Security PIN Entry System Using Magnetic Repulsive Force, in Proc. of HAID 2011, LNCS. 
  11. [C10] Bianchi, A., Oakley, I., Kostakos, V., Kwon, D. S., The Phone Lock: Audio and Haptic Shoulder-Surfing Resistant PIN Entry Methods for Mobile Devices, in Proc. ACM TEI 2011, pp. 197-200. 
  12. [C9] Bianchi, A., Oakley, I., Lee, J. K., Kwon, D. S., Kostakos, V., Haptics for Tangible Interaction: A Vibro-Tactile Prototype, in Proc. of ACM TEI 2011, pp. 283-284. 
  13. [C8] Bianchi, A., Authentication on Public Terminals with Private Devices, in Proc. of ACM TEI 2011, pp. 29-430.   
  14. [C7] Bianchi, A., Oakley, I., Kwon, D.S., Obfuscating Authentication Through Haptics, Sound and Light, in Ext. Proc. of ACM CHI 2011, pp. 1105-1110.
  15. [C6] Kim, S. C., Bianchi, A., Lim, S. C., Kwon, D. S., 2D Tangible Code for the Social Enhancement of Media Space, in Ext. Proc. of TEI 2011, pp.127-132.  

    16. 2010

  16. [C5] Bianchi, A., Oakley, I., Kwon, D.S., The Secure Haptic Keypad: A Tactile Password System, in Proc. of  ACM CHI 2010, pp. 1089-1092, April 2010, Atlanta, GA, USA.
  17. [C4] Bianchi, A., Oakley, I., Lee, J. K., Kwon, D.S., The Haptic Wheel: Design & Evaluation of a Tactile Password System, in Ext. Proc. of ACM CHI 2010, pp. 3625-3630, April 2010, Atlanta, GA, USA.
  18. [C3] Kim S. C., Han B. K., Lim S. C., Bianchi A., Kyung K. U., Kwon D. S., Roly-poly: A Haptic Interface with a Self-righting Feature, in EuroHaptics 2010, Part I, LNCS 6191, pp. 332–339, 2010. 
  19. [C2] Bianchi, A., Kim, S.C., Oakley, I., Kwon, D.S., Shoulder-surfing Resistant Authentication Method using a Haptic Keypad, in Proc. KHCI 2010, Phoenix Park, Jan.27~29 2010, pp. 212-214, 2010. 

    20. 2009

  20. [C1] Bianchi, A., Yeo, W. S., The Drummer: a Collaborative Musical Interface with Mobility, in Proc. of the 2009 Conference on New interfaces For Musical Expression (NIME 2009), pp. 316-319. 

Patents

    2009-2013

  1. Bianchi, A., Oakley, I., Hwang, S. , Method and apparatus for sensing object using magnetic field, (10-2012-0118517), FILED. 
  2. Bianchi, A., Oakley, I., Hwang, S., System and Method for sensing object using electro-magnetic fields, (10-2013-0008171), FILED. 
  3. Bianchi, A., Oakley, I., Hwang, S., System and Method for multiplex sensing of object using magnetic and electro-magnetic field and applications, (10-2013-0008173), FILED. 
  4. Hwang, S. Bianchi, A., Wohn, K.Y., System and method for interaction between pen-user terminal using magnetic field, and pen for the same, (10-2013-0008172), FILED. 
  5. Hwang, S. Bianchi, A., Wohn, K.Y., System and Method for controlling user terminal using magnetic field based on gesture, means and user terminal for the same, (10-2013-0000599), FILED. 
  6. Hwang, S. Bianchi, A., Wohn, K.Y., System and Method for controlling user terminal using magnetic field, means and user terminal for the same, (10-2012-0148866), FILED. 
  7. Bianchi, A., Oakley, Magnopass -An input, receiving device for message input using mobile device, and input method for passcode using the same (10-2011-0006296), 2011.01.21, FILED. 
  8. Bianchi, A., Oakley, I., ShaPIN -Method and device for inputting password and recording medium for the same (10-1228809), 2013.01.25, ISSUED. 
  9. Bianchi, A., Oakley, I., Biometric Pairing - Authentication Method, device and system using biometrics and recording medium for the same (10-1219957), 2013.01.02, ISSUED. 
  10. Bianchi, A., Oakley, I., Kwon, D.S., LuxPass Color (10-1218969), 2012.12.29, ISSUED. 
  11. Bianchi, A., Oakley, I., Kwon, D.S., Touch Screen Haptic Wheel (10-1106209), 2012-01-09, ISSUED. 
  12. Kim, S.C., Bianchi, A., Lim, S.C., Kwon, D.S., Haptic Feedback Sensation (10-1211622), 2012-12-06, ISSUED. 
  13. Yang, T., Bianchi A., Fast response linear vibration motor using elastic returning force (10-1085462), 2011.11.15, ISSUED. 
  14. Bianchi, A., Oakley, I., Kwon, D.S., LuxPass (10-1084971), 2011-11-14, ISSUED. 
  15. Bianchi, A., Kwon, D.S., Secure Haptic Keypad (10-0964876), 2010-06-11, ISSUED. 

Poster, demos, and talks

    2009-2013

  1. Vanquishing Voyeurs: Secure Ways To Authenticate Insecurely (with Andrew Zoz Brooks) — DEFCON 19, Las Vegas, USA, August 4-7 2011.
  2. The Haptic Keypad — Invited talk at the Korean HCI 2011 Conference, Phoenix Park, Korea, Jan. 26-28 2011.
  3. Toward a shift in the authentication process — Seminar at LG Electronics, Seoul, Korea, 23 March 2011.
  4. Spinlock — presentation at the Korean Haptic Workshop 2011, KIST, Seoul, 21.10.2011.
  5. Haptic Passwords — UXCamp Barcamp Seoul, 27 February 2010.
  6. The Haptic Wheel — Haptics Research Workshop, Daejeon, Korea, 23 February 2010.
  7. Haptic Wheel Poster — at CHI 2010, Atlanta, GA, USA. 
  8. Haptic Wheel Demo — at KHCI 2010, Phoenix Park, Jan.27~29, 2010. 
  9. Haptic Wheel Demo — at KES 2009 (Korea Electronics Show 2009), 14-18 October 2009, Korea International Exhibition Center (KINTEX).
  10. Invisible Robots — Open Session at Lift Asia Conference, Jeju, Korea, September 4-6, 2008.

PROJECTS

This page contains a summary of the most significant projects I have worked on during the past few years. Most of these were the results of collaborations with several instituions and people. Most projects down here have been patented or a patent has been filed: please contact me directly for licensing.

Magnetic Appcessories

Tangible interaction allows the control of digital information through physical artifacts - virtual data is tied to real-world objects. Sensing and display technologies that enable this kind of functionality are typically complex. This represents a barrier to entry for researchers and also restricts where these interaction techniques can be deployed. Addressing these limitations, recent work has explored how the touch screens on mobile devices can be used as sensing and display platforms for tangible interfaces. This project extends this work by exploring how magnets can be employed to achieve similar ends. To achieve this it describes the design and construction of eight magnetic appcessories. These are cheap, robust physical interfaces that leverage magnets (and the magnetic sensing built into mobile devices) to support reliable and expressive tangible interactions with digital content.

Related material

  • This work (released few days ago) will be also presented in the upcoming ACM TEI 2013 international conference in Barcelona, Spain (February 2013). 
  • This work appeared on MAKE, Gizmodo, and Slashdot.

Invisible Passwords

Authentication systems are nowadays the main gateway to our digital information: think about of how many times you insert a password in a day, on your phone or computer, when navigating the web, accessing social network systems or content stored on the digital cloud. In the future the cost for stolen information will increase as our digital persona become always more important and interconnected across web-services. However, password entry systems in public spaces are inherently exposed to attacks based on observation, an increasingly common and damaging approach.

This project presents a family of interfaces, usually hardware and software prototypes, that make observation by visual means impossible, because the PIN is inserted by using non-visual modalities, such as haptic and audio cues. We explored techniques based on recognition of non-visual cues (Haptic Keypad, Haptic Wheel, Phonelock) and based on counting a simple single cue (Spinlock, Colorlock, Timelock). By showing the empirical results of user studies with several haptic and audio systems, we argue that non-visual passwords based on haptics or audio, and counting-based scheme, provide advantages when compared than traditional alpha-numerical passwords, both in terms of usability and security against observation attacks. Finally we presented a set of guidelines for designing non-visual password systems, guideliens that could be already applicable and suitable to a wide range of interfaces tackling demanding non-visual interaction tasks.

Related material

  • The interfaces presented above are described with plenty of details and evaluations in several research papers (check the publications page in this website). A good summary of this work is this paper published on IEEE Computer (April 2012) .
  • This project was featured on Engadget, ZDnet and the New Scientist.

Luxpass: authentication using light

Authentication in public spaces, such as ATM PIN entry, is inherently susceptible to security attacks based on observation in person or via cameras. This project addresses this problem with a system which allows users to enter a PIN on a standard mobile phone and then transmit it securely for authentication using modulated patterns of light shown on the screen and sensed by a cheap bespoke receiver unit. No pre-pairing is required as physical proximity guarantees security. The project presents several hardware and software variations, evaluates the technical soundness of the system, and presents two user studies addressing usability and security against observation attacks.

Related material

  • Official website.
  • To OzCHI 2011 paper featuring the Luxpass system .

Drummer DS

The Drummer is an open source networked digital musical interface that allows multiple users to design and play a drum kit. The system is based on client-server architecture over a wireless network; every client runs on a Nintendo DS -one of the most popular wireless handheld game devices with touch-screen functionality- while the server computer handles the clients’ requests and plays matching drum sounds.Each user can take advantage of this small and intuitive pen-based device in order to create or customize a drum kit, and then perform together with other users simply by tapping and sliding the pen on the screen.

Related material

  • Official website.
  • The NIME 2009 paper featuring the Drummer DS .
  • A review of the Drummer on Create Digital Music.

Side Projects

In the past years I also worked on a variety of side projects not directly related with my research. These include 1) 3D scanning for preservation of cultural heritage (e.g., dinosours footsteps, statue of Buddha at Seokguram); 2) Pingle, a small social robot that stores a user's profile and reacts with actions when in proximity of another Pingle robot that has a matching user profile; 3) animations and spatial-keyframe rigging for 3D characters, 3D graphics, sketches and graphic design; 4) Mic-Pen, a stylus-input methods for mobile devices (e.g., iPad) that uses the device internal microphone to estimate the pressure applied to a stylus (this is a project by Sungjae Hwang, and I have only helped him out with the user study); 5) organizing the DALSMA conference, a yearly international conference about Digital Architecture and Large Scale Media Art. We run two editions of DALSMA (2010, 2011) each one with several speakers and about 200 participants. 6) Here various projects i developed during my master course. 7) Finally, I have also been writing about interfaces and robots both on my personal blog and as freelancer for Lift Conference.

Related material

PERSONAL

In this page I include the links to the social services, blogs and internet accounts that I currently use. At the bottom of the page you can also find some pictures of me and my friends.

More on me

    • Also Plants Fly. The name of this website is an homage to Dumbo and a reminder that any problem can be solved if looked under a different (sometimes perhaps naive) perspective.
    • DALSMA. I am the founder and director of DALSMA, an annual international conference about Digital Architecture and Large Scale Media Art, with more than 200 participant per endition. The goal of DALSMA is to inspire people and increase their awareness about the variety of ways we can re-think modern cities.
    • Writings. I used to write a blog about the commonplace interfaces that surround us, and InterHaiku, where I tried to capture only with pictures and minimal haiku-style explanation how people interact with real-world tangible interfaces. I also wrote as free lancer for the Lift conference about robotics.
    • Press & Talks. My work on Engadget, ZDnet, New Scientist, 1/n (Korean magazine), Create Digital Music. I also participated with Andrew Zoz Brooks at the hackers' conference DEFCON 19 (here the talk).
    • Duties. Reviewer for CHI 2012, CHI 2013, TEI 2011, TEI 2012, TEI 2013, Elsevier Interacting With Computers, Mobile HCI 2012, DIS 2012, World Haptics 2012. Program Committee (PC) for OZCHI 2012, Art Exhibition Chari at World Haptics 2013, and Poster Co-Chair for HAID 2013.
    • Labs. While in KAIST I worked simultaneously in two laboratories. My primary workplace was professor Kwon's Telerobotics and Control Lab in Mechanical Engineering. The other one was professor Wohn's Experience Lab in the Graduate School of Culture Technology (GSCT).
    • Masters portfolio. While at NYU I worked on several projects, including video games, educational software and 3D graphics. Here my previous portfolio.

    Pictures

    CONTACT

    Feel free to use the form here on the left to send me comments or feedback about my work or this website. You can also contact me through Linkedin.