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Welcome to the INIT Lab!

Intelligent Natural Interaction Technology. Since 2013.

🐊 HUMAN-AI PARTNERSHIP

if AI can converse with you, can it reason, learn, and adapt with you over time?

read: 1, 2, 3

🐊 EMERGING INTERACTION PARADIGMS

what new or expanded human capabilities are possible as a result of the novel technology?

read: 1, 2, 3

🐊 CHILD-COMPUTER INTERACTION

how do children’s behaviors challenge intelligent algorithms?

read: 1, 2, 3

🐊 USER EXPERIENCE AND INTERACTION DESIGN

what are the trade-offs in user-centered design around imperfect systems?

read: 1, 2, 3

~ keep reading below, check out our top projects, or find details in the navigation bar ~

A hand hovers over a control panel in the foreground while data and patterns display ahead. Conceptual sketch generated by Canva AI.
$-Family and Toolkits for 2D surface gesture recognition and analysis follow a human-centered computing approach
Two children sit on the floor facing a tablet touchscreen. Conceptual sketch generated by Canva AI.
MTAGIC: our original project in natural user interfaces for children was on touch and surface gestures on tablets and smartphones.
A person faces a wall with data visualizations and graphs, gesturing. Conceptual sketch generated by Canva AI.
HCCML: investigating interactive machine learning and human-AI partnership.
A person faces a wall with data visualizations and graphs, gesturing. Conceptual sketch generated by Canva AI.
ENKIx: designing natural multimodal interactions in XR for high-stakes environments.
A person faces a large globe displaying data visualizations, while gesturing and pointing. Conceptual sketch generated by Canva AI.
TIDESS: when new technologies enable new learning paradigms, how do we design those interactions?
Looking over a person's shoulder, there is a smartphone with a heartbeat signal, graphs, and a path leading to the distance. Conceptual sketch generated by Canva AI.
MyTrack+: studying how to support both coaches and individuals when designing middle-layer experiences.

Prefer to read about us first?

Since 2013, Dr. Lisa Anthony in the CISE Department at the University of Florida has directed research in designing and developing emerging interaction technologies from a human-centered computing perspective.

From our earliest projects on pen, touch, and gesture interaction for adults and for children, to our current projects on human-AI collaboration and partnership — our focus has always been on:

  • understanding the unique affordances and challenges each technology presents,
  • understanding the unique needs and expectations of particular user groups in particular contexts,
  • and designing and developing prototype solutions at the right intersection between them.

Our lab is equally comfortable in the weeds of intelligent algorithms and parameters and in the broad strokes of conceptual design in new interaction spaces. INIT Lab projects advance both human-computer interaction (HCI) research questions of how specific users want to interact with emerging interactive technologies in specific contexts, and computer science research questions of how to build intelligent systems that can provide sufficient benefit without requiring increased mental demand for the users.

Example Projects: mobile health, surgical contexts, and high-stress, high-stakes scenarios

Keywords: human-computer interaction, human-AI interaction, natural user interaction, child-computer interaction, multimodal interaction, machine learning and artificial intelligence, pattern recognition, cognitive science, and interaction design.

Our name has always described what we do:

  • Intelligent — the system adapts, learns, improves, grows
  • Natural — the user can focus on their goals, not the system
  • Interaction — the connection between user and system is the focus
  • Technology — the computing technology that underlies everything we study

Reach out and get to know us!

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Last revised Oct 2026. Graphical sketches generated with Canva AI.