Tuesday, January 14, 2025

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• Showcase your commitment to students by applying for an Employer Impact Award
• Kick the (coffee) can: order coffee with your feet by varying your gait
• Heating issue leads to temporary relocation of residents at UWP
• Harm reduction forum takes a hard look at fentanyl, other notes

Showcase your commitment to students by applying for an Employer Impact Award

A message from Co-operative and Experiential Education (CEE).

Each year, CEE celebrates employers who provide exceptional work experiences to Waterloo co-op students. If you hired co-op students in 2024, we encourage you to apply for a CEE Employer Impact Award!

Apply for an Employer Impact Award

Why apply?

• Highlight your leadership – gain recognition for your industry leadership and development of the next generation of talent
• Enhance your employer brand – showcase your outstanding work terms and make your organization attractive to top student talent
• Strengthen campus connections – build visibility and reputation within the Waterloo community
• Motivate your team – acknowledge and celebrate your employees who mentor and guide co-op student

We’ve made applying easy!

Join us on February 5 at 2:00 p.m. for a 30-minute webinar. We’ll walk you through the application form, submission requirements and tips to strengthen your application. Register for Mastering the Employer Impact Awards application: Pro-tips and how-to.

Kick the (coffee) can: order coffee with your feet by varying your gait

This image of a person ordering coffee using their foot was created using generative AI.

Imagine controlling apps with your feet while you walk. This concept is the focus of new research that explores using gait gestures – intentional variations in how you walk – as controls for augmented reality (AR) devices. 

“There’s a long history of using feet to control machines. For example, the pedals on the car, but very little research has been done into using the way we walk as an input for a device,” said Ching-Yi Tsai, the lead author on the study and a former visiting scholar in the University of Waterloo David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science.

The idea emerged during the pandemic when Waterloo professor of computer science Daniel Vogel, frustrated by having to stop and use his phone with cold fingers while walking to get coffee, wondered if there could be a way to place orders without pausing. This led to a study where volunteers tested 22 different foot motions, rating them on ease of movement, compatibility with walking, and social acceptability.

“Extreme movements like dance steps or a jump would likely be easy for a system to recognize, but these might be harder to perform, and they would deviate too far from normal walking for people to feel comfortable doing them in public,” Vogel said. “We didn’t want users to feel like someone from Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks!”

The research identified seven optimal gait gestures. In a follow-up study, participants used an AR headset displaying a simple menu overlaid with the real world. They tested these gestures to operate a music player, order coffee, and answer calls. The team remotely triggered commands, as the corresponding AR technology is still in development. A proof-of-concept recognizer was also created, achieving 92 per cent accuracy in identifying the gestures.

“We aren’t at a point yet where AR headsets are widely used,” Tsai said. “But this research shows that if we get there, this input option has got legs!”

The study, "Gait gestures: examining stride and foot strike variation as an input method while walking", authored by Tsai, Vogel and Waterloo researchers Ryan Yen and Daekun Kim was recently published in the proceedings of UIST 2024. 

 Heating issue leads to temporary relocation of residents at UWP

Harm reduction forum takes a hard look at fentanyl, other notes

Join a panel of experts from the University on Wednesday, January 29, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon for Fentanyl: a Harm Reduction Forum. This collaborative discussion on the growing opioid crisis across the Region of Waterloo will dispel myths and discuss harm reduction strategies to prevent or address overdose. Join online via Zoom and in person in EC5's Enterprise Theatre.

Velocity will be hosting an Innovation Open House Mixer this evening from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the SCH Cafeteria. "The Innovation Open House Mixer is an opportunity to meet fellow students and aspiring or emerging entrepreneurs from across campus," says a note from Velocity. "Join us to make friends, gain valuable contacts and build connections with Velocity and its resources. You’ll also have the chance to connect with representatives from Math Innovation, Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business, GreenHouse (Social Impact and Indigenous Incubators), Grebel Peace Incubator, Future Cities Institute, the Library and Socratica."

Information Systems & Technology (IST) reports that Quest will be down for scheduled maintenance on Sunday, January 19 from 6:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. During this time interval Quest will be unavailable.