Eric Paulos

Research Expertise and Interest

human-computer interaction, new media arts, digital fabrication, epidermal and wearable electronics

Research Description

Eric Paulos is the founder and director of the Hybrid Ecologies Lab, a Professor in Electrical Engineering Computer Science Department at UC Berkeley, Director of the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, Director of the CITRIS Invention Lab, Co-Director of the Swarm Lab, and faculty within the Berkeley Center for New Media (BCNM). Eric was also the founding Director of the Master of Design (MDes) program at UC Berkeley.

Eric developed some of the first internet telepresence robots in the early 1990s, one of the first smartwatch haptic messaging devices in 2002, coined the term "Urban Computing" in 2004, created the first citizen science air quality sensors integrated into mobile phones in 2007, and created "counterfuntional design" and "unmaking" as major research themes within HCI and Design.

Previously, Eric held the Cooper-Siegel Associate Professor Chair in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University where he was faculty within the Human-Computer Interaction Institute with courtesy faculty appointments in the Robotics Institute and in the Entertainment Technology Center. At CMU he founded and directed the Living Environments Lab. 

Prior to CMU, Eric was a Senior Research Scientist at Intel Research in Berkeley, California where he founded the Urban Atmospheres research group - challenged to employ innovative methods to explore urban life and the future fabric of emerging technologies across public urban landscapes. His areas of expertise span a deep body of research territory in critical making, design research, urban computing, sustainability, social telepresence, robotics, physical computing, interaction design, persuasive technologies, and intimate media. 

Eric received his PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley where he helped launch a new robotic industry by developing some of the first internet tele-operated robots including Space Browsing helium filled blimps and Personal Roving Presence devices (PRoPs).

Eric is also the founder and director of the Experimental Interaction Unitand a frequent collaborator with Mark Pauline of Survival Research Laboratories. Eric's work has been exhibited at the InterCommunication Center (ICC) in Japan, Ars Electronica, ISEA, SIGGRAPH, the Dutch Electronic Art Festival (DEAF), SFMOMA, the Chelsea Art Museum, Art Interactive, LA MOCA, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the ZKM, Southern Exposure, and a performance for the opening of the Whitney Museum's 1997 Biennial Exhibition.

In the News

A Decade of Innovation and Inspiration at the CITRIS Invention Lab

The CITRIS Invention Lab is currently one of several UC Berkeley maker spaces where students and researchers can design and prototype interactive technologies. In the Invention Lab, these creations can be as simple as articulated plastic figurines and as complex as hydration-tracking smart cups. The carefully cultivated community of makers has helped thousands of UC Berkeley students and researchers develop creative skills and prototype novel products.

CITRIS Invention Lab opens to produce COVID-19 supplies

While UC Berkeley observes California’s shelter-in-place order, with most research labs shuttered, the CITRIS Invention Lab has received a rare exemption to operate the makerspace to fabricate products and prototypes designed to mitigate the COVID-19 crisis, including Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), ventilator adaptors, and materials needed by campus researchers.