cs.HCApr 4, 2026

15 Years of Augmented Human(s) Research: Where Do We Stand?

Authors: Steeven Villa, Abdallah El Ali

Organizations: LMU Munich, Munich, Germany · Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, Amsterdam, The Netherlands · Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

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Abstract

The Augmented Human vision broadly seeks to improve or expand baseline human functioning through the restoration or extension of physical, intellectual, and social capabilities. However, given the rapid pace of technology development, we ask: what exactly does Augmented Human research involve, what are its core themes, and how has the Augmented Human(s) conference series evolved over time? To answer this, we conducted a scientometric analysis on the past 15 years of the Augmented Human(s) conference (N=735 paper), focusing on: geographical aspects, submissions and citation timelines, author frequency and popularity, and topic modeling. We find that: (a) Number of papers in the conference exhibit a bimodal distribution, peaking in 2015 and 2025, but showing periods of stagnant growth; (b) key topics over time include Haptics, Wearable Sensing, Vision & Eye Tracking, Embodied Interaction, and Sports / Motion; (c) some seminal papers on AH are not published in AH(s), but rather at related venues (e.g., CHI); (d) the conference has an active Japanese HCI community despite its historical Eurocentric location dominance. We contribute a closer look at the trajectory of the AH(s) field, and raise considerations of definitional and research scope ambiguities given the core problems/enhancements the field seeks to address.

Figures & tables

Figure 1. Sankey diagram showcasing the intellectual foundations and external impact of the AH(s) conference. The ACM CHI conference is highly influential in the AH(s) community as foundation, but it is also impacted by AH(s) works. Sankey diagram showcasing the intellectual foundations and external impact of the AHs conference. The ACM CHI conference is highly influential in the AHs community as foundation, but it is also impacted by AHs works
Figure 2. Number of papers published per year. The diagonal lines represent the conference years after the split to Augmented Humans. Dashed lines demarcate the period where both conferences co-existed, until Augmented Human switched to journal format.
EditionLocationAcronymAccept Rate
2010Megève, FranceAH 1054%
2011Tokyo, JapanAH 11-
2012Megève, FranceAH 12-
2013Stuttgart, GermanyAH 1371%
2014Kobe, JapanAH 14-
2015Singapore, SingaporeAH 15-
Table 1. Summary of Augmented Humans conferences.
Figure 3. Top 15 Authors historically
Topic NameCountPercentTop WordsRepresentative Papers
Haptics11615.8haptic, tactile, stimulation( Paniagua et al., 2025 ; Perusquía-Hernández et al., 2017 ; Wittchen et al., 2023 )
Wearable Interaction11415.5gestures, wearable, sensing( Masai et al., 2020 ; Röddiger et al., 2020 ; Theiss et al., 2016 )
Vision & Eye Tracking8411.4gaze, vision, eye( Hiroi et al., 2017 ; Hiroi et al., 2020 ; Kangas et al., 2016 )
Embodied Interaction7610.3design, body, virtual( Hatada et al., 2019 ; Shirota et al., 2020 ; Tashiro et al., 2023 )
Sports / Motion5307.2ball, sports, motion( Hamanishi and Rekimoto, 2020 ; Itoh et al., 2016 ; Suda et al., 2019 )
Table 2. Summary of identified topics with counts, percentage of corpus, and top words.
Figure 4. Topic evolution over time: We found five dominant topics in the corpus of the Augmented Humans Conference. The relevance of these topics has shifted over time with Wearable interaction and Vision & Eye Tracking being dominant in the early years of the conference, and Embodied Interaction and Haptics being more dominant in recent years. Topic modeling.
Figure 5. Word cloud over N=733 abstracts. Word cloud
VenuePaper TitleYearAHsCAHs_{C}ACMCACM_{C}Ref
CHIPossessedHand: techniques for controlling human hands using electrical muscles stimuli201120189( Tamaki et al., 2011 )
CHISkinput: Appropriating the Skin as an Interactive Canvas20101327( Harrison et al., 2011b )
CHIThe Aligned Rank Transform for Nonparametric Factorial Analyses Using Only ANOVA Procedures2011121853( Wobbrock et al., 2011 )
UISTOmniTouch: wearable multitouch interaction everywhere201111486( Harrison et al., 2011a )
UISTMetaArms: Body Remapping Using Feet-Controlled Artificial Arms20181195( Saraiji et al., 2018 )
CHIParallel Eyes: Exploring Human Capability and Behaviors with Paralleled First Person View Sharing20161051( Kasahara et al., 2016 )
Table 3. Top 10 Cited Papers by AH(s)
Paper TitleYearCitesCitation
In the blink of an eye: combining head motion and eye blink frequency for activity recognition with Google Glass2014135( Ishimaru et al., 2014 )
Qualitative activity recognition of weight lifting exercises2013112( Velloso et al., 2013 )
JackIn: integrating first-person view with out-of-body vision generation for human-human augmentation2014111( Kasahara and Rekimoto, 2014 )
HASC Challenge: gathering large scale human activity corpus for the real-world activity understandings2011103( Kawaguchi et al., 2011 )
EyeRing: a finger-worn input device for seamless interactions with our surroundings201375( Nanayakkara et al., 2013 )
Let me grab this: a comparison of EMS and vibration for haptic feedback in free-hand interaction201475( Pfeiffer et al., 2014 )
Table 4. Top 10 Cited Papers from AH(s)
Paper TitleYearCitesCitation
Realtime sonification of the center of gravity for skiing201210( Hasegawa et al., 2012 )
Swimoid: a swim support system using an underwater buddy robot20138( Ukai and Rekimoto, 2013 )
Bouncing Star project: design and development of augmented sports application using a ball including electronic and wireless modules20107( Izuta et al., 2010 )
JackIn: integrating first-person view with out-of-body vision generation for human-human augmentation20147( Kasahara and Rekimoto, 2014 )
Laplacian Vision: Augmenting Motion Prediction via Optical See-Through Head-Mounted Displays20166( Itoh et al., 2016 )
TongueBoard: An Oral Interface for Subtle Input20196( Li et al., 2019 )
Table 5. Top 10 Internally Cited Papers from AH(s)
VenueCitesReferencedCites (%)Referenced (%)
ACM CHI812158212.0214.97
ACM UIST2284973.384.70
IEEE VR2652903.922.74
LNCS2352413.482.28
ACM ISWC1262351.872.22
SIGGRAPH–1580.001.50
Table 6. External Impact and Intellectual Foundations of the Augmented Human(s) Conference: Almost 15% of the cited works at AH(s) come from the ACM CHI conference and 12.02% of the citations come from the same conference, showing that AH(s) is strongly tied to this conference
Topic NameCountPercentTop WordsRepresentative Papers
Conceptual Frameworks1325.0design, communication, augmentation( Schmidt, 2020 ; Popoveniuc and Vatavu, 2022b ; Angelini et al., 2022 )
Physical Interaction1121.2activity, actuators, haptic( Alimardani and Kaba, 2021 ; Schmeier et al., 2021 ; Okuno and Sumi, 2022 )
Smartphone Usage815.4smartphone, mobile, apps( Zhang et al., 2020 ; Hasan et al., 2020 ; Maddahi et al., 2020 )
Input Techniques713.5gestures, touchscreen, touch( Faleel et al., 2020 ; Sun et al., 2021 ; Bardot et al., 2020 )
Table 7. Summary of identified topics with counts, percentage of corpus, and top words.
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