About Us

The Makeability Lab is an advanced research lab in Human-AI directed by Professor Jon E. Froehlich in the Allen School of Computer Science at the University of Washington. We specialize in Human-Computer Interaction and applied machine learning for high-impact problems in accessibility, computational urban science, and augmented reality. To learn more, see our recent projects below and read our lab handbook.

Interested in working with us? If you are a current UW undergrad, UW MS student, or local Seattle high school student, please apply here. If you are a prospective PhD student, apply to the UW CSE PhD program and mention Professor Froehlich. Before applying, please read our lab handbook.

Recent Projects

This is the thumbnail image for the project Project Sidewalk

Project Sidewalk

2012 – Present

This is the thumbnail image for the project Deep Learning for Sidewalk Assessment

Deep Learning for Sidewalk Assessment

2016 – Present

This is the thumbnail image for the project RAIS: Robotic Accessibility Indoor Scanner

RAIS: Robotic Accessibility Indoor Scanner

2023 – Present

This is the thumbnail image for the project Engaging with Children's Artwork in Mixed Visual-Ability Families

Engaging with Children's Artwork in Mixed Visual-Ability Families

2023 – Present

This is the thumbnail image for the project SonifyAR: Context-Aware Sound Generation in Augmented Reality

SonifyAR: Context-Aware Sound Generation in Augmented Reality

2023 – Present

An example CookAR assistive vision overlay showing the graspable handle of the knife, the hazardous blade, and the intersection area with the target object

CookAR

2023 – Present

This is the thumbnail image for the project MobiPrint

MobiPrint

2022 – Present

This is the thumbnail image for the project AltGeoViz

AltGeoViz

2024 – Present

See All Projects >

Recent Papers

RAIS: Towards A Robotic Mapping and Assessment Tool for Indoor Accessibility Using Commodity Hardware

ASSETS 2024 To Appear

Xia Su, Daniel Campos Zamora, Jon E. Froehlich

PDF | doi | Citation | RAIS: Robotic Accessibility Indoor Scanner

Towards Rapid Fabrication of Custom Tactile Surface Indicators for Indoor Navigation

ASSETS 2024 To Appear

Daniel Campos Zamora, Liang He, Jon E. Froehlich

PDF | doi | Citation

Towards Fine-Grained Sidewalk Accessibility Assessment with Deep Learning: Initial Benchmarks and an Open Dataset

ASSETS 2024 To Appear

Alex Liu, Kevin Wu, Minchu Kulkarni, Mikey Saugstad, Peyton Rapo, Jeremy Freiburger, Maryam Hosseini, Chu Li, Jon E. Froehlich

PDF | doi | Citation | Deep Learning for Sidewalk Assessment • Project Sidewalk

Engaging with Children’s Artwork in Mixed Visual-Ability Families

ASSETS 2024 To Appear

Arnavi Chheda-Kothary, Jacob Wobbrock, Jon E. Froehlich

PDF | doi | Citation | Engaging with Children's Artwork in Mixed Visual-Ability Families

Making Urban Art Accessible: Current Art Access Techniques, Design Considerations, and the Role of AI

UrbanAccess 2024 To Appear

Lucy Jiang, Jon E. Froehlich, Leah Findlater

Towards AI-Powered AR for Enhancing Sports Playability for People with Low Vision: An Exploration of ARSports

IDEATExR 2024 To Appear

Jaewook Lee, Yang Li, Dylan Bunarto, Eujean Lee, Jaden Wang, Adrian Rodriguez, Yuhang Zhao, Yapeng Tian, Jon E. Froehlich

See All Papers >

Recent Videos

A Demo of DIAM: Drone-based Indoor Accessibility Mapping

YouTube | Paper | DIAM: Drone-based Indoor Accessibility Mapping

RASSAR: Room Accessibility and Safety Scanning in Augmented Reality

YouTube | RASSAR

Project Sidewalk: Crowd+AI Techniques to Map and Assess Every Sidewalk in the World

YouTube | Tohme • Sidewalk Gallery • BusStopCV • Project Sidewalk + Community Science • LabelAId • Project Sidewalk

Recent Talks

AI-Powered AR Accessibility

Aug. 8, 2024 | Apple's HCML Workshop

Cupertino, CA

Jon E. Froehlich

PDF | PPTX | CookAR • DIAM: Drone-based Indoor Accessibility Mapping • RASSAR • ARTennis • GazePointAR

RASSAR: Room Accessibility and Safety Scanning in Augmented Reality

May 15, 2024 | CHI 2024

Honolulu, Hawaiʻi

PDF | PPTX | RASSAR

GazePointAR: A Context-Aware Multimodal Voice Assistant for Pronoun Disambiguation in Wearable Augmented Reality

May 15, 2024 | CHI

Honolulu, Hawaiʻi

PDF | PPTX | GazePointAR

LabelAId: Just-in-time AI Interventions for Improving Human Labeling Quality and Domain Knowledge in Crowdsourcing Systems

May 14, 2024 | CHI 2024

Honolulu, Hawaiʻi

PDF | PPTX | LabelAId

“I never realized sidewalks were a big deal”: A Case Study of a Community-Driven Sidewalk Audit Using Project Sidewalk

May 9, 2024 | CHI 2024

Honolulu, Hawaiʻi

PDF | PPTX | Project Sidewalk + Community Science

Project Sidewalk: Crowd+AI Techniques to Map & Assess the World's Sidewalks

Feb. 29, 2024 | NSF Smart and Connected Communities Panel on “Pathways to Transitioning Project Outcomes"

Nashville, Tennessee

Jon E. Froehlich

PDF | PPTX | Project Sidewalk + Community Science • Project Sidewalk • Deep Learning for Sidewalk Assessment

At the Intersection of Disability Justice, Pedestrian Safety, and Health

Jan. 7, 2024 | 103rd Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting

Washington DC

Yochai Eisenberg, Judy L. Shanley, Anna Zivarts, Brent Chamberlain, Keith Christensen, Minoo Abrishami, Jon E. Froehlich

A Large-Scale Mixed-Methods Analysis of Blind and Low-vision Research in ACM and IEEE

Oct. 29, 2023 | ASSETS'23

NYC

Yong-Joon Thoo, Maximiliano Jeanneret Medina, Jon E. Froehlich, Nicolas Ruffieux, Denis Lalanne

PDF | PPTX | Accessibility Literature Survey

Sponsors

Makeability Lab research is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors. Our research findings, opinions, and/or recommendations may not reflect their views.

We design, build, and evaluate new interactive tools and techniques to address pressing societal challenges. Makeability refers both to how our technological innovations make new abilities possible for humans as well as our educational mission to help students gain new abilities as they learn and grow through research, invention, and human-centered design.