Robert J. K. Jacob

Career After Johns Hopkins, Jacob worked in the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at the United States Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. During this time, he also taught computer science at George Washington University. and leads research at the Human-Computer Interaction Lab.

Research Eye movement-based interfaces At the Naval Research Laboratory, Jacob investigated eye tracking as an input modality for human-computer interfaces. He identified the "Midas Touch problem" with eye movement-controlled interfaces: because users must look around to perceive an interface, gaze-based systems cannot distinguish intentional commands from simple visual scanning. He rejected blinks as a trigger and found dwell time more practical than button presses.

He later extended this work into a broader survey of eye tracking in human-computer interaction and usability research.

Reality-Based Interaction At Tufts, Jacob contributed to research on tangible interaction. He co-authored a framework for token-and-constraint systems that described how physical objects can represent and manipulate digital information.

In 2006, he organized a workshop at CHI to identify commonalities among emerging interaction styles. He named the framework "Reality-Based Interaction", under which grouped a seemingly unrelated set of emerging post-WIMP interface technologies, including multi-touch screens and emotion-reading systems, under four underlying themes: naïve physics, body awareness, environmental awareness, and social awareness. The framework proposed that interfaces drawing on users' existing knowledge of the physical world could reduce the cognitive cost of learning to use them.

Recognition Jacob was inducted into the SIGCHI Academy in 2007. He was named an ACM Fellow in 2016 "for contributions to human-computer interaction, particularly new interaction modes and novel user interface software formalisms."

Selected publications