Jon Froehlich

Professor of HCI at @uwcse | Director, Makeability Lab | Founder, | #HCI+AI #AR #UrbanScience #Access

[Jon Froehlich @jonfroehlich]

I used to❤️Twitter as a place to genuinely connect & learn from others. It's not that place anymore. I uninstalled Twitter in April'22 & have decreasingly used it. Other platforms haven't worked as a replacement; hoping Bluesky will be diff. Join me here: https://t.co/AwTonaZbb8

[Xia Su @XiaSu09]

🚀 Excited to share that our paper “CapNav: Benchmarking Vision Language Models on Capability-conditioned Indoor Navigation” has been accepted to #CVPR2026 (main track)!
📄: https://t.co/ZdSpsMPBJY
💻GitHub: https://t.co/1XkvpxywEY
🤗Hugging Face: https://t.co/LzQ77EykX4
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[Yossi Matias @ymatias]

StreetReaderAI leverages context-aware AI to solve a critical accessibility barrier, making immersive street-level imagery interpretable by screen readers. This work is the path to fully inclusive digital exploration.

[Jon Froehlich @jonfroehlich]

Delighted that our work is being featured. This was an incredible team effort by a set of hugely talented, passionate Googlers: @shaunkane, @AlexFiannaca, Victor Tsaran, Nimer Jaber, & Phil Nelson. An accessible street view has enormous potential for blind travel planning and O&M

[Google Research @GoogleResearch]

Introducing StreetReaderAI: A new and more accessible street-level imagery prototype using context-aware, real-time AI and accessible navigation controls. We're redefining immersive streetscape experiences to be inclusive for all with multimodal AI. More: https://t.co/CRlZH3Svhh

[Jon Froehlich @jonfroehlich]

Interested in learning more? See:
📄UIST'25 preprint: https://t.co/wgztdIBEgr
📽️UIST'25 video: https://t.co/N3B9xabqrV
🚀Project page: https://t.co/9QKMIHcHAn

[Jon Froehlich @jonfroehlich]

I have had the incredible privilege to sabbatical at Google Research. What have I been up to? Attempting to make Street View accessible to all! 🌍✨

StreetViewAI is a new, accessible street view prototype using context-aware AI & voice interaction.

https://t.co/VwpK2YKJe7

[Jon Froehlich @jonfroehlich]

On a personal level, this project was like a sabbatical dream 🦄, I got to reunite with @shaunkane
(we first worked together in 2006), collaborate with some incredible Googlers like Alex Fiannaca, Nimer Jaber, & Victor Tsaran, and even write (lots of) code in Google's monorepo 🧑🏽‍💻

[Project Sidewalk @projsidewalk]

We're launching RampNet, an open-source AI that helps detect curb ramps with near-human accuracy. The most amazing part?

The entire project was conceived of and led by high school student John O'Meara.

🧵 A thread on what we built and why it matters.

[Project Sidewalk @projsidewalk]

📢We've completely redesigned our API pages! It's never been easier to:

✔️ Download data in CSV, GeoJSON, or Shapefiles.
✔️ Access data programmatically through our revised API.
✔️ Build tools that champion accessibility & improve urban mobility.

https://t.co/b7Ge1JSiYE

[Jon Froehlich @jonfroehlich]

@JesseDoesHCI @ProfJayFo Congrats @JesseDoesHCI! 🎉Thanks for leading the way on such an important topic 🙌🏽

[Makeability Lab @makeabilitylab]

Today, we kick off hashtag#ASSETS2024 in beautiful St. John's, Newfoundland. Would love to meet up with you if you're also here!

[Allen School @uwcse]

Can your robot vacuum do this? Researchers in @UW @uwengineering #UWAllen’s @makeabilitylab adapted one to create MobiPrint, a 3D printer on wheels that maps a room and prints objects on location, on demand based on a user's needs. #UWinnovates #NSFfunded https://t.co/u7p59MzAv4

[Arnavi Chheda-Kothary @arnavic]

Thrilled to be heading to #ASSETS24 to present “Engaging with Children’s Artwork in Mixed Visual-Ability Settings”, done with my wonderful collaborators and advisors @wobbrockjo and @jonfroehlich! I will be presenting on Mon, Oct 28 as a part of Session 1A: Creativity 🖼️🎨 (1/7)

[Jon Froehlich @jonfroehlich]

Chu Li is a fantastic, multi-talented PhD student seeking an internship for Summer'25. She will level-up any group that she joins. See: https://t.co/FoXNZBeYFp

[Jon Froehlich @jonfroehlich]

For the last decade+, my group has developed new interactive tools to advance understanding of the accessibility of the physical world for people with disabilities—projects like AccessScore, AccessVis, and Sidewalk Equity.

[Jon Froehlich @jonfroehlich]

One step towards this future is Chu Li's (@Chimichurrichu) new VIS'24 tool AltGeoViz, which attempts to provide interactive high-level spatial analytic summaries verbally via screenreader I/O controls.

https://t.co/GWwOXcYtqg