CA-based self-organizing environments

The term Ambient Intelligence (AmI) refers to electronic environments that are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people; in this paper, an example of AmI system whose goal is to enhance the experience of pedestrians moving inside the related physical environment will be presented. The environment is endowed with a set of sensors (to perceive humans or other physical entities such as dogs, bicycles, etc.), interacting with a set of actuators (lights). The model for the interaction and action of sensors and actuators is a dissipative multilayered cellular automata, supporting a self-organization of the system as a response to the presence and movements of people inside it. The paper will introduce the model, as well as the results of simulations of its application in a concrete case study.     

MANAGING RESPONSIVE ENVIRONMENTS WITH SOFTWARE AGENTS

Responsive environments are physical surroundings whose components change their behavior to accommodate the presence of people as well as other components. We describe a means to manage responsive environments whereby each component is dynamically assigned a software agent. Software agents are autonomous and reactive/proactive programs that communicate via message-passing. Arbitrary functionalities can be encoded in such agents, reflecting the capabilities of the components they represent, as well as extending them. Ours is a flexible and scalable approach allowing the gradual population of environments with physical devices and their agents.     

Information tools for the shop-floor

New production and work practices set new proficiency requirements for employees in operative organisations. Most of these requirements involve information and communication. We can train and educate people to meet with these challenges and design their physical and information environments to support and facilitate them in their work. New information tools play a central role in this development. But what kind of tools? How to apply these tools to enhance employees’ learning by reflection. In this article we will discuss the emergency of shop-floor information environment from the sociotechnical point of view. In addition, the possibilities and limitations of electronic performance support as a solution are evaluated. Shop-floor information artifacts are tools used to produce, organise, store and distribute work related information in a shop-floor environment. They may be very simple like handwritten notes or user interfaces to extremely complex data management systems.     

A method to support a reflective derivation of business components from conceptual models

To successfully compete in today’s volatile business environments, enterprises need to consolidate, flexibly adapt, and extend their information systems (IS) with new functionality. Component-based development approaches can help solving these challenges as they support the structuring of IS landscapes into business components with a loosely coupled business functionality. However, the structuring process continues to pose research challenges and is not adequately supported yet. Current approaches to support the structuring process typically rely on procedures that cannot be customized to the designer’s situational preferences. Furthermore, they do not allow the designer to identify and reflect emerging conflicts during the structuring. In this paper, we therefore propose a new method that introduces a rational, reflective procedure to systematically derive an optimized structuring according to situational preferences. Using a design science approach, we show (i) how the derivation of business components can be formulated as a customizable multi-criteria decision making problem and (ii) how conceptual models can be used to derive business components with an optimized functional scope. To evaluate the feasibility of the proposed method, we describe its application in a complex case that was taken from a German DAX-30 automobile manufacturer.     

以用户为中心的音乐播放器设计分析

随着个人计算机的普及,音乐播放器渐渐成为人们使用频率很高的一种软件。开电脑后打开播放器听音乐成了一种很自然的行为。怎样的播放器设计才是能赢得用户青睐的,从设计的角度需要注意到哪些设计要点?在这里,作者将从界面设计者的角度,通过对千千静听这一较为成功软件进行案例分析,对以用户为中心的音乐播放软件界面的设计作一些分析讨论。     

人们需要什么样的设计

本文结合了作者的专业和设计成长过程,分析了人们需要何种设计的问题和设计师在新时代应该具备的设计理念。设计师应该从当今人类的生活环境及需求入手,关注环境保护,关注产品的使用者——人本身,关注个性表现形成自我风格,关注本土特色发展民族文化……热爱生活,享受生活,体验生活,赋予设计以生命力及激情,是设计师的职责与乐趣所在。     

A spatially augmented reality sketching interface for architectural daylighting design

We present an application of interactive global illumination and spatially augmented reality to architectural daylight modeling that allows designers to explore alternative designs and new technologies for improving the sustainability of their buildings. Images of a model in the real world, captured by a camera above the scene, are processed to construct a virtual 3D model. To achieve interactive rendering rates, we use a hybrid rendering technique, leveraging radiosity to simulate the interreflectance between diffuse patches and shadow volumes to generate per-pixel direct illumination. The rendered images are then projected on the real model by four calibrated projectors to help users study the daylighting illumination. The virtual heliodon is a physical design environment in which multiple designers, a designer and a client, or a teacher and students can gather to experience animated visualizations of the natural illumination within a proposed design by controlling the time of day, season, and climate. Furthermore, participants may interactively redesign the geometry and materials of the space by manipulating physical design elements and see the updated lighting simulation.     

基于本体的协同知识交流模型

在远程协作环境下,不同背景的人对同一问题的理解会产生差异,这不利于学习效果收敛的场合。为消除这种影响,该文提出了用本体来为人与人的交流提供一致的理解,分析了系统要素和动态行为,给出了基于本体的协同知识交流模型以及相应的原型。     

Using the Default Option Bias to Influence Decision Making While Driving

Gaining a better understanding of human–computer interaction in multiple-goal environments, such as driving, is critical as people increasingly use information technology to accomplish multiple tasks simultaneously. Extensive research shows that decision biases can be utilized as effective cues to guide user interaction in single-goal environments. This article is a first step toward understanding the effect of decision biases in multiple-goal environments. This study analyzed data from a field experiment during which a comparison was made between drivers’ decisions on parking lots in a single-goal environment and drivers’ decisions in a multiple-goal environment when being exposed to the default option bias. The article shows that the default option bias is effective in multiple-goal environments. The results have important implications for the design of human–computer interaction in multiple-goal environments.     

格调在设计艺术中的体现

人是设计活动的主体,是人按照自己的意志将自然界的物质重组和改造以满足自身的需求。而设计品在某种程度上也是人意志的物化,是设计者自身品德,气质,艺术修养以及专业水平的体现。这种精神上的体现也就是所谓的格调。人在接触和使用设计品时,从方方面面都能感受到设计师的人格和品性。从某种意义上讲使用和欣赏这些作品就如同在和设计者本人交流。重视设计艺术的格调,从根本上是对道德思想,文化修养,审美水平的重视。设计者将为此而进行不懈的努力。     

Innovative wearable interfaces: an exploratory analysis of paper-based interfaces with camera-glasses device unit

The new ubiquitous interaction methods change people’s life and facilitate their tasks in everyday life and in the workplace, enabling people to access their personal data as well as public resources at any time and in any place. We found two solutions to enable ubiquitous interaction and put a stop to the limits imposed by the desktop mode: namely nomadism and mobility. Based on these two solutions, we have proposed three interfaces (Zhou et al. in HCI international 2011: human–computer interaction. Interaction techniques and environments, Springer, Berlin, pp 500–509, 2011): in-environment interface (IEI), environment dependent interface (EDI), and environment independent interface (EII). In this paper, we first discuss an overview of IEI, EDI, and EII, before excluding IEI and focusing on EDI and EII, their background, and distinct characteristics. We also propose a continuum from physical paper-based interface to digital projected interface in relation with EDI and EII. Then, to validate EDI and EII concepts, we design and implement a MobilePaperAccess system, which is a wearable camera-glasses system with paper-based interface and original input techniques allowing mobile interaction. Furthermore, we discuss the evaluation of the MobilePaperAccess system; we compare two interfaces (EDI and EII) and three input techniques (finger input, mask input, and page input) to test the feasibility and usability of this system. Both the quantitative and qualitative results are reported and discussed. Finally, we provide the prospects and our future work for improving the current approaches.     

Multivariate evaluation of interactive robot systems

In designing robot systems for human interaction, designers draw on aspects of human behavior that help them achieve specific design goals. For instance, the designer of an educational robot system may use speech, gaze, and gesture cues in a way that enhances its student’s learning. But what set of behaviors improve such outcomes? How might designers of such a robot system determine this set of behaviors? Conventional approaches to answering such questions primarily involve designers carrying out a series of experiments in which they manipulate a small number of design variables and measure the effects of these manipulations on specific interaction outcomes. However, these methods become infeasible when the design space is large and when the designer needs to understand the extent to which each variable contributes to achieving the desired effects. In this paper, we present a novel multivariate method for evaluating what behaviors of interactive robot systems improve interaction outcomes. We illustrate the use of this method in a case study in which we explore how different types of narrative gestures of a storytelling robot improve its users’ recall of the robot’s story, their ability to retell the robot’s story, their perceptions of and rapport with the robot, and their overall engagement in the experiment.     

Interactive Humanoid Robots for a Science Museum

One objective of the Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories is to develop an intelligent communication robot that supports people in an open everyday environment by interacting with them. A humanoid robot can help achieve this objective because its physical structure lets it interact through human-like body movements such as shaking hands, greeting, and pointing. Both adults and children are more likely to understand such interactions than interactions with an electronic interface such as a touch panel or buttons. To behave intelligently during an interaction, a robot requires many types of information about its environment and the people with whom it interacts. However, in open everyday environments, simple recognition functions such as identifying an individual are difficult because the presence and movement of a large number of people as well as unfavorable illumination and background conditions affect the robot's sensing ability. We integrated humanoid robots and ubiquitous sensors in an autonomous system to assist visitors at an Osaka Science Museum exhibit     

电脑三维动画造型设计教学研究

随着科学技术的进步,出现了运用计算机及专门软件设计制作模拟立体影像效果的三维动画形式。在虚拟三维中能够轻松的模拟各种形态及物体的质感,为动画技术开拓了一个全新的动画视觉艺术领域。三维动画主要依赖计算机图像生成技术(简称CG)。因此称计算机动画,1995年第一部完全由制作的动画电影《玩具总动员》诞生以来,电脑三维动画日新月异,三维动画是科学技术与艺术有着密切关系的动画形式,同时对未来的动画创作提出了新的要求。     

A high dynamic range rendering pipeline for interactive applications

Realistic images can be computed at interactive frame rates for Computer Graphics applications. Meanwhile, High Dynamic Range (HDR) rendering has a growing success in video games and virtual reality applications, as it improves the image quality and the player’s immersion feeling. In this paper, we propose a new method, based on a physical lighting model, to compute in real time a HDR illumination in virtual environments. Our method allows to re-use existing virtual environments as input, and computes HDR images in photometric units. Then, from these HDR images, displayable 8-bit images are rendered with a tone mapping operator and displayed on a standard display device. The HDR computation and the tone mapping are implemented in OpenSceneGraph with pixel shaders. The lighting model, together with a perceptual tone mapping, improves the perceptual realism of the rendered images at low cost. The method is illustrated with a practical application where the dynamic range of the virtual environment is a key rendering issue: night-time driving simulation.     

Measuring flow experience in an immersive virtual environment for collaborative learning

In contexts other than immersive virtual environments, theoretical and empirical work has identified flow experience as a major factor in learning and human–computer interaction. Flow is defined as a ‘holistic sensation that people feel when they act with total involvement’. We applied the concept of flow to modeling the experience of collaborative learning in an immersive virtual environment. The aims were, first, to psychometrically evaluate a measurement model of flow and, second, to test a structural model of flow. Pairs of small teams engaged in collaborative problem‐solving tasks while communicating by way of an immersive virtual environment. Flow was measured after each session, using Guo and Poole's inventory for measuring flow in human–computer interaction. In relation to the first aim, partial‐least‐squares analysis demonstrated strong evidence for the measurement model. In relation to the second aim, the structural model was supported: the effect of learning‐task characteristics on flow experience was mediated by its precursors, with extraneous variables held constant. It is reasoned that the experiment and resultant analysis of this work contributes to the development of measurement models and structural models of flow in immersive virtual environments.     

Vibrotactile and vibroacoustic communications: pairs in interaction and play—an interactive structure and bodies in an urban environment

We designed a vibrotactile vest and The Humming Wall, a vibroacoustic interactive furniture set in an urban environment to interact with each other. We developed the vibrotactile patterns in the vest as a form of vibrotactile language to convey information to the wearer. In addition, we designed a set of interactive movements on The Humming Wall that would trigger patterns on the vest and elicit sensations and encourage body movements onto the wearer’s body. We invited people to interact in pairs at The Humming Wall, with one at the wall and one wearing the vest (they later swapped roles). Actions by the one at the wall, such as swiping or knocking on the wall were repeated on the vest wearer’s body. In addition, participants could ‘feel’ (vibroacoustically) and hear their own heartbeats and breath rates at the wall. We conducted a field trial with 39 participants over a 5-week period. Participants wearing the vest (and their pair) completed a set of tasks. We logged use and responses, recorded all activities on video and conducted post-experiment interviews and questionnaires. The results depicted the participants’ experience, communication and connection while wearing the vibrotactile vest and interacting with the wall. The findings show convincing, strong and positive responses to novel interactions between the responsive vibroacoustic environment and the vibrotactile vest. This work constitutes the first field trial with people ‘working’ in pairs with a vibrotactile wearable responding to and driving vibroacoustic displays with an interactive vibroacoustic environment.     

Online Depth Image-Based Object Tracking with Sparse Representation and Object Detection

Online object tracking under complex environments is an important but challenging problem in computer vision, especially for illumination changing and occlusion conditions. With the emergence of commercial real-time depth cameras like Kinect, depth image-based object tracking, which is insensitive to illumination changing, gains more and more attentions. In this paper, we propose an online depth image-based object tracking method with sparse representation and object detection. In this framework, we combine tracking and detection to leverage precision and efficiency under heavy occlusion conditions. For tracking, objects are represented by sparse representations learned online with update. For detection, we apply two different strategies based on tracking-learning-detection and wider search window approaches. We evaluate our methods on both the subset of the public dataset Princeton Tracking Benchmark and our own driver face video in a simulated driving environment. The quantitative evaluations of precision and running time on these two datasets demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed object tracking algorithms.     

The application of ubiquitous multimodal synchronous data capture in CAD

Design is an interactive and iterative process where the designer’s skills and knowledge are fused with emotive rationales aided by design tools. A design solution is thus influenced by the designer’s creativity, experience and emotional perception. Consequently, there is a need within computer aided design (CAD) research for ubiquitous tools to capture the affective states of engineers during design activities to further understand the product design process.This paper proposes a generic framework for ubiquitous multimodal synchronous data capture, based around the capture of CAD system activities, to monitor and log a variety of inputs, interactions, biophysical data and design solutions with a view to providing meta and chronological performance data for post design task analysis. The framework has been employed in two use cases namely, a CAD station activity and a collaborative design review. The results of these trials validated the architecture and use of the ubiquitous data capture approach demonstrating the practical application of time-phased data capture, analysis and the subsequent output of metadata in CAD environments providing a new perspective on, and a new way of investigating CAD-based design activities.This research also extrapolates the framework’s usefulness into future CAD and PLM systems by arguing why and how they need to adopt such ubiquitous platforms. It also subjectively points to potential opportunities and issues that might arise when implementing the ubiquitous multimodal metadata architecture in a real-life environment.