Virtual environments and ergonomics: needs and opportunities

Although based on a still immature technology, virtual environments appear to have potential for applications in industry, commerce, medicine and education. The role of ergonomics will be in development of improved virtual environment interfaces and in enabling better utilization of the technology through specifying user needs and requirements and developing evaluation methodologies. By extension, ergonomists will also be involved in building virtual environments for use in areas of ergonomics activity such as workplace layout, interface design, procedures testing, education and training. This paper overviews virtual environment attributes and capabilities and proposes a framework for their specification, development and evaluation, before summarizing current ergonomics research issues. Current work on participant side effects is summarized. A strong case is made for the potential value of ergonomics for virtual environments and vice versa.     

Integrating skills into multi-agent systems

Currently, an important topic of robotic research is the design and development of multi-agent robot systems (MASs). In these a number of autonomous robots cooperate and coordinate themselves in order to pursue given goals. The agents of an MAS not only have to work autonomously or in cooperation with other agents, but in dynamic, relatively unstructured environments. Therefore, the agents require agent-specific but flexible skills to cope with their tasks and the environment's variability. On the other hand, the actions to be performed by agents in an MAS have to meet certain requirements imposed by the MAS's structure. The representation of actions has to support planning, inter-agent communication, task negotiation etc. In this paper, we describe a method of combining the agent-specific nature of skills with the requirements for a general action knowledge representation inherent to MASs, by presenting elementary operations (EOs) that provide an appropriate interface.     

Integrated environments for formally well-founded design andsimulation of concurrent systems

An ongoing project concerned with the development of environments that support the specification and design of concurrent systems is reported. The project has two key aspects: an existing and working system, Clara, that supports Milner's CCS as a specification and design language; and the development of general techniques for computer-aided generation of Clara-like environments for other concurrent languages. The Clara environment is emphasized. It has two main components: support for the usage of formal techniques in the design process, and a rich and highly interactive simulation facility. A further distinguishing feature is the environment's graphical user interface which is based on a pictorial version of CCS. The semantics of CCS is defined nonprocedurally in two phases: an operational semantics given as a set of inference rules, and an algebraic semantics represented by a set of equational rules     

Cooking up an interactive olfactory game display.

It's long been possible to give users outside an actual environment that environment's visual and auditory information and thus contribute to establishing presence. However, we've yet to establish much presence when users require olfactory information - such as in environments focused on foods, flowers, perfumes, or, in some cases, more offensive smells. Recently, several VR researchers have become interested in olfaction and olfactory displays that present smells in virtual environments (VEs). In this article, we describe our interactive olfactory display. One of our development goals is to confirm the assumption that users' interactions with the system increases presence. Thus, we used our interactive olfactory display to develop a cooking game in collaboration with electronic engineers and artists.     

Requirements for a virtual environment to support the social participation education of low-literates

People of low literacy experience difficulties while participating in society. Learning support software could help alleviate these difficulties. However, there is currently no overview of theoretically and empirically sound requirements for this kind of support. This paper uses the situated cognitive engineering method to create a requirements baseline for a virtual environment to support the societal participation education of low-literates (VESSEL), based on an analysis of the domain, human factors, and current applications. Four major outcomes are presented. First, a comprehensive overview is collected of the operational demands and human factors knowledge relevant to societal participation learning for low-literate citizens. Second, this overview is translated into a list of eight functional requirements: focused on low-literate learners, set in the context of societal participation, and supported by claims of cognitive, affective, and social benefits to learning. Third, a sample of Dutch societal participation learning support programs is assessed using these requirements, to highlight both current technology best practices and discrepancies between theory and practice. Fourth, virtual learning environment technology is suggested as an ‘enabling’ technology; an overview is shown of how virtual environments, actors, and objects can beneficially enable meeting the requirements baseline. Finally, directions for future study are discussed.

     

Prototyping and analysing ubiquitous computing environments using multiple layers

If ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) is to enhance physical environments then early and accurate assessment of alternative solutions will be necessary to avoid costly deployment of systems that fail to meet requirements. This paper presents APEX, a prototyping framework that combines a 3D Application Server with a behaviour modeling tool. The contribution of this framework is that it allows exhaustive analysis of the behaviour models that drive the prototype while at the same time enabling immersive exploration of a virtual environment simulating the proposed system. The development of prototypes is supported through three layers: a simulation layer (using OpenSimulator); a modelling layer (using CPN Tools) and a physical layer (using external devices and real users). APEX allows movement between these layers to analyse different features, from user experience to user behaviour. The multi layer approach makes it possible to express user behaviour in the modelling layer, provides a way to reduce the number of real users needed by adding simulated avatars, and supports user testing of hybrids of virtual and real components as well as exhaustive analysis. This paper demonstrates the approach by means of an example, placing particular emphasis on the simulation of virtual environments, low cost prototyping and the formal analysis capabilities.     

An approach to domain-based scalable context management architecture in pervasive environments

In pervasive environments, context management systems are expected to administrate large volume of contextual information that is captured from spatial to nonspatial elements. Research in context-aware computing produced a number of middleware systems for context management to intermediate the communications between applications and context providers. In particular, in pervasive environments, the design of distributed storage, retrieval and propagation mechanisms of context information across domains is vital. In this paper, we propose a domain-based approach to address the requirements of scalable distributed context management, cross-domain efficient context information dissemination and domain-based privacy policy enforcement. We propose infinitum, a middleware architecture that incorporates the management and communication benefits of the Google Wave Federation Protocol, while also taking advantage of the semantic and inference benefits of ontology-based context models. This architecture establishes a robust cross-domain scalable context management and collaboration framework, which has been implemented and evaluated in a real-life application of “SMART University” to support virtual team collaboration.     

Negotiating context information in context-aware systems

Context-aware environments must allow adaptive and autonomous access to context information. This multi-agent middleware uses a negotiation protocol and ontology model to make the environment more easily personalized at runtime and adapted and managed at provisioning time. In a pervasive environment, a wide range of devices and resources use heterogeneous networks to perform the tasks involved in spontaneous ad hoc communication. The environment's infrastructure must therefore make available a rich set of computing capabilities and services at all times and in all locations in a transparent, integrated, and convenient way. Context provides perceptual information about the location and status of the people, places, and other devices in the environment.     

Virtual four-dimensional environments for human-computer interaction

The paper discusses basic approaches to implementation of a graphical user interface (GUI) as virtual two- and three-dimensional environments for human-computer interaction. A design approach to virtual four-dimensional environments based on special visual effects is proposed. Functional capabilities of the FDC package that implements an environment prototype and principles of user operation are given.     

A View of Software Development Environments Based on Activity Theory

We view software development as a collaborative activity that is typically supported by a software development environment. Since these environments can significantly influence the collaborative nature of a software development project, it is important to analyze and evaluate their capabilities with respect to collaboration. In this paper, we present an analysis and evaluation of the collaborative capabilities of software development environments using an activity theory perspective.The discipline of software engineering (SE) emerged to study and develop artifacts to mediate the collective development of large software systems. While many advances have been made in the past three decades of SE's existence, the historical origins of the discipline are present in that techniques and tools to support the collaborative aspects of large-scale software development are still lacking. One factor is a common ``production-oriented' philosophy that emphasizes the mechanistic and individualistic aspects of software development over the collaborative aspects thereby ignoring the rich set of human-human interactions that are possible over the course of a software development project.We believe that the issues and ideas surrounding activity theory may be useful in improving support for collaboration in software engineering techniques and tools. As such, we make use of the activity theory to analyze and evaluate process-centered software development environments (PCSDEs).     

Using a game engine for VR simulations in evacuation planning.

Researchers who want to use virtual reality-based simulations in their work must address some important requirements. Simulations require a good 3D graphical rendering capability. For realistic results, they must also consider the effects of physical laws, such as gravity and collision forces. A software platform that meets these requirements can serve a broad range of science and technology applications, but developing an entire platform is hard work itself. In this article, we present our use of a game engine for virtual simulations of building evacuations in emergency situations. We have modeled a real IEN building in 3D to perform preliminary evacuation tests, prior to real ones, and thus support evacuation planning. Nuclear plants represent just one of many environments where virtual simulations might be the best or only means of evaluating situations that are too dangerous to simulate in real environments-for example, in the presence of fire and smoke or radioactive or chemical contamination.     

虚拟仪器开发环境的比较研究

虚拟仪器开发环境非常多,需要十分慎重取舍才能获得最佳效果.为使虚拟仪器开发者能更快更高效地选择适当的开发环境,对当前流行的各种开发环境进行了分类、分析和比较研究.首先将其总体分为两类:基于通用编程软件和基于图形化语言,然后根据各类开发环境在虚拟仪器开发方面的特点进行论述,同时给出了一个相关实例,最后得出对于虚拟仪器的开发,常需要根据开发项目的实际,结合各种开发环境各自的优势进行混合编程,方可达到良好的效果.     

Global hand pose estimation by multiple camera ellipse tracking

Immersive virtual environments with life-like interaction capabilities have very demanding requirements including high-precision motion capture and high-processing speed. These issues raise many challenges for computer vision-based motion estimation algorithms. In this study, we consider the problem of hand tracking using multiple cameras and estimating its 3D global pose (i.e., position and orientation of the palm). Our interest is in developing an accurate and robust algorithm to be employed in an immersive virtual training environment, called “Virtual GloveboX” (VGX) (Twombly et al. in J Syst Cybern Inf 2:30–34, 2005), which is currently under development at NASA Ames. In this context, we present a marker-based, hand tracking and 3D global pose estimation algorithm that operates in a controlled, multi-camera, environment built to track the user’s hand inside VGX. The key idea of the proposed algorithm is tracking the 3D position and orientation of an elliptical marker placed on the dorsal part of the hand using model-based tracking approaches and active camera selection. It should be noted that, the use of markers is well justified in the context of our application since VGX naturally allows for the use of gloves without disrupting the fidelity of the interaction. Our experimental results and comparisons illustrate that the proposed approach is more accurate and robust than related approaches. A byproduct of our multi-camera ellipse tracking algorithm is that, with only minor modifications, the same algorithm can be used to automatically re-calibrate (i.e., fine-tune) the extrinsic parameters of a multi-camera system leading to more accurate pose estimates.     

Interaction styles in tools for developing virtual environments

This article discusses and compares interaction styles in development tools for virtual environments (VE). The comparison relies on a qualitative empirical study of two development processes where a command language and a direct manipulation based tool were used to develop the same virtual environment application. The command language tool proved very flexible and facilitated an even distribution of effort and progress over time, but debugging and identification of errors was very difficult. Contrasting this, the direct manipulation tool enabled faster implementation of a first prototype but did not facilitate a shorter implementation process as a whole. On the basis of these findings, the strength and weaknesses of direct manipulation for developing virtual environment applications are explored further through a comparison with a successful direct manipulation tool for developing interactive multimedia applications. The comparisons are used to identify and emphasize key requirements for virtual environment development tool interface design.     

Rethinking the Mini-Map: A Navigational Aid to Support Spatial Learning in Urban Game Environments

Players in computer games continue to rely on assistance for navigation in the game environment, even after hours of gameplay. This behavior is in contrast to the real world where spatial knowledge of an unfamiliar environment develops with experience and reliance on navigational assistance declines. The slow development of spatial knowledge in virtual environments can be attributed to the use of turn-by-turn navigational aids. In the context of computer games, the most common form of these aids is a “mini-map.” The use of such aids in computer games is necessitated by the demands of immersion and entertainment and, hence, they cannot be entirely discarded. The need, then, is to design navigational aids that support, rather than inhibit, the development of spatial knowledge. The authors propose landmark-based verbal directions as an alternative to mini-maps and report the results of a randomized comparative study conducted to examine the impact of mini-maps and their proposed aid on the development of spatial knowledge in a virtual urban environment. The results confirm the superiority of their verbal aid in terms of spatial knowledge, while mini-maps perform better with respect to navigational efficiency. The authors hope that this study provides a first step toward defining design parameters that govern the tradeoff between navigational efficiency and spatial learning.     

JAPE: A Prototyping System for Collaborative Virtual Environments

We present JAPE, a flexible prototyping system to support the design of a new advanced collaborative virtual environment. We describe the utilization of different hard- and software components to quickly build a flexible, yet powerful test bed for application and algorithm development. These components include a 3-D rendering toolkit, live video acquisition, speech transmission, and the control of tracking and interaction devices. To facilitate the simultaneous design of applications and algorithms that take advantage of unique features of new collaborative virtual environments, we provide the developer with a flexible prototyping toolkit which emulates the functionality of the final system. The applicability of JAPE is demonstrated with several prototype applications and algorithms.     

Collaborative virtual learning environments: design and evaluation

E-learning systems have gone through a radical change from the initial text-based environments to more stimulating multimedia systems. Such systems are Collaborative Virtual Environments, which could be used in order to support collaborative e-learning scenarios. The main aim of this paper is to aid educational designers in selecting, designing and evaluating three dimensional collaborative virtual environments in order to gain the pedagogical benefits of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning. Therefore, this paper initially discusses the potential of three dimensional networked virtual environments for supporting collaborative learning. Furthermore, based on a two-step platform selection process this paper (a) presents and compares three dimensional multi-user virtual environments for supporting collaborative learning and (b) validates the most promising solution against a set of design principles for educational virtual environments. According to these principles, an educational environment has been implemented on top of the selected platform in order to support collaborative e-learning scenarios. The design of this environment is also presented. In addition, this paper presents the results of three small scale studies carried out in a tertiary education department, to assess the educational environment. This environment has been evaluated based on a hybrid evaluation methodology for uncovering usability problems, collecting further requirements for additional functionality to support collaborative virtual learning environments, and determining the appropriateness of different kinds of learning scenarios.

Educational virtual environments: design rationale and architecture

The use of collaborative virtual environments in e-learning is one of the most promising uses of virtual reality technology. While much research has been done in the area of networked virtual environments corresponding to the sharing of events, very little research has been done on specific services and functionality. However both the requirements and the kind of the offered services affect significantly the design of a system. In this paper we present the design and implementation of a platform suitable for educational virtual environments, which are collaborative virtual environments aiming at offering collaborative e-learning services to the users. Apart from the platform itself, we present the technological choices, and a new method for sharing virtual environments. Furthermore, we present an e-learning environment to support e-learning services using collaborative virtual environments from both the technical and functional point of view, along with the end-user evaluation results.

Integration of manufacturing services into virtual environments over the internet

Virtual reality (VR) is a rapidly developing technology that has a wide spectrum of industrial and commercial applications. Networked (distributed or shared) virtual environments (VE) are of growing interest to modern manufacturing industry; a dominating use of networked virtual manufacturing environments (VMEs) is on-line visualisation and collaborative control of 3D information. This has to be supported by real-time data transfer. To meet a broad range of common requirements for Internet-based VE communications, particularly for virtual manufacturing and collaborative design and control, this paper presents a networked virtual environment system that is designed to support networked virtual design and manufacturing. The system is implemented with manufacturing message specification (MMS) standards so as to integrate a range of manufacturing services into networked VEs over the Internet.     

Virtual reality movies-real-time streaming of 3D objects

Powerful servers for computation and storage, high-speed networking resources, and high-performance 3D graphics workstations, which are typically available in scientific research environments, potentially allow the development and productive application of advanced distributed high-quality multimedia concepts. Several bottlenecks, often caused by the inefficient design and software implementation of current systems, prevent utilization of the offered performance of existing hardware and networking resources. We present a system architecture, which supports streamed online presentation of series of 3D objects. In the case of expensive simulations on a supercomputer, results are increasingly represented as 3D geometry to support immersive exploration, presentation, and collaboration techniques. Accurate representation and high-quality display are fundamental requirements to avoid misinterpretation of the data. Our system consists of the following parts: a preprocessor to create a special 3D representation – optimized under transmission and streamed presentation issues in a high-performance working environment, an efficiently implemented streaming server, and a client. The client was implemented as a web browser plugin, integrating a viewer with high-quality virtual reality presentation (stereoscopic displays), interaction (tracking devices), and hyperlinking capabilities.