A dynamically reconfigurable stereoscopic/panoramic vision mobile robot head controlled from a virtual environment

We have built a mobile robotic platform that features an Active Robotic Head (ARH) with two high-resolution cameras that can be switched during robot operation between two configurations that produce respectively panoramic and stereoscopic images. Image disparity is used for improving the quality of the texture. The robot head switches dynamically, based on robot operation between the stereoscopic configuration and the panoramic configuration.

A multimode navigation system for an assistive robotics project

Assistive technology is an emerging area, where robotic devices can help individuals with motor disabilities to achieve independence in daily activities. This paper deals with a system that provides remote control of Sony AIBO, a commercial mobile robot, within the assistive project ASPICE. The robot can be controlled by various input devices, including a Brain-Computer Interface. AIBO has been chosen for its friendly-looking aspect, in order to ease interaction with the patients. The development of the project is described by focusing on the design of the robot navigation system. Single step, semi-autonomous and autonomous navigation modes have been realized to provide different levels of control. Automatic collision avoidance is integrated in all cases. Other features of the system, such as the video feedback from the robotic platform to the user, and the use of AIBO as communication aid, are briefly described. The performance of the navigation system is shown by simulations as well as experiments. The system has been clinically validated, in order to obtain a definitive assessment through patient feedback.

The 2007 IEEE CEC simulated car racing competition

This paper describes the simulated car racing competition that was arranged as part of the 2007 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation. Both the game that was used as the domain for the competition, the controllers submitted as entries to the competition and its results are presented. With this paper, we hope to provide some insight into the efficacy of various computational intelligence methods on a well-defined game task, as well as an example of one way of running a competition. In the process, we provide a set of reference results for those who wish to use the simplerace game to benchmark their own algorithms. The paper is co-authored by the organizers and participants of the competition.

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Guiding robots’ behaviors using pheromone communication

This paper describes an ongoing project to investigate the uses of pheromones as a means of communication in robotics. The particular example of pheromone communication considered here was inspired by queen bee pheromones that have a number of crucial functions in a bee colony, such as keeping together and stabilizing the colony. In the context of a robotic system, one of the proposed applications for robot pheromones is to allow a group of robots to be guided by a robot leader. The robot leader could release different chemicals to elicit a range of behaviors from other members of the group. A change of the operating temperature of tin oxide gas sensors has been implemented in order to differentiate different chemicals. This paper provides details of the robots used in the project and their behaviors. The sensors, especially the method of using the tin oxide gas sensors, the robot control algorithms and experimental results are presented. In this project, pheromones were used to trigger congregating behavior and light seeking in a group of robots.

Interacting with mobile services: an evaluation of camera-phones and visual tags

We present a study of using camera-phones and visual-tags to access mobile services. Firstly, a user-experience study is described in which participants were both observed learning to interact with a prototype mobile service and interviewed about their experiences. Secondly, a pointing-device task is presented in which quantitative data was gathered regarding the speed and accuracy with which participants aimed and clicked on visual-tags using camera-phones. We found that participants’ attitudes to visual-tag-based applications were broadly positive, although they had several important reservations about camera-phone technology more generally. Data from our pointing-device task demonstrated that novice users were able to aim and click on visual-tags quickly (well under 3 s per pointing-device trial on average) and accurately (almost all meeting our defined speed/accuracy tradeoff of 6% error-rate). Based on our findings, design lessons for camera-phone and visual-tag applications are presented.

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LuxTrace: indoor positioning using building illumination

Tracking location is challenging due to the numerous constraints of practical systems including, but not limited to global cost, device volume and weight, scalability and accuracy; these constraints are typically more severe for systems that should be wearable and used indoors. We investigate the use of wearable solar cells to track changing light conditions (a concept that we named LuxTrace) as a source of user displacement and activity data. We evaluate constraints of this approach and present results from an experimental validation of displacement and activity estimation. The results indicate that a distance estimation accuracy of 21 cm (80% quantile) can be achieved. A simple method to combine LuxTrace with complementary absolute location estimation methods is also presented. We apply carpet-like distributed RFID tags to demonstrate online learning of new lighting environments.

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Does Japan really have robot mania? Comparing attitudes by implicit and explicit measures

Japan has more robots than any other country with robots contributing to many areas of society, including manufacturing, healthcare, and entertainment. However, few studies have examined Japanese attitudes toward robots, and none has used implicit measures. This study compares attitudes among the faculty of a US and a Japanese university. Although the Japanese faculty reported many more experiences with robots, implicit measures indicated both faculties had more pleasant associations with humans. In addition, although the US faculty reported people were more threatening than robots, implicit measures indicated both faculties associated weapons more strongly with robots than with humans. Despite the media’s hype about Japan’s robot ‘craze,’ response similarities suggest factors other than attitude better explain robot adoption. These include differences in history and religion, personal and human identity, economic structure, professional specialization, and government policy. Japanese robotics offers a unique reference from which other nations may learn.

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Exploring activity theory as a tool for evaluating interactivity and learning in virtual environments for children

This paper explores the use of Activity Theory for the evaluation of user behaviour in immersive virtual environments. Specifically, the study of user behaviour focuses on interactivity, which is argued to be one of the most important processes that take place between a user and the system in virtual reality. The ultimate intention is to study the role and the effect of interactivity on learning and conceptual change and to examine how interaction and conceptual learning are related in the context of virtual environments developed primarily for informal educational settings. As a first step to this study, a set of exploratory experiments was carried out with children aged 7–12. The children were asked to complete tasks, such as the assembly of ancient columns from parts, which were designed to promote constructivist learning and explore the methods of carrying out in-depth experiments with children. This paper describes the analysis of these exploratory case studies from an Activity Theory perspective.

Socializing artifacts as a half mirror of the mind

In the near future, our life will normally be surrounded with fairly complicated artifacts, enabled by the autonomous robot and brain–machine interface technologies. In this paper, we argue that what we call the responsibility flaw problem and the inappropriate use problem need to be overcome in order for us to benefit from complicated artifacts. In order to solve these problems, we propose an approach to endowing artifacts with an ability of socially communicating with other agents based on the artifact-as-a-half-mirror metaphor. The idea is to have future artifacts behave according to the hybrid intention composed of the owner’s intention and the social rules. We outline the approach and discuss its feasibility together with preliminary work.

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Methods for quantitative usability requirements: a case study on the development of the user interface of a mobile phone

Quantitative usability requirements are a critical but challenging, and hence an often neglected aspect of a usability engineering process. A case study is described where quantitative usability requirements played a key role in the development of a new user interface of a mobile phone. Within the practical constraints of the project, existing methods for determining usability requirements and evaluating the extent to which these are met, could not be applied as such, therefore tailored methods had to be developed. These methods and their applications are discussed.

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Caregiving robots and ethical reflection: the perspective of interdisciplinary technology assessment

Autonomous robots that are capable of learning are being developed to make it easier for human actors to achieve their goals. As such, robots are primarily a means to an end and replace human actions (or parts of them). An interdisciplinary technology assessment was carried out to determine the extent to which a replacement of this kind makes ethical sense in terms of technology, economics and legal aspects. Proceeding from an ethical perspective, derived from Kant’s formula of humanity, in this article we analyse the use of robots in the care of the elderly or infirm and then examine robot learning in the context of this kind of cooperation.

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Systems, control models, and codec for collaborative observation of remote environments with an autonomous networked robotic camera

Networked robotic cameras are becoming popular in remote observation applications such as natural observation, surveillance, and distance learning. Equipped with a high optical zoom lens and agile pan-tilt mechanisms, a networked robotic camera can cover a large region with various resolutions. The optimal selection of camera control parameters for competing observation requests and the on-demand delivery of video content for various spatiotemporal queries are two challenges in the design of such autonomous systems. For camera control, we introduce memoryless and temporal frame selection models that effectively enable collaborative control of the camera based on the competing inputs from in-situ sensors and users. For content delivery, we design a patch-based motion panorama representation and coding/decoding algorithms (codec) to allow efficient storage and computation. We present system architecture, frame selection models, user interface, and codec algorithms. We have implemented the system and extensively tested our design in real world applications including natural observation, public surveillance, distance learning, and building construction monitoring. Experiment results show that our frame selection models are robust and effective and our on-demand content delivery codec can satisfy a variety of spatiotemporal queries efficiently in terms of computation time communications bandwidth.

Supporting ordering and consistency in a distributed Event Heap for Ubiquitous Computing

The Stanford Event Heap has been shown to provide appropriate support for constructing interactive workspace applications. Given this success it is natural to consider the Event Heap as a platform to support other classes of Ubiquitous Computing applications. In this paper we argue that the distributed, spontaneous nature of these applications places additional demands on the Event Heap that require extensions to both the engineering and API. Suitable extensions are described and their use to support a typical Ubicomp application is discussed.

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Artificial Intelligence and learning,epistemological perspectives

In this article, I establish a theory of knowledge approach for evaluating the use of computers for educational purposes at the university. In so doing, I trace part of the history of the “enabling factor” of Artificial Intelligence in this sector, an important element that has been integrated into everyday learning environments. The result of my reflection is a dialogical structure, directly inspired by past technology assessment research, which illustrates the conceptual advancement of researchers in the field of learning technologies. The notions covered have implications in future policy-related discourse with regards to education.

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Learning teaching strategies in an Adaptive and Intelligent Educational System through Reinforcement Learning

One of the most important issues in Adaptive and Intelligent Educational Systems (AIES) is to define effective pedagogical policies for tutoring students according to their needs. This paper proposes to use Reinforcement Learning (RL) in the pedagogical module of an educational system so that the system learns automatically which is the best pedagogical policy for teaching students. One of the main characteristics of this approach is its ability to improve the pedagogical policy based only on acquired experience with other students with similar learning characteristics. In this paper we study the learning performance of the educational system through three important issues. Firstly, the learning convergence towards accurate pedagogical policies. Secondly, the role of exploration/exploitation strategies in the application of RL to AIES. Finally, a method for reducing the training phase of the AIES.

ONTRACK: Dynamically adapting music playback to support navigation

Listening to music on personal, digital devices whilst mobile is an enjoyable, everyday activity. We explore a scheme for exploiting this practice to immerse listeners in navigation cues. Our prototype, ONTRACK, continuously adapts audio, modifying the spatial balance and volume to lead listeners to their target destination. First we report on an initial lab-based evaluation that demonstrated the approach’s efficacy: users were able to complete tasks within a reasonable time and their subjective feedback was positive. Encouraged by these results we constructed a handheld prototype. Here, we discuss this implementation and the results of field-trials. These indicate that even with a low-fidelity realisation of the concept, users can quite effectively navigate complicated routes.

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Geodesic Gaussian kernels for value function approximation

The least-squares policy iteration approach works efficiently in value function approximation, given appropriate basis functions. Because of its smoothness, the Gaussian kernel is a popular and useful choice as a basis function. However, it does not allow for discontinuity which typically arises in real-world reinforcement learning tasks. In this paper, we propose a new basis function based on geodesic Gaussian kernels, which exploits the non-linear manifold structure induced by the Markov decision processes. The usefulness of the proposed method is successfully demonstrated in simulated robot arm control and Khepera robot navigation.

Multimodal support to group dynamics

The complexity of group dynamics occurring in small group interactions often hinders the performance of teams. The availability of rich multimodal information about what is going on during the meeting makes it possible to explore the possibility of providing support to dysfunctional teams from facilitation to training sessions addressing both the individuals and the group as a whole. A necessary step in this direction is that of capturing and understanding group dynamics. In this paper, we discuss a particular scenario, in which meeting participants receive multimedia feedback on their relational behaviour, as a first step towards increasing self-awareness. We describe the background and the motivation for a coding scheme for annotating meeting recordings partially inspired by the Bales’ Interaction Process Analysis. This coding scheme was aimed at identifying suitable observable behavioural sequences. The study is complemented with an experimental investigation on the acceptability of such a service.

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Understanding and capturing people’s privacy policies in a mobile social networking application

A number of mobile applications have emerged that allow users to locate one another. However, people have expressed concerns about the privacy implications associated with this class of software, suggesting that broad adoption may only happen to the extent that these concerns are adequately addressed. In this article, we report on our work on PeopleFinder, an application that enables cell phone and laptop users to selectively share their locations with others (e.g. friends, family, and colleagues). The objective of our work has been to better understand people’s attitudes and behaviors towards privacy as they interact with such an application, and to explore technologies that empower users to more effectively and efficiently specify their privacy preferences (or “policies”). These technologies include user interfaces for specifying rules and auditing disclosures, as well as machine learning techniques to refine user policies based on their feedback. We present evaluations of these technologies in the context of one laboratory study and three field studies.

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