How social distance shapes human–robot interaction

This paper investigates how social distance can serve as a lens through which we can understand human–robot relationships and develop guidelines for robot design. In two studies, we examine the effects of distance based on physical proximity (proxemic distance), organizational status (power distance), and task structure (task distance) on people׳s experiences with and perceptions of a humanlike robot. In Study 1, participants (n=32) played a card-matching game with a humanlike robot. We manipulated the power distance (supervisor vs. subordinate) and proxemic distance (close vs. distant) between participants and the robot. Participants who interacted with the supervisor robot reported a more positive user experience when the robot was close than when the robot was distant, while interactions with the subordinate robot resulted in a more positive experience when the robot was distant than when the robot was close. In Study 2, participants (n=32) played the game in two different task distances (cooperation vs. competition) and proxemic distances (close vs. distant). Participants who cooperated with the robot reported a more positive experience when the robot was distant than when it was close. In contrast, competing with the robot resulted in a more positive experience when it was close than when the robot was distant. The findings from the two studies highlight the importance of consistency between the status and proxemic behaviors of the robot and of task interdependency in fostering cooperation between the robot and its users. This work also demonstrates how social distance may guide efforts toward a better understanding of human–robot interaction and the development of effective design guidelines.     

视线交互中两类扫视运动的人机工效评估研究

Fitts法则是人机交互领域预测人机工效的一个有效模型,在许多交互方式中都得到了验证,是传统人机工效研究的理论基础。然而在视线交互中,由于眼动肌肉神经控制机制与肢体运动不同,Fitts法则并不适用。近两年的相关研究提出了一个新的专门针对视线点击任务的难度指数IDeye,它比经典的Fitts指数更能准确预测视线交互的工效。然而,在新模型的有效性验证实验中并没有考虑两种典型的扫视运动(向心和离心运动)的差异。为此,在前期研究的基础上设计组织实验,验证了视线交互中离心和向心这两种眼球运动所带来的人机工效和稳定性的差异,并证实新的IDeye模型仍然能有效预测单纯的离心或向心扫视条件下的人机工效,是对视线交互工效研究的重要补充。     

医疗产品设计中的人性化研究

在经济飞速发展的今天,传统的医疗产品行业应该顺应社会的需求,更加重视人的情感需求,从人性化的设计角度,着眼于造型、色彩、人机上对医疗产品进行更深入的设计研究。     

Rapid detection of antigen binding by antibody fragments expressed in the periplasm of Escherichia coli

Bacterial expression systems can greatly facilitate proteinengineering of antibodies. We have developed a system for high-levelexpression of antibodies, antibody fragments, or hybrid antibodieswith novel effector functions in the periplasm of Escherichiacoli. From 5 ml of cells, a simple extraction yields sufficientmaterial for SDS-gel electro-phoresis, detection and characterizationof hapten binding. To demonstrate our system, heavy-chain variableregions and 1 light chains of a mouse anti-NP antibody weresynthesized as hybrid proteins with a bacterial signal peptide(Omp F). Each chain is secreted into the periplasm where processing(cleavage of the signal peptide), folding and heterodimer associationtake place. Periplasmic proteins are released by cold osmoticshock, and hapten-binding activity is easily detected withoutfurther manipulation. The ease of genetic engineering in thissystem will facilitate the production of immunoglobulin derivativesdesigned for specific applications, and expression of thesemolecules in a native state will allow the rapid screening ofcombinatorial libraries and the results of mutagenesis.     

基于信息物理融合的骨折复位机器人系统构建

针对骨折治疗中传统复位方法（手法复位、牵引复位、手术复位）存在的二次损伤、肌能失调、患肢僵硬、破坏血运及术后矫正动态性能差等问题,提出了一种人-机-物融合的信息物理系统（CPHS）用于指导机器人的复位动作。首先,从CPHS的数字孪生、信息感知、系统集成、手术流程、模拟复位等方面论证了并联机器人信息物理系统的构成,将机器人的高定位精度及可重复性与微创方法有效结合,从而指导医生完成仿真规划及术中监控等一系列操作;其次,根据临床骨折复位过程,在机器人操作下对5组不同骨折姿态的模拟骨折病例进行了复位实验;最后,计算出每组实验复位后的移位残余及角度误差,并与传统复位方法的相应数据进行对比。实验结果表明,CPHS骨折复位机器人相较于传统复位方法,在骨折复位过程和患者术后康复上均有着明显的优势。     

Assessing the effects of gamification in the classroom: A longitudinal study on intrinsic motivation,social comparison,satisfaction, effort,and academic performance

Gamification, the application of game elements to non-game settings, continues to grow in popularity as a method to increase student engagement in the classroom. We tested students across two courses, measuring their motivation, social comparison, effort, satisfaction, learner empowerment, and academic performance at four points during a 16-week semester. One course received a gamified curriculum, featuring a leaderboard and badges, whereas the other course received the same curriculum without the gamified elements. Our results found that students in the gamified course showed less motivation, satisfaction, and empowerment over time than those in the non-gamified class. The effect of course type on students' final exam scores was mediated by students' levels of intrinsic motivation, with students in the gamified course showing less motivation and lower final exam scores than the non-gamified class. This suggests that some care should be taken when applying certain gamification mechanics to educational settings.     

Maintenance Scheduling Optimization in a Multiple Production Line Considering Human Error

An analytical multiobjective maintenance planning model that maximizes reliability while minimizing cost and human error is proposed. In order to incorporate human error, the model minimizes the maximum human error over the planning horizon. Human Error Assessment and Reduction Technique (HEART) is used to quantify the human error. Maintenance activities include adjustment and replacement activities, in which each of them consumes a certain amount of human resource, spare parts, and budget and brings about a specified level of reliability and human error. Economic dependence is also considered, in which grouping maintenance activities reduces total cost. However, this may increase human error probability due to operator fatigue or time pressure. The main purpose is to investigate the relationship between human factors and maintenance activities to find the preferred maintenance plan. A multiple production line is considered as a case study. A sensitivity analysis is performed, and the effects of grouping and human factors on the preferred maintenance plan are discussed. It is shown how human proficiency may affect reliability and cost.     

Exploring and modeling unimanual object manipulation on multi-touch displays

Touch-sensitive devices are becoming increasingly wide-spread, and consequently gestural interfaces have become familiar to the public. Despite the fact that many gestures require frequently dragging, pinching, spreading, and rotating the finger-tips, there currently does not exist a human performance model describing this interaction. In this paper, a novel user performance model is derived for virtual object manipulation on touch-sensitive displays, which involves simultaneous translation, rotation, and scaling of the object. Two controlled experiments with dual-finger unimanual manipulations were conducted to validate the new model. The results indicate that the model fits the experimental data well (with R² and R values above 0.9), and performs the best among several alternative models. Moreover, based on the analysis of the empirical data, the simultaneity nature of manipulation in the task is explored and several design implications are provided.     

Signage Versus Environmental Affordances: Is the Explicit Information Strong Enough to Guide Human Behavior During a Wayfinding Task?

This study aims to explore how people behave when they have to find a location within a complex building and are confronted with situations where directional signage (i.e., explicit information) is in opposition to environmental affordances that naturally direct users towards a specific path, creating a situation with conflicting information (e.g., a brighter corridor vs. a darker corridor but with a directional sign indicating to follow the darker one). A virtual reality–based methodology was used and a between‐subject design was considered. Thus, participants were given the tasks of finding three publicly accessible central points in a virtual hotel and confronted with a two forced‐choice task of local scenes in which environmental variables (i.e., corridor width and brightness) and signage varied systematically, in two experimental conditions (i.e., neutral and signage). For the signage condition, signs were inserted to explicitly point in the opposite direction than that implicitly suggested by the environmental affordances, creating situations with conflicting information. Results indicate that environmental variables were able to direct people indoors acting as environmental affordances. Users preferred to follow the wider and brighter paths. However, when directional signage pointed in the opposite direction of the paths preferred by the participants, most of them complied with signage.     

From big smartphone data to worldwide research: The Mobile Data Challenge

This paper presents an overview of the Mobile Data Challenge (MDC), a large-scale research initiative aimed at generating innovations around smartphone-based research, as well as community-based evaluation of mobile data analysis methodologies. First, we review the Lausanne Data Collection Campaign (LDCC), an initiative to collect unique longitudinal smartphone dataset for the MDC. Then, we introduce the Open and Dedicated Tracks of the MDC, describe the specific datasets used in each of them, discuss the key design and implementation aspects introduced in order to generate privacy-preserving and scientifically relevant mobile data resources for wider use by the research community, and summarize the main research trends found among the 100+ challenge submissions. We finalize by discussing the main lessons learned from the participation of several hundred researchers worldwide in the MDC Tracks.