Perception of own and robot engagement in human–robot interactions and their dependence on robotics knowledge

Communication between socially assistive robots and humans might be facilitated by intuitively understandable mechanisms. To investigate the effects of some key nonverbal gestures on a human’s own engagement and robot engagement experienced by humans, participants read a series of instructions to a robot that responded with nods, blinks, changes in gaze direction, or a combination of these. Unbeknown to the participants, the robot had no form of speech processing or gesture recognition, but simply measured speech volume levels, responding with gestures whenever a lull in sound was detected. As measured by visual analogue scales, engagement of participants was not differentially affected by the different responses of the robot. However, their perception of the robot’s engagement in the task, its likability and its understanding of the instructions depended on the gesture presented, with nodding being the most effective response. Participants who self-reported greater robotics knowledge reported higher overall engagement and greater success at developing a relationship with the robot. However, self-reported robotics knowledge did not differentially affect the impact of robot gestures. This suggests that greater familiarity with robotics may help to maximise positive experiences for humans involved in human–robot interactions without affecting the impact of the type of signal sent by the robot.     

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.     

Beauty is more than screen deep: Improving the web survey respondent experience through socially-present and aesthetically-pleasing user interfaces

Web surveys are rapidly becoming standard issue in many researchers’ toolkits; however, measurement error has been shown to affect web surveys to a greater extent than paper-and-pencil surveys (Couper, 2000, Manfreda and Vehovar, 2002). Principles of aesthetic design and social presence have been applied to web surveys to reduce the prevalence of such error with promising results, which were further investigated in this research. A sample of 181 first-year psychology undergraduate students participated in this study. Participants were randomly allocated to view one of eight web survey interfaces, which varied by aesthetic quality and social presence. Exploratory structural equation modeling using the partial least squares method revealed that classical aesthetic quality and social presence were both positively related to perceived ease of use of the web survey interface and positive state affect; social presence and perceived ease of use were positively related to trust in the web survey researcher; classical aesthetic quality was negatively related to negative state affect; and, expressive aesthetic quality was negatively related to perceived ease of use and positively related to positive state affect. Interestingly, expressive aesthetic quality was also positively related to negative state affect. These relationships between aesthetic quality and social presence should inform best practice web survey design recommendations, and future empirical work should extend and test the generalizability of these findings.     

增强现实辅助维修技术研究进展

增强现实技术应用于复杂装备维修,可增加维修保障工作信息量与对复杂维修任 务及维修过程的理解能力,提高维修保障效率。在分析当前典型增强现实原型系统基础上,研 究了增强现实技术在复杂装备维修保障中应用的可行性,提出了增强现实装备维修中关键技术 的解决途径,并对增强现实技术的发展趋势进行了展望。     

Web交互模型的形式化验证研究

Web交互模型的形式化验证是对Web事件属性进行校验的十分可信的方法。通过一系列的系统模型建立、系统行为分析以及对于模型中关心属性的相关验证,能够让交互模型在设计阶段就能使形式化模型暴露出其所存在的缺陷,而不至于让缺陷保留到编码阶段或者更后面才能被真正地暴露出来,这样使系统模型的生存能力更加强大,同时避免了因后期缺陷暴露而出现的大代价修复。通过对Web系统的交互应用服务的过程模型化的体系进行研究,通过模型本身具有的属性进行相关正确性的校验,主要通过使用数学推理实现系统逻辑上的服务交互进程,从而进行过程的推演,并对系统服务的正确性进行过程的形式化验证,从而使系统服务模块的属性正确性可以通过逻辑上的演进来发现服务问题的存在,而不再是系统通过编码实现后才发现。对Web交互模型的形式化验证是基于IMWSC模型语义形成的IMWSC模型的验证机制。     

面向在线社区用户的群体推荐算法研究

结合现有两种主要群体推荐算法的优势, 建立新的算法框架, 并引入差异度因素对模型进行优化。另外, 考虑到在线社区用户的特点, 定义互动度指标来描述群体成员间的互动程度, 通过分析其与推荐精度之间的关系, 探讨互动度对群体推荐的影响。选取豆瓣网数据进行实验, 并与传统方法进行比较, 结果表明, 融入差异度的算法具有更好的推荐效果, 且有效的互动机制能够保证较高的推荐精度。     

Human-machine interaction force control: using a model-referenced adaptive impedance device to control an index finger exoskeleton

Exoskeleton robots and their control methods have been extensively developed to aid post-stroke rehabilitation. Most of the existing methods using linear controllers are designed for position control and are not suitable for human-machine interaction （HMI） force control, as the interaction system between the human body and exoskeleton is uncertain and nonlinear. We present an approach for HMI force control via model reference adaptive impedance control （MRAIC） to solve this problem in case of index finger exoskeleton control. First, a dynamic HMI model, which is based on a position control inner loop, is for- mulated. Second, the theoretical MRAC framework is implemented in the control system. Then, the adaptive controllers are designed according to the Lyapunov stability theory. To verify the performance of the proposed method, we compare it with a proportional-integral-derivative （PID） method in the time domain with real experiments and in the frequency domain with simu- lations. The results illustrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method in solving the nonlinear HMI force control problem in hand exoskeleton.     

超空泡射弹尾拍运动流固耦合动力学响应研究

基于ANSYS软件和CFX软件的双向隐式交错迭代法对超空泡射弹尾拍运动过程中的流固耦合响应进行了研究,结构响应仿真采用有限元法、流场仿真采用分相流模型和SST湍流模型,重点比较分析了流固耦合作用对射弹运动姿态和流体动力的影响,给出了尾拍过程中弹体应力的变化规律.     

基于物理的海浪模拟综述

真实感流体的模拟是计算机图形学领域中研究的热点和难点之一,海浪模拟是流体模拟动画的重要组成部分,其真实感、实时性和交互性等直接影响到海面场景逼真的程度。重点回顾了基于物理的海浪模拟研究方法的发展,并对近年来海浪模拟的热点问题如波浪的翻卷和破碎、浪花的飞溅和泡沫、流固耦合、两相流和多相流的模拟进行了详细的分析,最后针对有限的系统资源与随着规模增长的计算资源之间的矛盾,重点讨论了加速策略。未来将结合多种模拟方法的优点,对海浪建模进行合理的简化,改善数据结构,并在此基础上实现GPU并行化,以满足实时仿真的要求,这将是基于物理的海浪模拟的发展方向。     

虚拟现实技术在化学实验教学中的应用研究

虚拟实验应用日益广泛,而支持虚拟实验的相关技术成为了研究热点。分析了虚拟化学实验及其在未来虚拟现实技术上的发展趋势,综述了U-nity3D技术、增强现实技术和Kinect体感交互技术的理论基础以及在虚拟化学实验中的应用与发展,以虚拟技术融合的方法为导向,仿真化学实验的实时环境,使虚拟实验简单化、直观化。展望了虚实融合技术在虚拟实验领域的应用前景。虚实融合技术有利于推动虚拟化学实验朝智能化发展,是虚拟实验改革的一个新起点。