Haptic feedback in a virtual crowd scenario improves the emotional response

Research has shown that incorporating haptics into virtual environments can increase sensory fidelity and provide powerful and immersive experiences. However, current studies on haptics in virtual interactions primarily focus on one-on-one scenarios, while kinesthetic haptic interactions in large virtual gatherings are underexplored. This study aims to investigate the impact of kinesthetic haptics on eliciting emotional responses within crowded virtual reality (VR) scenarios. Specifically, we examine the influence of type or quality of the haptic feedback on the perception of positive and negative emotions. We designed and developed different combinations of tactile and torque feedback devices and evaluated their effects on emotional responses. To achieve this, we explored different combinations of haptic feedback devices, including “No Haptic,” “Tactile Stimulus” delivering tactile cues, and “Haptic Stimulus” delivering tactile and torque cues, in combination with two immersive 360-degree video crowd scenarios, namely, “Casual Crowd” and “Aggressive Crowd.” The results suggest that varying the type or quality of haptic feedback can evoke different emotional responses in crowded VR scenarios. Participants reported increased levels of nervousness with Haptic Stimulus in both virtual scenarios, while both Tactile Stimulus and Haptic Stimulus were negatively associated with pleasantness and comfort during the interaction. Additionally, we observed that participants’ sense of touch being real was enhanced in Haptic Stimulus compared to Tactile Stimulus. The “Haptic Stimulus” condition had the most positive influence on participants’ sense of identification with the crowd

6G Enabled Smart Infrastructure for Sustainable Society: Opportunities, Challenges, and Research Roadmap

The 5G wireless communication network is currently faced with the challenge of limited data speed exacerbated by the proliferation of billions of data-intensive applications. To address this problem, researchers are developing cutting-edge technologies for the envisioned 6G wireless communication standards to satisfy the escalating wireless services demands. Though some of the candidate technologies in the 5G standards will apply to 6G wireless networks, key disruptive technologies that will guarantee the desired quality of physical experience to achieve ubiquitous wireless connectivity are expected in 6G. This article first provides a foundational background on the evolution of different wireless communication standards to have a proper insight into the vision and requirements of 6G. Second, we provide a panoramic view of the enabling technologies proposed to facilitate 6G and introduce emerging 6G applications such as multi-sensory–extended reality, digital replica, and more. Next, the technology-driven challenges, social, psychological, health and commercialization issues posed to actualizing 6G, and the probable solutions to tackle these challenges are discussed extensively. Additionally, we present new use cases of the 6G technology in agriculture, education, media and entertainment, logistics and transportation, and tourism. Furthermore, we discuss the multi-faceted communication capabilities of 6G that will contribute significantly to global sustainability and how 6G will bring about a dramatic change in the business arena. Finally, we highlight the research trends, open research issues, and key take-away lessons for future research exploration in 6G wireless communicatio

Enhanced Virtuality: Increasing the Usability and Productivity of Virtual Environments

Mit stetig steigender Bildschirmauflösung, genauerem Tracking und fallenden Preisen stehen Virtual Reality (VR) Systeme kurz davor sich erfolgreich am Markt zu etablieren. Verschiedene Werkzeuge helfen Entwicklern bei der Erstellung komplexer Interaktionen mit mehreren Benutzern innerhalb adaptiver virtueller Umgebungen. Allerdings entstehen mit der Verbreitung der VR-Systeme auch zusätzliche Herausforderungen: Diverse Eingabegeräte mit ungewohnten Formen und Tastenlayouts verhindern eine intuitive Interaktion. Darüber hinaus zwingt der eingeschränkte Funktionsumfang bestehender Software die Nutzer dazu, auf herkömmliche PC- oder Touch-basierte Systeme zurückzugreifen. Außerdem birgt die Zusammenarbeit mit anderen Anwendern am gleichen Standort Herausforderungen hinsichtlich der Kalibrierung unterschiedlicher Trackingsysteme und der Kollisionsvermeidung. Beim entfernten Zusammenarbeiten wird die Interaktion durch Latenzzeiten und Verbindungsverluste zusätzlich beeinflusst. Schließlich haben die Benutzer unterschiedliche Anforderungen an die Visualisierung von Inhalten, z.B. Größe, Ausrichtung, Farbe oder Kontrast, innerhalb der virtuellen Welten. Eine strikte Nachbildung von realen Umgebungen in VR verschenkt Potential und wird es nicht ermöglichen, die individuellen Bedürfnisse der Benutzer zu berücksichtigen. Um diese Probleme anzugehen, werden in der vorliegenden Arbeit Lösungen in den Bereichen Eingabe, Zusammenarbeit und Erweiterung von virtuellen Welten und Benutzern vorgestellt, die darauf abzielen, die Benutzerfreundlichkeit und Produktivität von VR zu erhöhen. Zunächst werden PC-basierte Hardware und Software in die virtuelle Welt übertragen, um die Vertrautheit und den Funktionsumfang bestehender Anwendungen in VR zu erhalten. Virtuelle Stellvertreter von physischen Geräten, z.B. Tastatur und Tablet, und ein VR-Modus für Anwendungen ermöglichen es dem Benutzer reale Fähigkeiten in die virtuelle Welt zu übertragen. Des Weiteren wird ein Algorithmus vorgestellt, der die Kalibrierung mehrerer ko-lokaler VR-Geräte mit hoher Genauigkeit und geringen Hardwareanforderungen und geringem Aufwand ermöglicht. Da VR-Headsets die reale Umgebung der Benutzer ausblenden, wird die Relevanz einer Ganzkörper-Avatar-Visualisierung für die Kollisionsvermeidung und das entfernte Zusammenarbeiten nachgewiesen. Darüber hinaus werden personalisierte räumliche oder zeitliche Modifikationen vorgestellt, die es erlauben, die Benutzerfreundlichkeit, Arbeitsleistung und soziale Präsenz von Benutzern zu erhöhen. Diskrepanzen zwischen den virtuellen Welten, die durch persönliche Anpassungen entstehen, werden durch Methoden der Avatar-Umlenkung (engl. redirection) kompensiert. Abschließend werden einige der Methoden und Erkenntnisse in eine beispielhafte Anwendung integriert, um deren praktische Anwendbarkeit zu verdeutlichen. Die vorliegende Arbeit zeigt, dass virtuelle Umgebungen auf realen Fähigkeiten und Erfahrungen aufbauen können, um eine vertraute und einfache Interaktion und Zusammenarbeit von Benutzern zu gewährleisten. Darüber hinaus ermöglichen individuelle Erweiterungen des virtuellen Inhalts und der Avatare Einschränkungen der realen Welt zu überwinden und das Erlebnis von VR-Umgebungen zu steigern

Ubiquitous computing and natural interfaces for environmental information

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia do Ambiente, perfil Gestão e Sistemas AmbientaisThe next computing revolution‘s objective is to embed every street, building, room and object with computational power. Ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) will allow every object to receive and transmit information, sense its surroundings and act accordingly, be located from anywhere in the world, connect every person. Everyone will have the possibility to access information, despite their age, computer knowledge, literacy or physical impairment. It will impact the world in a profound way, empowering mankind, improving the environment, but will also create new challenges that our society, economy, health and global environment will have to overcome. Negative impacts have to be identified and dealt with in advance. Despite these concerns, environmental studies have been mostly absent from discussions on the new paradigm. This thesis seeks to examine ubiquitous computing, its technological emergence, raise awareness towards future impacts and explore the design of new interfaces and rich interaction modes. Environmental information is approached as an area which may greatly benefit from ubicomp as a way to gather, treat and disseminate it, simultaneously complying with the Aarhus convention. In an educational context, new media are poised to revolutionize the way we perceive, learn and interact with environmental information. cUbiq is presented as a natural interface to access that information

Electrotactons: designing and evaluating electrotactile cues

Electrotactile feedback is a novel haptic feedback modality that can be used to evoke a desired level of alertness and emotion or convey multidimensional information to the user. However, there is a lack of research investigating its basic design parameters and how they can be used to create effective tactile cues. This thesis investigates the effect of Electrotactile feedback on the subjective perception of specific sensations, such as urgency, annoyance, valence and arousal, to find the number of distinguishable levels in each sensation. These levels are then used for designing structured, abstract, electrotactile messages called Electrotactons. These have potential benefits over vibration-based cues due to the greater flexibility of the actuators. Experiments 1, 2 & 4 investigated the effects of manipulating the basic electrotactile parameters pulse width, amplitude and pulse frequency on perceived sensations. The results showed that all parameters have a significant effect on the perceived sensations, except for pulse frequency not having an effect on valence. Also, pulse frequencies of 30 PPS and above did not influence the perceived sensations. Experiment 3 investigated the use of pulse width, amplitude and pulse frequency to convey three types of information simultaneously encoded into an electrotactile cue. This was the first attempt to design Electrotactons using the basic parameters of electrotactile feedback. The results showed overall recognition rates of 38.19% for the complete Electrotactons. For the individual component parameters, pulse width had a recognition rate of 71.67%, amplitude 70.27%, and pulse frequency 66.36%. Experiment 5 investigated intensity and pulse frequency to determine how many distinguishable levels could be perceived. Results showed that both intensity and pulse frequency significantly affected perception, with four distinguishable levels of intensity and two of pulse frequency. Experiment 6 investigated the use of intensity and pulse frequency from in Experiment 5 to improve the design of Electrotactons on three body locations using two different size electrodes. The results showed overall recognition rates of up to 65.31% for the complete Electrotactons. For the individual component parameters, intensity had a recognition rate of 68.68%, and pulse frequency 94.41%. These results add significant new knowledge about the parameter space of electrotactile cue design and help designers select suitable properties to use when creating electrotactile cues

MediaSync: Handbook on Multimedia Synchronization

This book provides an approachable overview of the most recent advances in the fascinating field of media synchronization (mediasync), gathering contributions from the most representative and influential experts. Understanding the challenges of this field in the current multi-sensory, multi-device, and multi-protocol world is not an easy task. The book revisits the foundations of mediasync, including theoretical frameworks and models, highlights ongoing research efforts, like hybrid broadband broadcast (HBB) delivery and users' perception modeling (i.e., Quality of Experience or QoE), and paves the way for the future (e.g., towards the deployment of multi-sensory and ultra-realistic experiences). Although many advances around mediasync have been devised and deployed, this area of research is getting renewed attention to overcome remaining challenges in the next-generation (heterogeneous and ubiquitous) media ecosystem. Given the significant advances in this research area, its current relevance and the multiple disciplines it involves, the availability of a reference book on mediasync becomes necessary. This book fills the gap in this context. In particular, it addresses key aspects and reviews the most relevant contributions within the mediasync research space, from different perspectives. Mediasync: Handbook on Multimedia Synchronization is the perfect companion for scholars and practitioners that want to acquire strong knowledge about this research area, and also approach the challenges behind ensuring the best mediated experiences, by providing the adequate synchronization between the media elements that constitute these experiences

Enhancement of the Sensory Capabilities of Mobile Robots through Artificial Olfaction

La presente tesis abarca varios aspectos del olfato artificial u olfato robótico, la capacidad de percibir información sobre la composición del aire que rodea a un sistema automático. En primer lugar, se desarrolla una nariz electrónica, un instrumento que combina sensores de gas de bajas prestaciones con un algoritmo de clasificación para medir e identificar gases. Aunque esta tecnología ya existía previamente, se aplica un nuevo enfoque que busca reducir las dimensiones y consumo para poder instalarlas en robots móviles, a la vez que se aumenta el número de gases detectables mediante un diseño modular. Posteriormente, se estudia la estrategia óptima para encontrar fugas de gas con un robot equipado con este tipo de narices electrónicas. Para ello se llevan a cabos varios experimentos basados en teleoperación para entender como afectan los sensores del robot al éxito de la tarea, de lo cual se deriva finalmente un algoritmo para generar con robots autónomos mapas de gas de un entorno dado, el cual se inspira en el comportamiento humano, a saber, maximizar la información conocida sobre el entorno. La principal virtud de este método, además de realizar una exploración óptima del entorno, es su capacidad para funcionar en entornos muy complejos y sujetos a corrientes de vientos mediante un nuevo método que también se presenta en esta tesis. Finalmente, se presentan dos casos de aplicación en los que se identifica de forma automática con una nariz electrónica la calidad subjetiva del aire en entornos urbanos

Playful Materialities

Game culture and material culture have always been closely linked. Analog forms of rule-based play (ludus) would hardly be conceivable without dice, cards, and game boards. In the act of free play (paidia), children as well as adults transform simple objects into multifaceted toys in an almost magical way. Even digital play is suffused with material culture: Games are not only mediated by technical interfaces, which we access via hardware and tangible peripherals. They are also subject to material hybridization, paratextual framing, and processes of de-, and re-materialization

Playful Materialities: The Stuff That Games Are Made Of

Game culture and material culture have always been closely linked. Analog forms of rule-based play (ludus) would hardly be conceivable without dice, cards, and game boards. In the act of free play (paidia), children as well as adults transform simple objects into multifaceted toys in an almost magical way. Even digital play is suffused with material culture: Games are not only mediated by technical interfaces, which we access via hardware and tangible peripherals. They are also subject to material hybridization, paratextual framing, and processes of de-, and re-materialization