A model for student action prediction in 3D virtual environments for procedural training

This paper presents a predictive student actionmodel, which uses student logs generated by a 3D virtual environment for procedural training to elaborate summarized information. This model can predict the most common behaviors by con- sidering the sequences of more frequent actions, which is useful to anticipate common student? errors. These logs are clustered based on the number of errors made by each stu- dent and the total time that each student spent to complete the entire practice. Next, for each cluster an extended au- tomata is created, which allows us to generate predictions more reliable to each student type. In turn, the action pre- diction based on this model helps an intelligent tutoring sys- tem to generate students? feedback proactively

Visualization of a student predictive model for 3D virtual environments driven to procedural training

This document presents theimplementation ofa Student Behavior Predictor Viewer(SBPV)for a student predictive model. The student predictive model is part of an intelligent tutoring system, and is built from logs of students’ behaviors in the “Virtual Laboratory of Agroforestry Biotechnology”implemented in a previous work.The SBPVis a tool for visualizing a 2D graphical representationof the extended automaton associated with any of the clusters ofthe student predictive model. Apart from visualizing the extended automaton, the SBPV supports the navigation across the automaton by means of desktop devices. More precisely, the SBPV allows user to move through the automaton, to zoom in/out the graphic or to locate a given state. In addition, the SBPV also allows user to modify the default layout of the automaton on the screen by changing the position of the states by means of the mouse. To developthe SBPV, a web applicationwas designedand implementedrelying on HTML5, JavaScript and C#

Digital Twinning remote laboratories for online practical learning, Production & Manufacturing Research

The COVID19 pandemic has demonstrated a need for remote learning and virtual learning applications such as virtual reality (VR) and tabletbased solutions. Creating complex learning scenarios by developers is highly time-consuming and can take over a year. It is also costly to employ teams of system analysts, developers, and 3D artists. There is a requirement to provide a simple method to enable lecturers to create their own content for their laboratory tutorials. Research has been undertaken into developing generic models to enable the semiautomatic creation of virtual learning tools for subjects that require practical interactions with the lab resources. In addition to the system for creating digital twins, a case study describing the creation of a virtual learning application for an electrical laboratory tutorial is presented, demonstrating the feasibility of this approach

Testing Hollnagel's contextual control mod

Please contact publisher for further reprinting or re-useThis article sets out to test the hypothetical COtext and COntrol Model (COCOM) developed by Hollnagel (1993). Essentially, Hollnagel develops the argument that team behavior should be analyzed at a macro, rather than micro, level. He proposes 4 principal models of team activity: strategic, tactical, opportunistic, and scrambled. These modes of team behavior vary in terms of the degree of forward planning (highest in the strategic mode) and reactivity to the environment (highest in the scrambled mode). He further hypothesizes a linear progression through the modes from strategic to tactical to opportunistic to scrambled, depending on context, and vice versa. To test the COCOM model, we placed teams of people in a simulated energy distribution system. Our results confirm Hollnagel's hypothesized model in 2 main ways. First, we show that the team behavior could be categorized reliably into the 4 control modes and this provided a useful way of distinguishing between experimental conditions. Second, the progression between control modes conformed to the linear progression as predicted. This research provided the first independent test of the COCOM model and lends empirical support to the hypotheses

An Overview of Self-Adaptive Technologies Within Virtual Reality Training

This overview presents the current state-of-the-art of self-adaptive technologies within virtual reality (VR) training. Virtual reality training and assessment is increasingly used for five key areas: medical, industrial & commercial training, serious games, rehabilitation and remote training such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Adaptation can be applied to five core technologies of VR including haptic devices, stereo graphics, adaptive content, assessment and autonomous agents. Automation of VR training can contribute to automation of actual procedures including remote and robotic assisted surgery which reduces injury and improves accuracy of the procedure. Automated haptic interaction can enable tele-presence and virtual artefact tactile interaction from either remote or simulated environments. Automation, machine learning and data driven features play an important role in providing trainee-specific individual adaptive training content. Data from trainee assessment can form an input to autonomous systems for customised training and automated difficulty levels to match individual requirements. Self-adaptive technology has been developed previously within individual technologies of VR training. One of the conclusions of this research is that while it does not exist, an enhanced portable framework is needed and it would be beneficial to combine automation of core technologies, producing a reusable automation framework for VR training

Virtual reality as an educational tool in interior architecture

Ankara : The Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design and the Institute of Fine Arts of Bilkent Univ., 1997.Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 1997.Includes bibliographical references.This thesis discusses the use of virtual reality technology as an educational tool in interior architectural design. As a result of this discussion, it is proposed that virtual reality can be of use in aiding three-dimensional design and visualization, and may speed up the design process. It may also be of help in getting the designers/students more involved in their design projects. Virtual reality can enhance the capacity of designers to design in three dimensions. The virtual reality environment used in designing should be capable of aiding both the design and the presentation process. The tradeoffs of the technology, newly emerging trends and future directions in virtual reality are discussed.Aktaş, OrkunM.S

Deep learning for video game playing

In this article, we review recent Deep Learning advances in the context of how they have been applied to play different types of video games such as first-person shooters, arcade games, and real-time strategy games. We analyze the unique requirements that different game genres pose to a deep learning system and highlight important open challenges in the context of applying these machine learning methods to video games, such as general game playing, dealing with extremely large decision spaces and sparse rewards

Situating Vocational Learning and Teaching Using Digital Technologies - A Mapping Review of Current Research Literature

Context: The ongoing change of work life by digital technologies requires vocational education and training (VET) to adapt constantly. This "digital transformation" of work life gives therefore rise to the question how to advance the use of digital technologies in VET. A possible answer may be found by considering that VET should be transferable to work life. This goal may be achieved by coupling educational activities with examples of work situations. Such situated education may be accomplished by using digital technologies. Until five years ago this mainly consisted in using digital photos, videos, and the internet for educational scaffolding or learning tasks. In research this situated digital VET taxonomy is currently expanding. Hence, the use of digital technologies in VET may be advanced by considering current research literature on situated digital VET.Method: Here, we have searched and reviewed scientific publications on situated digital VET published in the past five years. In the peer-reviewed publications that we had selected, we first identified which digital technologies were used for situated VET and which educational activities were coupled with work situation examples. Subsequently, we identified the categories to which the publications could be grouped together by analyzing the content of their full texts. Results: Situated digital VET was accomplished in about half of the reviewed publications by a digital video on a work situation, and in almost half of the publications by a work situation presented in a 3D virtual environment. Digital videos on work situations mostly served all types of learning tasks and rather rarely educational scaffolding. Work situations presented in 3D virtual environments mostly served cognitive or behavioral learning tasks and never educational scaffolding. Situated digital VET was moreover accomplished by using the digital representation of a work situation that either had occurred previously or that was immediately taking place. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that retrospectively and immediately situated digital VET may be the two categories of an up-to-date basic taxonomy of situated digital VET. Hence, an important question to investigate for advancing the use of digital technologies in VET is the following: Which of the two identified types of situated digital VET can facilitate which kind of vocational learning? Based on the reviewed publications we are not able to give any answers to this. Hence, there is a massive need to investigate which kind of vocational learning can be facilitated by retrospectively, and which by immediately situated digital VET.

Integrated Reconfigurable Autonomous Architecture System

Advances in state-of-the-art architectural robotics and artificially intelligent design algorithms have the potential not only to transform how we design and build architecture, but to fundamentally change our relationship to the built environment. This system is situated within a larger body of research related to embedding autonomous agency directly into the built environment through the linkage of AI, computation, and robotics. It challenges the traditional separation between digital design and physical construction through the development of an autonomous architecture with an adaptive lifecycle. Integrated Reconfigurable Autonomous Architecture System (IRAAS) is composed of three components: 1) an interactive platform for user and environmental data input, 2) an agent-based generative space planning algorithm with deep reinforcement learning for continuous spatial adaptation, 3) a distributed robotic material system with bi-directional cyber-physical control protocols for simultaneous state alignment. The generative algorithm is a multi-agent system trained using deep reinforcement learning to learn adaptive policies for adjusting the scales, shapes, and relational organization of spatial volumes by processing changes in the environment and user requirements. The robotic material system was designed with a symbiotic relationship between active and passive modular components. Distributed robots slide their bodies on tracks built into passive blocks that enable their locomotion while utilizing a locking and unlocking system to reconfigure the assemblages they move across. The three subsystems have been developed in relation to each other to consider both the constraints of the AI-driven design algorithm and the robotic material system, enabling intelligent spatial adaptation with a continuous feedback chain

Haptic-Enhanced Learning in Preclinical Operative Dentistry

Background: Virtual reality haptic simulators represent a new paradigm in dental education that may potentially impact the rate and efficiency of basic skill acquisition, as well as pedagogically influence the various aspects of students’ preclinical experience. However, the evidence to support their efficiency and inform their implementation is still limited. Objectives: This thesis set out to empirically examine how haptic VR simulator (Simodont®) can enhance the preclinical dental education experience particularly in the context of operative dentistry. We specify 4 distinct research themes to explore, namely: simulator validity (face, content and predictive), human factors in 3D stereoscopic display, motor skill acquisition, and curriculum integration. Methods: Chapter 3 explores the face and content validity of Simodont® haptic dental simulator among a group of postgraduate dental students. Chapter 4 examines the predictive utility of Simodont® in predicting subsequent preclinical and clinical performance. The results indicate the potential utility of the simulator in predicting future clinical dental performance among undergraduate students. Chapter 5 investigates the role of stereopsis in dentistry from two different perspectives via two studies. Chapter 6 explores the effect of qualitatively different types of pedagogical feedback on the training, transfer and retention of basic manual dexterity dental skills. The results indicate that the acquisition and retention of basic dental motor skills in novice trainees is best optimised through a combination of instructor and visualdisplay VR-driven feedback. A pedagogical model for integration of haptic dental simulator into the dental curriculum has been proposed in Chapter 7. Conclusion: The findings from this thesis provide new insights into the utility of the haptic virtual reality simulator in undergraduate preclinical dental education. Haptic simulators have promising potential as a pedagogical tool in undergraduate dentistry that complements the existing simulation methods. Integration of haptic VR simulators into the dental curriculum has to be informed by sound pedagogical principles and mapped into specific learning objectives