11,578 research outputs found
Supporting Device Discovery and Spontaneous Interaction with Spatial References
The RELATE interaction model is designed to support spontaneous interaction of mobile users with devices and services in their environment. The model is based on spatial references that capture the spatial relationship of a user’s device with other co-located devices. Spatial references are obtained by relative position sensing and integrated in the mobile user interface to spatially visualize the arrangement of discovered devices, and to provide direct access for interaction across devices. In this paper we discuss two prototype systems demonstrating the utility of the model in collaborative and mobile settings, and present a study on usability of spatial list and map representations for device selection
Tangible user interfaces : past, present and future directions
In the last two decades, Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) have emerged as a new interface type that interlinks the digital and physical worlds. Drawing upon users' knowledge and skills of interaction with the real non-digital world, TUIs show a potential to enhance the way in which people interact with and leverage digital information. However, TUI research is still in its infancy and extensive research is required in or- der to fully understand the implications of tangible user interfaces, to develop technologies that further bridge the digital and the physical, and to guide TUI design with empirical knowledge. This paper examines the existing body of work on Tangible User In- terfaces. We start by sketching the history of tangible user interfaces, examining the intellectual origins of this field. We then present TUIs in a broader context, survey application domains, and review frame- works and taxonomies. We also discuss conceptual foundations of TUIs including perspectives from cognitive sciences, phycology, and philoso- phy. Methods and technologies for designing, building, and evaluating TUIs are also addressed. Finally, we discuss the strengths and limita- tions of TUIs and chart directions for future research
Visualizing and Interacting with Concept Hierarchies
Concept Hierarchies and Formal Concept Analysis are theoretically well
grounded and largely experimented methods. They rely on line diagrams called
Galois lattices for visualizing and analysing object-attribute sets. Galois
lattices are visually seducing and conceptually rich for experts. However they
present important drawbacks due to their concept oriented overall structure:
analysing what they show is difficult for non experts, navigation is
cumbersome, interaction is poor, and scalability is a deep bottleneck for
visual interpretation even for experts. In this paper we introduce semantic
probes as a means to overcome many of these problems and extend usability and
application possibilities of traditional FCA visualization methods. Semantic
probes are visual user centred objects which extract and organize reduced
Galois sub-hierarchies. They are simpler, clearer, and they provide a better
navigation support through a rich set of interaction possibilities. Since probe
driven sub-hierarchies are limited to users focus, scalability is under control
and interpretation is facilitated. After some successful experiments, several
applications are being developed with the remaining problem of finding a
compromise between simplicity and conceptual expressivity
Recovering from External Disturbances in Online Manipulation through State-Dependent Revertive Recovery Policies
Robots are increasingly entering uncertain and unstructured environments.
Within these, robots are bound to face unexpected external disturbances like
accidental human or tool collisions. Robots must develop the capacity to
respond to unexpected events. That is not only identifying the sudden anomaly,
but also deciding how to handle it. In this work, we contribute a recovery
policy that allows a robot to recovery from various anomalous scenarios across
different tasks and conditions in a consistent and robust fashion. The system
organizes tasks as a sequence of nodes composed of internal modules such as
motion generation and introspection. When an introspection module flags an
anomaly, the recovery strategy is triggered and reverts the task execution by
selecting a target node as a function of a state dependency chart. The new
skill allows the robot to overcome the effects of the external disturbance and
conclude the task. Our system recovers from accidental human and tool
collisions in a number of tasks. Of particular importance is the fact that we
test the robustness of the recovery system by triggering anomalies at each node
in the task graph showing robust recovery everywhere in the task. We also
trigger multiple and repeated anomalies at each of the nodes of the task
showing that the recovery system can consistently recover anywhere in the
presence of strong and pervasive anomalous conditions. Robust recovery systems
will be key enablers for long-term autonomy in robot systems. Supplemental info
including code, data, graphs, and result analysis can be found at [1].Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl
Quantum-dot based photonic quantum networks
Quantum dots embedded in photonic nanostructures have in recent years proven
to be a very powerful solid-state platform for quantum optics experiments. The
combination of near-unity radiative coupling of a single quantum dot to a
photonic mode and the ability to eliminate decoherence processes imply that an
unprecedented light-matter interface can be obtained. As a result,
high-cooperativity photon-emitter quantum interfaces can be constructed opening
a path-way to deterministic photonic quantum gates for quantum-information
processing applications. In the present manuscript, I review current
state-of-the-art on quantum dot devices and their applications for quantum
technology. The overarching long-term goal of the research field is to
construct photonic quantum networks where remote entanglement can be
distributed over long distances by photons
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