6,638 research outputs found
Design Strategies for Playful Technologies to Support Light-intensity Physical Activity in the Workplace
Moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity has an established
preventative role in obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. However
recent evidence suggests that sitting time affects health negatively
independent of whether adults meet prescribed physical activity guidelines.
Since many of us spend long hours daily sitting in front of a host of
electronic screens, this is cause for concern. In this paper, we describe a set
of three prototype digital games created for encouraging light-intensity
physical activity during short breaks at work. The design of these kinds of
games is a complex process that must consider motivation strategies,
interaction methodology, usability and ludic aspects. We present design
guidelines for technologies that encourage physical activity in the workplace
that we derived from a user evaluation using the prototypes. Although the
design guidelines can be seen as general principles, we conclude that they have
to be considered differently for different workplace cultures and workspaces.
Our study was conducted with users who have some experience playing casual
games on their mobile devices and were able and willing to increase their
physical activity.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures. Video:
http://living.media.mit.edu/projects/see-saw
Doctor of Philosophy in Computing
dissertationPhysics-based animation has proven to be a powerful tool for creating compelling animations for film and games. Most techniques in graphics are based on methods developed for predictive simulation for engineering applications; however, the goals for graphics applications are dramatically different than the goals of engineering applications. As a result, most physics-based animation tools are difficult for artists to work with, providing little direct control over simulation results. In this thesis, we describe tools for physics-based animation designed with artist needs and expertise in mind. Most materials can be modeled as elastoplastic: they recover from small deformations, but large deformations permanently alter their rest shape. Unfortunately, large plastic deformations, common in graphical applications, cause simulation instabilities if not addressed. Most elastoplastic simulation techniques in graphics rely on a finite-element approach where objects are discretized into a tetrahedral mesh. Using these approaches, maintaining simulation stability during large plastic flows requires remeshing, a complex and computationally expensive process. We introduce a new point-based approach that does not rely on an explicit mesh and avoids the expense of remeshing. Our approach produces comparable results with much lower implementation complexity. Points are a ubiquitous primitive for many effects, so our approach also integrates well with existing artist pipelines. Next, we introduce a new technique for animating stylized images which we call Dynamic Sprites. Artists can use our tool to create digital assets that interact in a natural, but stylized, way in virtual environments. In order to support the types of nonphysical, exaggerated motions often desired by artists, our approach relies on a heavily modified deformable body simulator, equipped with a set of new intuitive controls and an example-based deformation model. Our approach allows artists to specify how the shape of the object should change as it moves and collides in interactive virtual environments. Finally, we introduce a new technique for animating destructive scenes. Our approach is built on the insight that the most important visual aspects of destruction are plastic deformation and fracture. Like with Dynamic Sprites, we use an example-based model of deformation for intuitive artist control. Our simulator treats objects as rigid when computing dynamics but allows them to deform plastically and fracture in between timesteps based on interactions with the other objects. We demonstrate that our approach can efficiently animate the types of destructive scenes common in film and games. These animation techniques are designed to exploit artist expertise to ease creation of complex animations. By using artist-friendly primitives and allowing artists to provide characteristic deformations as input, our techniques enable artists to create more compelling animations, more easily
Real Time Animation of Virtual Humans: A Trade-off Between Naturalness and Control
Virtual humans are employed in many interactive applications using 3D virtual environments, including (serious) games. The motion of such virtual humans should look realistic (or ânaturalâ) and allow interaction with the surroundings and other (virtual) humans. Current animation techniques differ in the trade-off they offer between motion naturalness and the control that can be exerted over the motion. We show mechanisms to parametrize, combine (on different body parts) and concatenate motions generated by different animation techniques. We discuss several aspects of motion naturalness and show how it can be evaluated. We conclude by showing the promise of combinations of different animation paradigms to enhance both naturalness and control
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Debugging real-time software in a host-target environment
A common paradigm for the development of process-control or embedded computer software is to do most of the implementation and testing on a large host computer, then retarget the code for final checkout and production execution on the target machine. The host machine is usually large and provides a variety of program development tools, while the target may be a small, bare machine. A difficulty with the paradigm arises when the software developed has real-time constraints and is composed of multiple communicating processes. If a test execution on the target fails, it may be exceptionally tedious to determine the cause of the failure. Host machine debuggers cannot normally be applied, because the same program processing the same data will frequently exhibit different behavior on the host. Differences in processor speed, scheduling algorithm, and the like, account for the disparity. This paper proposes a partial solution to this problem, in which the errant execution reconstructed and made amenable to source language level debugging on the host. The solution involves the integrated application of a static concurrency analyzer, an interactive interpreter, and a graphical program visualization aid. Though generally applicable, the solution is described here in the context of multi-tasked real-time Ada* programs
Towards Personalities for Animated Agents With Reactive and Planning Behaviors
We describe a framework for creating animated simulations of virtual human agents. The framework allows us to capture flexible patterns of activity, reactivity to a changing environment, and certain aspects of an agent personality model. Each leads to variation in how an animated simulation will be realized. As different parts of an activity make different demands oil an agent\u27s resources and decision-making, our framework allows special-purpose reasoners and planners to be associated with only those phases of an activity where they are needed. Personality is reflected in locomotion choices which are guided by an agent model that interacts with the other components of the framework
Model-based engineering of animated interactive systems for the interactive television environment
Les interfaces graphiques Ă©taient la plupart du temps statiques, et reprĂ©sentaient une succession d'Ă©tats logiciels les uns aprĂšs les autres. Cependant, les transitions animĂ©es entre ces Ă©tats statiques font partie intĂ©grante des interfaces utilisateurs modernes, et leurs processus de design et d'implĂ©mentations constituent un dĂ©fi pour les designers et les dĂ©veloppeurs. Cette thĂšse propose un processus de conception de systĂšmes interactifs centrĂ© sur les animations, ainsi qu'une architecture pour la dĂ©finition et l'implĂ©mentation d'animations au sein des interfaces graphiques. L'architecture met en avant une approche Ă deux niveaux pour dĂ©finir une vue haut niveau d'une animation (avec un intĂ©rĂȘt particulier pour les objets animĂ©s, leurs propriĂ©tĂ©s Ă ĂȘtre animĂ© et la composition d'animations) ainsi qu'une vue bas niveau traitant des aspects dĂ©taillĂ©s des animations tels que les timings et les optimisations. Concernant les spĂ©cifications formelles de ces deux niveaux, nous utilisons une approche qui facilite les rĂ©seaux de Petri orientĂ©s objets pour la conception, l'implĂ©mentation et la validation d'interfaces utilisateurs animĂ©es en fournissant une description complĂšte et non-ambiguĂ« de l'ensemble de l'interface utilisateur, y compris les animations. Enfin, nous dĂ©crivons la mise en pratique du processus prĂ©sentĂ©, illustrĂ© par un cas d'Ă©tude d'un prototype haute-fidĂ©litĂ© d'une interface utilisateur, pour le domaine de la tĂ©lĂ©vision interactive. Ce processus conduira Ă une spĂ©cification formelle et dĂ©taillĂ©e du systĂšme interactif, et incluera des animations utilisant des rĂ©seaux de Petri orientĂ©s objet (conçus avec l'outil PetShop CASE).Graphical User Interfaces used to be mostly static, representing one software state after the other. However, animated transitions between these static states are an integral part in modern user interfaces and processes for both their design and implementation remain a challenge for designers and developers. This thesis proposes a process for designing interactive systems focusing on animations, along with an architecture for the definition and implementation of animation in user interfaces. The architecture proposes a two levels approach for defining a high-level view of an animation (focusing on animated objects, their properties to be animated and on the composition of animations) and a low-level one dealing with detailed aspects of animations such as timing and optimization. For the formal specification of these two levels, we are using an approach facilitating object-oriented Petri nets to support the design, implementation and validation of animated user interfaces by providing a complete and unambiguous description of the entire user interface including animations. Finally, we describe the application of the presented process exemplified by a case study for a high-fidelity prototype of a user interface for the interactive Television domain. This process will lead to a detailed formal specification of the interactive system, including animations using object-oriented Petri nets (designed with the PetShop CASE tool)
Resonating Experiences of Self and Others enabled by a Tangible Somaesthetic Design
Digitalization is penetrating every aspect of everyday life including a
human's heart beating, which can easily be sensed by wearable sensors and
displayed for others to see, feel, and potentially "bodily resonate" with.
Previous work in studying human interactions and interaction designs with
physiological data, such as a heart's pulse rate, have argued that feeding it
back to the users may, for example support users' mindfulness and
self-awareness during various everyday activities and ultimately support their
wellbeing. Inspired by Somaesthetics as a discipline, which focuses on an
appreciation of the living body's role in all our experiences, we designed and
explored mobile tangible heart beat displays, which enable rich forms of bodily
experiencing oneself and others in social proximity. In this paper, we first
report on the design process of tangible heart displays and then present
results of a field study with 30 pairs of participants. Participants were asked
to use the tangible heart displays during watching movies together and report
their experience in three different heart display conditions (i.e., displaying
their own heart beat, their partner's heart beat, and watching a movie without
a heart display). We found, for example that participants reported significant
effects in experiencing sensory immersion when they felt their own heart beats
compared to the condition without any heart beat display, and that feeling
their partner's heart beats resulted in significant effects on social
experience. We refer to resonance theory to discuss the results, highlighting
the potential of how ubiquitous technology could utilize physiological data to
provide resonance in a modern society facing social acceleration.Comment: 18 page
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