Development of a Remote Laboratory with the Integration of Cloud Applications

Distance learning has been a mode of education since its inception at Pennsylvania State University in 1892. What started as a simple correspondence course has blossomed into a globally accepted method of education. The need for remote laboratories is growing as more lab-intensive programs of study are searching for a distance learning alternative. The goal of this research is to establish the foundation of a remote laboratory in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at West Virginia University. The main objectives are to develop simple, easy-to-use graphical user interfaces to enhance the understanding of several concepts presented in the MAE 244: Dynamics and Strength of Materials course and to increase accessibility to data outside of the lab. The integration of cloud applications with access to social media is a unique feature of this research and the key to improved accessibility. Students were asked to participate in a study in which they compared the traditional lab procedure to the procedure utilizing the developed interface for several experiments. The participants were required to fill-out surveys following each experiment and the responses were unsurprisingly positive. Further works based on this research should include more quantitative results and include more experiments with more students to get a more accurate portrayal of the student body. Overall, the research was successful in ascertaining that the developed interfaces were a beneficial addition to the experiments and did, in fact, greatly improve the accessibility to data

Remote Access and Computerized User Control of Robotic Micromanipulators

Nano- and micromanipulators are critical research tools in numerous fields including micro-manufacturing and disease study. Despite their importance, nano- and micromanipulation systems remain inaccessible to many groups due to price and lack of portability. An intuitive and remotely accessible manipulation system helps mitigate this access problem. Previously, optimal control hardware for single-probe manipulation and the effect of latency on user performance were not well understood. Remote access demands full computerization; graphical user interfaces with networking capabilities were developed to fulfill this requirement and allow the use of numerous hardware controllers. Virtual environments were created to simulate the use of a manipulator with full parametric control and measurement capabilities. Users completed simulated tasks with each device and were surveyed about their perceptions. User performance with a commercial manipulator controller was exceeded by performance with both a computer mouse and pen tablet. Latency was imposed within the virtual environment to study it’s effects and establish guidelines as to which latency ranges are acceptable for long-range remote manipulation. User performance began to degrade noticeably at 100 ms and severely at 400 ms and performance with the mouse degraded the least as latency increased. A computer vision system for analyzing carbon nanotube arrays was developed so the computation time could be compared to acceptable system latency. The system characterizes the arrays to a high degree of accuracy and most of the measurement types of obtainable fast enough for real-time analysis

The Development of an Interactive Videodisc System

The thesis traces the development of interactive videodisc from origins based on early automatic machines through large-scale computer assisted learning (CAL) to microcomputer-based multi-media CAL. A comprehensive discussion of the interactive videodisc medium is provided, in terms of its features, advantages, problems, authoring and production processes, and educational applications. The requirements for interactive systems, and essential elements of video and videodisc technology are described. A relatively low-cost demonstration interactive videodisc system is developed in three phases, based on a BBC 'B' microcomputer and a Pioneer LD1100 videodisc player. In the first phase, software interfacing routines are developed in assembly language to control the player from the versatile interface adaptor (VIA) of the BBC micro. The signal control codes are based on a pulse code modulated format with uni-directional synchronous transmission. The interfacing routines are linked to, and driven by, a Basic program which provides full manual control of all player functions using the microcomputer keyboard. In the second phase, the interfacing routines are further extended to provide control linkage for interactive video application programs. Using a pilot videodisc, these Basic programs demonstrate interactive video techniques, including still frame access and the presentation of video sequences and sub-sequences. In the third phase, the application programs are converted to the authoring language, Microtext. The assembly language interfacing routines are developed into a corresponding Microtext extension command module. A mixer/genlock unit is used to provide graphics overlay of video still frames. An evaluation of the demonstration system is provided, in terms of developmental difficulties, its hardware and software features and capabilities, and its potential as a base for further suggested research work

Freeform User Interfaces for Graphical Computing

報告番号: 甲15222 ; 学位授与年月日: 2000-03-29 ; 学位の種別: 課程博士 ; 学位の種類: 博士(工学) ; 学位記番号: 博工第4717号 ; 研究科・専攻: 工学系研究科情報工学専