MilliSonic: Pushing the Limits of Acoustic Motion Tracking

Recent years have seen interest in device tracking and localization using acoustic signals. State-of-the-art acoustic motion tracking systems however do not achieve millimeter accuracy and require large separation between microphones and speakers, and as a result, do not meet the requirements for many VR/AR applications. Further, tracking multiple concurrent acoustic transmissions from VR devices today requires sacrificing accuracy or frame rate. We present MilliSonic, a novel system that pushes the limits of acoustic based motion tracking. Our core contribution is a novel localization algorithm that can provably achieve sub-millimeter 1D tracking accuracy in the presence of multipath, while using only a single beacon with a small 4-microphone array.Further, MilliSonic enables concurrent tracking of up to four smartphones without reducing frame rate or accuracy. Our evaluation shows that MilliSonic achieves 0.7mm median 1D accuracy and a 2.6mm median 3D accuracy for smartphones, which is 5x more accurate than state-of-the-art systems. MilliSonic enables two previously infeasible interaction applications: a) 3D tracking of VR headsets using the smartphone as a beacon and b) fine-grained 3D tracking for the Google Cardboard VR system using a small microphone array

From seen to unseen: Designing keyboard-less interfaces for text entry on the constrained screen real estate of Augmented Reality headsets

Text input is a very challenging task in the constrained screen real-estate of Augmented Reality headsets. Typical keyboards spread over multiple lines and occupy a significant portion of the screen. In this article, we explore the feasibility of single-line text entry systems for smartglasses. We first design FITE, a dynamic keyboard where the characters are positioned depending on their probability within the current input. However, the dynamic layout leads to mediocre text input and low accuracy. We then introduce HIBEY, a fixed 1-line solution that further decreases the screen real-estate usage by hiding the layout. Despite its hidden layout, HIBEY surprisingly performs much better than FITE, and achieves a mean text entry rate of 9.95 words per minute (WPM) with 96.06% accuracy, which is comparable to other state-of-the-art approaches. After 8 days, participants achieve an average of 13.19 WPM. In addition, HIBEY only occupies 13.14% of the screen real estate at the edge region, which is 62.80% smaller than the default keyboard layout on Microsoft Hololens.Peer reviewe

SpeCam: sensing surface color and material with the front-facing camera of mobile device

SpeCam is a lightweight surface color and material sensing approach for mobile devices which only uses the front-facing camera and the display as a multi-spectral light source. We leverage the natural use of mobile devices (placing it face-down) to detect the material underneath and therefore infer the location or placement of the device. SpeCam can then be used to support discreet micro-interactions to avoid the numerous distractions that users daily face with today's mobile devices. Our two-parts study shows that SpeCam can i) recognize colors in the HSB space with 10 degrees apart near the 3 dominant colors and 4 degrees otherwise and ii) 30 types of surface materials with 99% accuracy. These findings are further supported by a spectroscopy study. Finally, we suggest a series of applications based on simple mobile micro-interactions suitable for using the phone when placed face-down.Postprin

WRIST : Watch-Ring Interaction and Sensing Technique for wrist gestures and macro-micro pointing

Funding: Next-Generation In-ormation Computing Development Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT (NRF-2017M3C4A7066316) and Institute of Information & communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No.2019-0-01270, WISE AR UI/UX Platform Development for Smartglasses).To better explore the incorporation of pointing and gesturing into ubiquitous computing, we introduce WRIST, an interaction and sensing technique that leverages the dexterity of human wrist motion. WRIST employs a sensor fusion approach which combines inertial measurement unit (IMU) data from a smartwatch and a smart ring. The relative orientation difference of the two devices is measured as the wrist rotation that is independent from arm rotation, which is also position and orientation invariant. Employing our test hardware, we demonstrate that WRIST affords and enables a number of novel yet simplistic interaction techniques, such as (i) macro-micro pointing without explicit mode switching and (ii) wrist gesture recognition when the hand is held in different orientations (e.g., raised or lowered). We report on two studies to evaluate the proposed techniques and we present a set of applications that demonstrate the benefits of WRIST. We conclude with a discussion of the limitations and highlight possible future pathways for research in pointing and gesturing with wearable devices.Postprin

Context-aware gestural interaction in the smart environments of the ubiquitous computing era

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyTechnology is becoming pervasive and the current interfaces are not adequate for the interaction with the smart environments of the ubiquitous computing era. Recently, researchers have started to address this issue introducing the concept of natural user interface, which is mainly based on gestural interactions. Many issues are still open in this emerging domain and, in particular, there is a lack of common guidelines for coherent implementation of gestural interfaces. This research investigates gestural interactions between humans and smart environments. It proposes a novel framework for the high-level organization of the context information. The framework is conceived to provide the support for a novel approach using functional gestures to reduce the gesture ambiguity and the number of gestures in taxonomies and improve the usability. In order to validate this framework, a proof-of-concept has been developed. A prototype has been developed by implementing a novel method for the view-invariant recognition of deictic and dynamic gestures. Tests have been conducted to assess the gesture recognition accuracy and the usability of the interfaces developed following the proposed framework. The results show that the method provides optimal gesture recognition from very different view-points whilst the usability tests have yielded high scores. Further investigation on the context information has been performed tackling the problem of user status. It is intended as human activity and a technique based on an innovative application of electromyography is proposed. The tests show that the proposed technique has achieved good activity recognition accuracy. The context is treated also as system status. In ubiquitous computing, the system can adopt different paradigms: wearable, environmental and pervasive. A novel paradigm, called synergistic paradigm, is presented combining the advantages of the wearable and environmental paradigms. Moreover, it augments the interaction possibilities of the user and ensures better gesture recognition accuracy than with the other paradigms

Development of PVDF tactile dynamic sensing in a behaviour-based assembly robot

The research presented in this thesis focuses on the development of tactile event sig¬ nature sensors and their application, especially in reactive behaviour-based robotic assembly systems.In pursuit of practical and economic sensors for detecting part contact, the application ofPVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) film, a mechanical vibration sensitive piezo material, is investigated. A Clunk Sensor is developed which remotely detects impact vibrations, and a Push Sensor is developed which senses small changes in the deformation of a compliant finger surface. The Push Sensor is further developed to provide some force direction and force pattern sensing capability.By being able to detect changes of state in an assembly, such as a change of contact force, an assembly robot can be well informed of current conditions. The complex structure of assembly tasks provides a rich context within which to interpret changes of state, so simple binary sensors can conveniently supply a lot more information than in the domain of mobile robots. Guarded motions, for example, which require sensing a change of state, have long been recognised as very useful in part mating tasks. Guarded motions are particularly well suited to be components of assembly behavioural modules.In behaviour-based robotic assembly systems, the high level planner is endowed with as little complexity as possible while the low level planning execution agent deals with actual sensing and action. Highly reactive execution agents can provide advantages by encapsulating low level sensing and action, hiding the details of sensori-motor complexity from the higher levels.Because behaviour-based assembly systems emphasise the utility of this kind of quali¬ tative state-change sensor (as opposed to sensors which measure physical quantities), the robustness and utility of the Push Sensor was tested in an experimental behaviourbased system. An experimental task of pushing a ring along a convoluted stiff wire is chosen, in which the tactile sensors developed here are aided by vision. Three differ¬ ent methods of combining these different sensors within the general behaviour-based paradigm are implemented and compared. This exercise confirms the robustness and utility of the PVDF-based tactile sensors. We argue that the comparison suggests that for behaviour-based assembly systems using multiple concurrent sensor systems, bottom-level motor control in terms of force or velocity would be more appropriate than positional control. Behaviour-based systems have traditionally tried to avoid symbolic knowledge. Considering this in the light of the above work, it was found useful to develop a taxonomy of type of knowledge and refine the prohibition

The Anthropology of Work and Labour

Gesamtausgab

An intercultural pragmatic approach to English-Russian and English-German renditions of the formulaic That’s what she said-punchline in telecinematic discourse

This paper takes an intercultural pragmatic approach to identifying and discussing rendition strategies of one specific punchline recurrent in scripted telecinematic discourse: That’s what she said. While this formulaic punchline demonstrates a relatively high salience in the US, particularly in oral and scripted genres, it issues more than one challenge to translators seeking to render it for other speech communities in a manner that acknowledges and retains the source pattern’s complexity as a discursively triggered and formulaic pragmatic idiom. We shall focus here on two specific target cultures, i.e. the Russian and the German, in demonstrating the challenges that this complex and linguistically as well as cognitively multi-faceted formula poses for its appropriation into either cultural sphere. Our study is based on a self-compiled parallel dataset of context-embedded source occurrences of That’s what she said and their renditions into German and Russian, thus offering immediately contrastive insights into the rendition strategies that translators have been employing to interculturally transfer this highly evasive idiomatic formula from one speech community to others

A new model for a foreign language learner's dictionary

Tese (Doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e ExpressãoEsta tese é um trabalho de pesquisa lexicográfica voltado para o ensino de uma língua estrangeira. Propõe-se aqui um novo modelo de dicionário, melhor adaptado às necessidades dos usuários modernos. Segundo o autor, estas necessiadades são hoje muito mais de produção e não mais unicamente de compreensão. O fato dessas novas necessidades seram insuficientemente pesquisadas deve-se a uma metodologia de pesquisa inadequada. Sugere-se que um tipo de pesquisa qualitativa, no lugar de uma quantitativa, levaria a melhores resultados. Um exemplo deste tipo de pesquisa qualitativa e aplicada a exemplos, mostra que os dicionários ganhariam em eficiência se as funções lexicográficas de produção e compreensão fossem consideradas separadamente. Alguns pesquisadores já defenderam esta posição no passado a um nível teórico, mas suas conseqüências práticas nunca foram consideradas. É precisamente o que se tenta fazer aqui. Algumas recomendações são formuladas para a compilação de dicionários de língua estrangeira no futuro, mais do que nada para produção. A informática, em parte responsável para a maior necessidade de dicionários de produção, é considerada uma ferramenta essencial. A relevância deste trabalho está também nas eventuais conseqüências práticas do que se propõe aqui

An overview of artificial intelligence and robotics. Volume 2: Robotics

This report provides an overview of the rapidly changing field of robotics. The report incorporates definitions of the various types of robots, a summary of the basic concepts, utilized in each of the many technical areas, review of the state of the art and statistics of robot manufacture and usage. Particular attention is paid to the status of robot development, the organizations involved, their activities, and their funding