TechNews digests: Jan - Nov 2009

TechNews is a technology, news and analysis service aimed at anyone in the education sector keen to stay informed about technology developments, trends and issues. TechNews focuses on emerging technologies and other technology news. TechNews service : digests september 2004 till May 2010 Analysis pieces and News combined publish every 2 to 3 month

Large Area Electronic Skin

Technological advances have enabled various approaches for developing artificial organs such as bionic eyes, artificial ears, and lungs etc. Recently electronics (e-skin) or tactile skin has attracted increasing attention for its potential to detect subtle pressure changes, which may open up applications including real-time health monitoring, minimally invasive surgery, and prosthetics. The development of e-skin is challenging as, unlike other artificial organs, tactile skin has large number of different types of sensors, which are distributed over large areas and generate large amount of data. On top of this, the attributes such as softness, stretchability, and bendability etc., are difficult to be achieved as today's electronics technology is meant for electronics on planar and stiff substrates such as silicon wafers. This said, many advances, pursued through “More than Moore” technology, have recently raised hope as some of these relate to flexible electronics and have been targeted towards developing e-skin. Depending on the technology and application, the scale of e-skin could vary from small patch (e.g. for health monitoring) to large area skin (e.g. for robotics). This invited paper presents some of the advances in large area e-skin and flexible electronics, particularly related to robotics

Digital Fabrication Approaches for the Design and Development of Shape-Changing Displays

Interactive shape-changing displays enable dynamic representations of data and information through physically reconfigurable geometry. The actuated physical deformations of these displays can be utilised in a wide range of new application areas, such as dynamic landscape and topographical modelling, architectural design, physical telepresence and object manipulation. Traditionally, shape-changing displays have a high development cost in mechanical complexity, technical skills and time/finances required for fabrication. There is still a limited number of robust shape-changing displays that go beyond one-off prototypes. Specifically, there is limited focus on low-cost/accessible design and development approaches involving digital fabrication (e.g. 3D printing). To address this challenge, this thesis presents accessible digital fabrication approaches that support the development of shape-changing displays with a range of application examples – such as physical terrain modelling and interior design artefacts. Both laser cutting and 3D printing methods have been explored to ensure generalisability and accessibility for a range of potential users. The first design-led content generation explorations show that novice users, from the general public, can successfully design and present their own application ideas using the physical animation features of the display. By engaging with domain experts in designing shape-changing content to represent data specific to their work domains the thesis was able to demonstrate the utility of shape-changing displays beyond novel systems and describe practical use-case scenarios and applications through rapid prototyping methods. This thesis then demonstrates new ways of designing and building shape-changing displays that goes beyond current implementation examples available (e.g. pin arrays and continuous surface shape-changing displays). To achieve this, the thesis demonstrates how laser cutting and 3D printing can be utilised to rapidly fabricate deformable surfaces for shape-changing displays with embedded electronics. This thesis is concluded with a discussion of research implications and future direction for this work

Energy Resources [5th grade]

This unit is designed to guide students in the discovery of how sedimentary rock and fossil fuels are formed, what nonrenewable and renewable resources are, and how alternative energy can be both useful and harmful to our environment. Students will compute labs that show how sedimentary rock is formed and how this process is similar to the formation of fossil fuels. They will also discuss the different forms of alternative energy, stating both pros and cons for each. Students will use writing, illustration, and oral explanation throughout the unit. The final performance task will allow students to apply, explain, and reveal self-knowledge of the content by creating an exhibit about sedimentary rock and fossil fuels. Students will also be required to determine the best form of alternative energy to use to power the exhibit then explain why they think this is the best option for this San Antonio location

Morphino: A nature-inspired tool for the design of shape-changing interfaces

The HCI community has a strong and growing interest in shape-changing interfaces (SCIs) that can offer dynamic af- fordance. In this context, there is an increasing need for HCI researchers and designers to form close relationships with dis- ciplines such as robotics and material science in order to be able to truly harness the state-of-the-art in morphing technolo- gies. To help these synergies arise, we present Morphino: a card-based toolkit to inspire shape-changing interface designs. Our cards bring together a collection of morphing mechanisms already established in the multidisciplinary literature and illustrate them through familiar examples from nature. We begin by detailing the design of the cards, based on a review of shape-change in nature; then, report on a series of design sessions conducted to demonstrate their usefulness in generating new ideas and in helping end-users gain a better understanding of the possibilities for shape-changing materials

Device-To-Device Charging Through The Display Screen With Seamless User Interface

Battery life for electronic devices is limited and users do not always have easy access to fixed or mobile power sources to recharge. The location of a power source may also limit the user’s ability to easily use their device. Users may start a task on an application on one device, but then want to switch to another device to continue the task as they change context. This disclosure describes technology that enables a first device to be placed on the display screen of a second device to charge the first device wirelessly. A wireless charging transmission coil is provided on the same side as the display screen of the second device. The second device senses that the first device has been placed and in response, content on the display screen of the second device is automatically mapped seamlessly to the first device or otherwise rearranged. The described techniques also enable touch input from the first device to be mapped to the second device

WristOrigami: Exploring foldable design for multi-display smartwatch

We present WristOrigami, an origami-inspired design concept and system extending the interaction with smartwatches through a foldable structure with multiple on-wrist displays. The current design provides extra affordances via folding, flipping, and elastic pulling actions on a multidisplay smartwatch. To motivate the design of WristOrigami, we developed a taxonomy that could be useful for analyzing and characterizing the origami-inspired multi-display smartwatch interaction. Through a participatory-design study with a set of prototypes with different levels of fidelity, we investigated users\u27 perception of WristOrigami in a wide range of applications with the presented features, and summarized a list of common shape configurations. We summarized our findings into seven design recommendations, to inform the future design of foldable smartwatch interactions. We further developed a set of application demonstrations as proofs-of-concept

Foldwatch:using origami-inspired paper prototypes to explore the extension of output space in smartwatches

Smartwatches are highly portable, ubiquitous devices, allowing rich interaction at a small scale. However, the display size can hinder user engagement, limit information display, and presentation style. Most research focuses on exploring ways in which the interaction area of smartwatches can be extended, although this mainly entails simple fold-out displays or additional screens. Conversely, added weight and size can hinder the wearable experience. In response, we took inspiration from origami and explored the design space for new types of lightweight, highly foldable smartwatch, by developing complex paper-prototypes which demonstrate novel ways of extending screen space. We collected data on potential input and output interaction with complex folded smartwatch displays during workshops with expert and non-expert users, discovering application ideas and additional input/output functionality. These insights were used to produce and evaluate a concept video for the FoldWatch prototype

Fun and Interactive Activities for an Introductory Computer Science Course of 200 Students

Research has shown that students learn and perform better in learning environments that are interactive [1]. Teaching a freshman-level introductory course in computer science (CS) can be challenging, because most students are unaware of what computer scientists do and have never been introduced to basic computer science concepts. Using a series of hands-on interactive activities throughout the semester can introduce CS topics in a fun way while relating the topics to familiar everyday experiences. All the activities listed below do not require a computer lab, are extremely cost-effective, and require minimum preparation: (1) Understanding Variables and Arrays with Paper Bags [2], (2) Branching and Looping Statements with Starburst Candies [2], (3) Loops with Music [3], (4) Arrays with Tissue Boxes, DVD Sets, Paper Plates, and other Household Goods [2], (5) Monsters Hate Chocolate: Learning Try/Catch Blocks [2], (6) General Class Structure with Bags, Boxes, and a Bin [2], (7) Dr. Doolittle’s Vet Office: Learning Classes with Stuffed Animals [2], (8) Sorting Algorithms with Paper Bags [3, 6, 7], and (9) Recursion Introduction: Simple Tower of Hanoi with Colored Paper [3]. The authors designed these activities to be done with a variety of age groups and various numbers of students, however, the activities have never been tired with classes larger than 50 [2, 3]. This paper will explore the challenges and logistics of adapting these activities to a forum style lecture hall with approximately 200 students in attendance. Additionally, any revised activity instructions from [2, 3] will be provided.Cockrell School of Engineerin

Functional options and design concepts

학위논문 (석사) -- 서울대학교 대학원 : 공학전문대학원 응용공학과, 2021. 2. 박우진.Many studies are being conducted on technologies directly related to the commercialization of automated driving vehicles and the enactment of related laws. Additional studies, however, are insufficient. In particular, automated driving vehicles do not need human driving, so unlike conventional vehicles, the drivers obtain the freedom to do other activities inside the vehicle. The aim of this paper is to collect previous research data and to predict and analyze various activities expected from the passengers of automated driving vehicles. Also, this paper investigates and analyzes the functions and arrangements of passenger plane and ship seats, as well as the current vehicle seats. Then, it proposes the functions and features of seats required by automated driving vehicles. In addition, it checks the validity of the predictions by comparing them with automated driving concept vehicles submitted to motor shows and CES by the global automakers, the Tier1, and 2 automotive suppliers. Patents for applications, registrations, and prospective registrations were investigated to identify trends in automated driving vehicle seat technology. It also draws out what is different from the current vehicle seats in automated driving vehicle seats. It was intended to suggest the direction to move forward in the research and development of seats for automated driving vehicles. And this paper not only proposed the function and features of seats of automated driving vehicles that have not yet been commercialized, but also considered possible problems during commercialization and suggested solutions to them. The upcoming automated driving vehicle regulation trends have been investigated to confirm the validity of this paper. Based on this, additional studies needed for commercialization of automated driving vehicles were considered.자율주행차의 상용화를 위해서 직접적으로 연관된 기술과 관련 법규 제정에 관한 연구는 많이 진행되고 있다. 하지만 그 외에 부수적인 연구들은 미흡한 실정이다. 특히 자율주행차는 인간이 직접 운전을 할 필요가 없기 때문에 기존의 차와는 다르게 실내에서 다양한 활동들을 할 것으로 예상하고 있다. 따라서 기존 연구자료들을 수집하여 자율주행차 에서 기대되는 승객들의 다양한 활동들에 대하여 예측하여 보고, 현재 차량용 시트만이 아니라 여객기와 여객선의 시트들의 기능과 배치를 조사하고 분석하여, 자율주행차에서 필요한 시트의 기능과 배치를 제안하고자 한다. 또한 현재까지 모터쇼와 CES에 출품된 자율주행차의 시트의 기능과 배치를 분석하여 논문에서 제안한 기능과 배치의 타당성을 확인하여 보았고, 현재까지 출원 및 등록된 자율주행차 시트 관련 특허 조사를 통하여 자율주행차의 시트에서 기존 차량의 시트와는 다르게 중점을 두고 있는 부분이 무엇인지를 확인해보고 앞으로 자율주행차의 시트 연구 및 개발에서 나아가야할 방향을 제시하고자 하였다. 그리고 본 연구는 아직 상용화 되지 않은 자율주행차의 시트의 기능과 배치를 제안으로만 그치지않고 상용화 시에 발생할 수 있는 문제점에 대해서도 고민하고 그에 대한 해결방안을 제시하였다. 마지막으로 다가오는 자율주행차에 대응한 전세계의 차량 법규 트랜드를 조사하여 현재 차량 법규의 틀에서는 벗어난 본 연구의 자율주행차의 실내환경 및 시트를 연구의 타당성을 확인하였으며, 이 타당성을 근거로 자율주행차 상용화를 위하여 향후 필요한 추가 연구들에 대하여 고민하여 보았다.Abstract i Contents iii List of Tables v List of Fugures vii 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Study background 1 1.2 Purpose of research 4 1.3 The composition of thesis 6 2. Research for Functional Requirement of Automated Driving Vehicle Seating 8 2.1 Method 8 2.2 In-Vehicle activities research 11 2.2.1 In-Vehicle activities on public transportation 13 2.2.2 In-Vehicle activities of automated driving vehicles. 14 2.3 Vehicle seat research 14 2.3.1 Automotive seat function research 15 2.3.2 Benchmarking research 23 3. Prediction in Automated Driving Vehicle Seating 26 3.1 Prediction in Automotive Seat Function, at Each Level of Driving Automation (SAE J3016) 26 3.2 Prediction in Automotive Seat Function from Chapter.2 27 3.3 Automated Driving Concept Vehicle Research 31 3.4 Automated Driving Seat Patent Research 37 4. Problems with Commercialization of Automated Driving Vehicle Seating 41 4.1 Motion Sickness (Car Sickness) 41 4.2 Seat Variation in Response to Various Passenger Scenarios (Validation and Verification Issue) 45 5. Discussion and Conclusions 51 5.1 Limitations 51 5.2 Discussion and future works 52 Babliography 54 Abstract (In Korean) 60Maste