655 research outputs found

    Tangible user interfaces : past, present and future directions

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    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

    Stereo vision and mapping with unsynchronized cameras

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    Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-72).Environmental awareness is an important prerequisite for autonomous behavior in vehicles. Without it, robots are unable to react to unknown surroundings and require extensive human input for tasks such as target identification and obstacle avoidance. This would negate many of the advantages of having an autonomous system. Giving a vehicle the ability to map its surroundings and use the data effectively will allow humans to spend less time scanning the vehicle's video feed and providing direct navigational commands. This thesis details the development of a real-time, extensible vision and mapping system that provides an interface for control systems to access details of the map. It addresses the problems of image capture, signal noise, and three dimensional map storage. It extends existing real-time stereo mapping systems by tolerating unsynchronized stereo cameras. Results indicate that synchronization allows the system to locate points significantly more accurately than the system without synchronization. When compared with a monocular mapping system, synchronized stereo provides a more detailed map and will tolerate more erroneous localization data. Because it is developed with an abstract localization system, this system is designed to be modular and easily extensible.by Ray C. He.M.Eng

    Exploring The Effect Of Visual And Verbal Feedback On Ballet Dance Performance In Mirrored And Non-Mirrored Environments

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    Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Since the 1800s, the ballet studio has been largely unchanged, a core feature of which is the mirror. The influence of mirrors on ballet education has been documented, and prior literature has shown negative effects on dancers’ body image, satisfaction, level of attention and performance quality. While the mirror provides immediate real-time feedback, it does not inform dancers of their errors. Tools have been developed to do so, but the design of the feedback from a bottom-up perspective has not been extensively studied. The following study aimed to assess the value of different types of feedback to inform the design of tech-augmented mirrors. University students’ ballet technique scores were evaluated on eight ballet combinations (tendue, adagio, pirouette, petit allegro, plié, degage, frappe and battement tendue), and feedback was provided to them. We accessed learning with remote domain expert to determine whether or not the system had an impact on dancers. Results revealed that the treatment with feedback was statistically significant and yielded higher performance versus without the feedback. Mirror versus non-mirror performance did not present any score disparity indicating that users performed similarly in both conditions. A best fit possibility was seen when visual and verbal feedback were combined. We created MuscAt, a set of interconnected feedback design principles, which led us to conclude that the feasibility of remote teaching in ballet is possible

    Video interaction using pen-based technology

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    Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em InformáticaVideo can be considered one of the most complete and complex media and its manipulating is still a difficult and tedious task. This research applies pen-based technology to video manipulation, with the goal to improve this interaction. Even though the human familiarity with pen-based devices, how they can be used on video interaction, in order to improve it, making it more natural and at the same time fostering the user’s creativity is an open question. Two types of interaction with video were considered in this work: video annotation and video editing. Each interaction type allows the study of one of the interaction modes of using pen-based technology: indirectly, through digital ink, or directly, trough pen gestures or pressure. This research contributes with two approaches for pen-based video interaction: pen-based video annotations and video as ink. The first uses pen-based annotations combined with motion tracking algorithms, in order to augment video content with sketches or handwritten notes. It aims to study how pen-based technology can be used to annotate a moving objects and how to maintain the association between a pen-based annotations and the annotated moving object The second concept replaces digital ink by video content, studding how pen gestures and pressure can be used on video editing and what kind of changes are needed in the interface, in order to provide a more familiar and creative interaction in this usage context.This work was partially funded by the UTAustin-Portugal, Digital Media, Program (Ph.D. grant: SFRH/BD/42662/2007 - FCT/MCTES); by the HP Technology for Teaching Grant Initiative 2006; by the project "TKB - A Transmedia Knowledge Base for contemporary dance" (PTDC/EAT/AVP/098220/2008 funded by FCT/MCTES); and by CITI/DI/FCT/UNL (PEst-OE/EEI/UI0527/2011

    The birth and rebirth of the glitch

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    This investigation of the glitch in electronic media, previously disregarded as errors in the medium and therefore often begrudgingly tolerated by viewers rather than considered a form of artistic gesture, will discuss the role and function of mistakes and imperfections in the evolution of digital and analogue electronic screen media aesthetics. The formal tendencies of artists who incorporate glitch, sometimes as a side effect of their activity, in assisting the cultural acceptance of these ‘artefacts’, will be discussed. I’ll briefly discuss a history of the word glitch from its early uses in the aerospace industry in the 1960s, as a music genre in the 1990s to slang in the gaming world of the 2000s. A discussion on the nature and differences between digital and analogue media, associated formats and glitches is undertaken from a historical perspective. Historical breakthroughs where the glitch has played a major role in the creative and scientific fields are also profiled

    Technology as Handmaiden to Generative Drawing

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    This thesis describes a reflective practice research project which explores the potential for taking the technology to the drawing surface in generative drawing for industrial design practice. The research arose from an apparent contradiction between my own experience of the usefulness of ‘paper and pencil’ generative drawing in professional practice and the experience of others in the field. They appeared to be, publicly at least, questioning or dismissing the relevance of ‘traditional’ methods of design idea generation and manipulation in favour of a professional practice that was completely computer based. I developed an approach to this apparent contradiction which involved consciously bringing the two contradictory extremes together and turning the problem upside down to consider the potential for taking technology to the generative drawing site; the physical work space. This approach was made with a view to qualitatively assessing its resultant benefits and hindrances in relation to the goal driven activity of generative drawing. Pursuing this approach, reflective practice was used to generate a number of inter-related practical areas (see Schön, 1983). Regular reframing of the research occurred stimulated by my own on-going research action, my own design practice, a search for new literature, the evaluation of new equipment or practices and the contributions of other practitioners. This constant reflection and reframing led to the generation and exploration of previously unexpected areas of practical interest in a broadly systematic way, not dissimilar to a design process. There were four main inter-related phases of practical work generated and these are described in a narrative structure. The research methodology is also explained and discussed as are the connections between adjacent phases of practical work

    Small unmanned aerial system (SUAS) flight and mission control support system (FMCSS) design

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    Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are playing a significant role in the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). Until recently, small UAS (SUAS) were an insignificant part of these efforts. Now their numbers exceed those of their larger counterparts by an order of magnitude. Future projections anticipate a growing demand for SUAS making now the best time to examine the functions they perform in order to make better decisions concerning their future design and development. This thesis provides a brief history of UAS and discusses the current capabilities and mission areas in which they perform. Their relevance to modern warfare and assumptions concerning their future roles on the battlefield is presented. Predominant UAS missions are identified, as well as the technical requirements deemed necessary for their success. A generic UAS functional model is developed to illustrate where the challenges and technology gaps manifest in SUAS design. Possible technology solutions that could fill these gaps are presented and a field experiment is conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of several possible solutions. The goal of this thesis is to identify existing technology gaps and offer technology solutions that lead to better design of future SUAS flight and mission control support systems (FMCSS).http://archive.org/details/smallunmannederi109452574Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

    Advancing automation and robotics technology for the Space Station Freedom and for the US economy

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    The progress made by levels 1, 2, and 3 of the Office of Space Station in developing and applying advanced automation and robotics technology is described. Emphasis is placed upon the Space Station Freedom Program responses to specific recommendations made in the Advanced Technology Advisory Committee (ATAC) progress report 10, the flight telerobotic servicer, and the Advanced Development Program. Assessments are presented for these and other areas as they apply to the advancement of automation and robotics technology for the Space Station Freedom

    Practical color-based motion capture

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    Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 93-101).Motion capture systems track the 3-D pose of the human body and are widely used for high quality content creation, gestural user input and virtual reality. However, these systems are rarely deployed in consumer applications due to their price and complexity. In this thesis, we propose a motion capture system built from commodity components that can be deployed in a matter of minutes. Our approach uses one or more webcams and a color garment to track either the user's upper body or hands for motion capture and user input. We demonstrate that custom designed color garments can simplify difficult computer vision problems and lead to efficient and robust algorithms for hand and upper body tracking. Specifically, our highly descriptive color patterns alleviate ambiguities that are commonly encountered when tracking only silhouettes or edges, allowing us to employ a nearest-neighbor approach to track either the hands or the upper body at interactive rates. We also describe a robust color calibration system that enables our color-based tracking to work against cluttered backgrounds and under multiple illuminants. We demonstrate our system in several real-world indoor and outdoor settings and describe proof-of-concept applications enabled by our system that we hope will provide a foundation for new interactions in computer aided design, animation control and augmented reality.by Robert Yuanbo Wang.Ph.D
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