Emotional design and human-robot interaction

Recent years have shown an increase in the importance of emotions applied to the Design field - Emotional Design. In this sense, the emotional design aims to elicit (e.g., pleasure) or prevent (e.g., displeasure) determined emotions, during human product interaction. That is, the emotional design regulates the emotional interaction between the individual and the product (e.g., robot). Robot design has been a growing area whereby robots are interacting directly with humans in which emotions are essential in the interaction. Therefore, this paper aims, through a non-systematic literature review, to explore the application of emotional design, particularly on Human-Robot Interaction. Robot design features (e.g., appearance, expressing emotions and spatial distance) that affect emotional design are introduced. The chapter ends with a discussion and a conclusion.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Cyber-Physical Systems: A Model-Based Approach

In this concise yet comprehensive Open Access textbook, future inventors are introduced to the key concepts of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). Using modeling as a way to develop deeper understanding of the computational and physical components of these systems, one can express new designs in a way that facilitates their simulation, visualization, and analysis. Concepts are introduced in a cross-disciplinary way. Leveraging hybrid (continuous/discrete) systems as a unifying framework and Acumen as a modeling environment, the book bridges the conceptual gap in modeling skills needed for physical systems on the one hand and computational systems on the other. In doing so, the book gives the reader the modeling and design skills they need to build smart, IT-enabled products. Starting with a look at various examples and characteristics of Cyber-Physical Systems, the book progresses to explain how the area brings together several previously distinct ones such as Embedded Systems, Control Theory, and Mechatronics. Featuring a simulation-based project that focuses on a robotics problem (how to design a robot that can play ping-pong) as a useful example of a CPS domain, Cyber-Physical Systems: A Model-Based Approach demonstrates the intimate coupling between cyber and physical components, and how designing robots reveals several non-trivial control problems, significant embedded and real-time computation requirements, and a need to consider issues of communication and preconceptions

Development of the huggable social robot Probo: on the conceptual design and software architecture

This dissertation presents the development of a huggable social robot named Probo. Probo embodies a stuffed imaginary animal, providing a soft touch and a huggable appearance. Probo's purpose is to serve as a multidisciplinary research platform for human-robot interaction focused on children. In terms of a social robot, Probo is classified as a social interface supporting non-verbal communication. Probo's social skills are thereby limited to a reactive level. To close the gap with higher levels of interaction, an innovative system for shared control with a human operator is introduced. The software architecture de nes a modular structure to incorporate all systems into a single control center. This control center is accompanied with a 3D virtual model of Probo, simulating all motions of the robot and providing a visual feedback to the operator. Additionally, the model allows us to advance on user-testing and evaluation of newly designed systems. The robot reacts on basic input stimuli that it perceives during interaction. The input stimuli, that can be referred to as low-level perceptions, are derived from vision analysis, audio analysis, touch analysis and object identification. The stimuli will influence the attention and homeostatic system, used to de ne the robot's point of attention, current emotional state and corresponding facial expression. The recognition of these facial expressions has been evaluated in various user-studies. To evaluate the collaboration of the software components, a social interactive game for children, Probogotchi, has been developed. To facilitate interaction with children, Probo has an identity and corresponding history. Safety is ensured through Probo's soft embodiment and intrinsic safe actuation systems. To convey the illusion of life in a robotic creature, tools for the creation and management of motion sequences are put into the hands of the operator. All motions generated from operator triggered systems are combined with the motions originating from the autonomous reactive systems. The resulting motion is subsequently smoothened and transmitted to the actuation systems. With future applications to come, Probo is an ideal platform to create a friendly companion for hospitalised children

Cyber-Physical Systems: A Model-Based Approach

In this concise yet comprehensive Open Access textbook, future inventors are introduced to the key concepts of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). Using modeling as a way to develop deeper understanding of the computational and physical components of these systems, one can express new designs in a way that facilitates their simulation, visualization, and analysis. Concepts are introduced in a cross-disciplinary way. Leveraging hybrid (continuous/discrete) systems as a unifying framework and Acumen as a modeling environment, the book bridges the conceptual gap in modeling skills needed for physical systems on the one hand and computational systems on the other. In doing so, the book gives the reader the modeling and design skills they need to build smart, IT-enabled products. Starting with a look at various examples and characteristics of Cyber-Physical Systems, the book progresses to explain how the area brings together several previously distinct ones such as Embedded Systems, Control Theory, and Mechatronics. Featuring a simulation-based project that focuses on a robotics problem (how to design a robot that can play ping-pong) as a useful example of a CPS domain, Cyber-Physical Systems: A Model-Based Approach demonstrates the intimate coupling between cyber and physical components, and how designing robots reveals several non-trivial control problems, significant embedded and real-time computation requirements, and a need to consider issues of communication and preconceptions

STEAM Education in Ontario, Canada: A Case Study on the Curriculum and Instructional Models of Four K-8 STEAM Programs

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) learning and project-based learning are important educational initiatives in North America. However, it is important to consider whether current STEM educational practices are sufficient to prepare students for the world they are to live and work in. This prompts discussions about STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) which is shifting educational paradigms towards art integration in STEM subjects. This study investigates the STEAM education reform movement in Canada to better understand the STEAM curriculum and instructional programs offered by non-profit organizations and publicly funded schools. This research study addresses the following major questions: 1) what curriculum and instruction models of STEAM education are implemented in non-profit and in-school contexts in Ontario, Canada? 2) What do students learn through different models of STEAM education? 3) What types of assessment of student learning is happening in STEAM education? 4) How do classroom teachers view such models of STEAM education in meeting their curriculum and instruction goals? To explore these questions, I took a small sample of four different STEAM programs in Ontario, Canada. I conducted interviews, observations, content analysis of curriculum documents and a focus group interview. At the four research sites, the main pedagogies used are design-based and inquiry-based models which focused on the students’ interests and encourages students to construct their own knowledge. Students learn character-building skills that empower them to solve real-world problems, develop perseverance and grit, engage in their community and develop a global perspective. The instructors/teachers describe the STEAM tasks at each site as rich and authentic experiences. The findings also suggest that sharing the learning in the STEAM program with the community extends the learning experiences to a wider community and contributes to the collective knowledge about how students learn. This study can inform teaching practices for teachers who seek to engage and motivate students by integrating the arts in STEM subjects. This study also promises to deepen the field’s understanding of STEAM education in Canada and to provide new insights into the practicality, affordances, and tensions of designing and implementing a STEAM program

Digital unreason: Jordan Wolfson’s ‘Evil Jew’

This article privileges an analysis of the artwork Animation, masks (2011) by the Jewish-American contemporary artist Jordan Wolfson. This animated film is over 10 minutes long and features only one character, based on a collection of references Wolfson found under the Google search terms ‘evil Jew’ and ‘Shylock’. One of the key references for this ‘evil Jew’ stereotype, ‘Le Happy Merchant’, is a popular meme circulating on the 4chan media network and has become a mascot of the so called ‘alt-right’ – a loose network of racists and anti-Semites that became militant supporters of the 2016 Donald Trump presidential campaign and presidency. In Wolfson’s version of the meme, professional American animators were hired to give this stereotype the illusion of life. The result is a fascist stereotype restaged as an endearing Dreamworks character, unpredictable and incoherent, lurching between violent and placatory gestures. Rather than attempt a close analysis, this article argues that Wolfson’s social link to stereotype, conspiracy theory and fascist rebellion requires greater interrogation in light of the Donald Trump campaign, Brexit and the Le Pen candidacy. In all these campaigns, a vitalistic critique of metropolitan ‘elites’ or ‘globalists’ became the anti-establishment pretext for verbal assaults on immigrants, people of colour and Muslims. Alberto Toscano and Jeff Kinkle in Cartographies of the Absolute (2015) connect a popular upsurge in conspiratorial thinking to an absented critique of capitalism. They claim that if the abstract and impersonal character of capitalism is never awarded popular interrogation, conspiracy theory is an easy substitute, leaving the door open to anti-Semitic and racist projections. In turn, they call for art and popular culture that creates a systematic link to the bewildering movements of late capitalism, rather than fall into conspiratorial thinking. In this article, the author suggests that Wolfson in Animation, masks is using animation and caricature to bear witness to the circulation of anti-Semitic conspiracy and the narcissistic social networks that have been emboldened by the rise of the international far Right. However, by ambivalently playing around with stereotype, Wolfson also risks falling into complicity with forces of unreason that are indifferent to ironic treatment. This article discusses the critical contributions and limitations of this artwork, leading to an evaluation of Wolfson’s conceptual performance as a whole