Animist interface : experiments in mapping character animation to computer interface

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Media Arts & Sciences, 1997.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 55-58).by Richard W. Lachman.M.S

Design, Control, and Evaluation of a Human-Inspired Robotic Eye

Schulz S. Design, Control, and Evaluation of a Human-Inspired Robotic Eye. Bielefeld: Universität Bielefeld; 2020.The field of human-robot interaction deals with robotic systems that involve humans and robots closely interacting with each other. With these systems getting more complex, users can be easily overburdened by the operation and can fail to infer the internal state of the system or its ”intentions”. A social robot, replicating the human eye region with its familiar features and movement patterns, that are the result of years of evolution, can counter this. However, the replication of these patterns requires hard- and software that is able to compete with the human characteristics and performance. Comparing previous systems found in literature with the human capabili- ties reveal a mismatch in this regard. Even though individual systems solve single aspects, the successful combination into a complete system remains an open challenge. In contrast to previous work, this thesis targets to close this gap by viewing the system as a whole — optimizing the hard- and software, while focusing on the replication of the human model right from the beginning. This work ultimately provides a set of interlocking building blocks that, taken together, form a complete end-to-end solution for the de- sign, control, and evaluation of a human-inspired robotic eye. Based on the study of the human eye, the key driving factors are identified as the success- ful combination of aesthetic appeal, sensory capabilities, performance, and functionality. Two hardware prototypes, each based on a different actua- tion scheme, have been developed in this context. Furthermore, both hard- ware prototypes are evaluated against each other, a previous prototype, and the human by comparing objective numbers obtained by real-world mea- surements of the real hardware. In addition, a human-inspired and model- driven control framework is developed out, again, following the predefined criteria and requirements. The quality and human-likeness of the motion, generated by this model, is evaluated by means of a user study. This frame- work not only allows the replication of human-like motion on the specific eye prototype presented in this thesis, but also promotes the porting and adaption to less equipped humanoid robotic heads. Unlike previous systems found in literature, the presented approach provides a scaling and limiting function that allows intuitive adjustments of the control model, which can be used to reduce the requirements set on the target platform. Even though a reduction of the overall velocities and accelerations will result in a slower motion execution, the human characteristics and the overall composition of the interlocked motion patterns remain unchanged

The Social and Behavioral Influences of Interactions with Virtual Dogs as Embodied Agents in Augmented and Virtual Reality

Intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) have been researched for years and recently many of these IVAs have become commercialized and widely used by many individuals as intelligent personal assistants. The majority of these IVAs are anthropomorphic, and many are developed to resemble real humans entirely. However, real humans do not interact only with other humans in the real world, and many benefit from interactions with non-human entities. A prime example is human interactions with animals, such as dogs. Humans and dogs share a historical bond that goes back thousands of years. In the past 30 years, there has been a great deal of research to understand the effects of human-dog interaction, with research findings pointing towards the physical, mental, and social benefits to humans when interacting with dogs. However, limitations such as allergies, stress on dogs, and hygiene issues restrict some needy individuals from receiving such benefits. More recently, advances in augmented and virtual reality technology provide opportunities for realizing virtual dogs and animals, allowing for their three-dimensional presence in the users\u27 real physical environment or while users are immersed in virtual worlds. In this dissertation, I utilize the findings from human-dog interaction research and conduct a systematic literature review on embodied IVAs to define a research scope to understand virtual dogs\u27 social and behavioral influences in augmented and virtual reality. I present the findings of this systematic literature review that informed the creation of the research scope and four human-subjects studies. Through these user studies, I found that virtual dogs bring about a sense of comfort and companionship for users in different contexts. In addition, their responsiveness plays an important role in enhancing users\u27 quality of experience, and they can be effectively utilized as attention guidance mechanisms and social priming stimuli

Review: Development and technical design of tangible user interfaces in wide-field areas of application

A tangible user interface or TUI connects physical objects and digital interfaces. It is more interactive and interesting for users than a classic graphic user interface. This article presents a descriptive overview of TUI's real-world applications sorted into ten main application areas-teaching of traditional subjects, medicine and psychology, programming, database development, music and arts, modeling of 3D objects, modeling in architecture, literature and storytelling, adjustable TUI solutions, and commercial TUI smart toys. The paper focuses on TUI's technical solutions and a description of technical constructions that influences the applicability of TUIs in the real world. Based on the review, the technical concept was divided into two main approaches: the sensory technical concept and technology based on a computer vision algorithm. The sensory technical concept is processed to use wireless technology, sensors, and feedback possibilities in TUI applications. The image processing approach is processed to a marker and markerless approach for object recognition, the use of cameras, and the use of computer vision platforms for TUI applications.Web of Science2113art. no. 425

Reference Object Choice in Spatial Language: Machine and Human Models

The thesis underpinning this study is as follows; it is possible to build machine models that are indistinguishable from the mental models used by humans to generate language to describe their environment. This is to say that the machine model should perform in such a way that a human listener could not discern whether a description of a scene was generated by a human or by the machine model. Many linguistic processes are used to generate even simple scene descriptions and developing machine models of all of them is beyond the scope of this study. The goal of this study is, therefore, to model a sufficient part of the scene description process, operating in a sufficiently realistic environment, so that the likelihood of being able to build machine models of the remaining processes, operating in the real world, can be established. The relatively under-researched process of reference object selection is chosen as the focus of this study. A reference object is, for instance, the `table' in the phrase ``The flowers are on the table''. This study demonstrates that the reference selection process is of similar complexity to others involved in generating scene descriptions which include: assigning prepositions, selecting reference frames and disambiguating objects (usually termed `generating referring expressions'). The secondary thesis of this study is therefore; it is possible to build a machine model that is indistinguishable from the mental models used by humans in selecting reference objects. Most of the practical work in the study is aimed at establishing this. An environment sufficiently near to the real-world for the machine models to operate on is developed as part of this study. It consists of a series of 3-dimensional scenes containing multiple objects that are recognisable to humans and `readable' by the machine models. The rationale for this approach is discussed. The performance of human subjects in describing this environment is evaluated, and measures by which the human performance can be compared to the performance of the machine models are discussed. The machine models used in the study are variants on Bayesian networks. A new approach to learning the structure of a subset of Bayesian networks is presented. Simple existing Bayesian classifiers such as naive or tree augmented naive networks did not perform sufficiently well. A significant result of this study is that useful machine models for reference object choice are of such complexity that a machine learning approach is required. Earlier proposals based on sum-of weighted-factors or similar constructions will not produce satisfactory models. Two differently derived sets of variables are used and compared in this study. Firstly variables derived from the basic geometry of the scene and the properties of objects are used. Models built from these variables match the choice of reference of a group of humans some 73\% of the time, as compared with 90\% for the median human subject. Secondly variables derived from `ray casting' the scene are used. Ray cast variables performed much worse than anticipated, suggesting that humans use object knowledge as well as immediate perception in the reference choice task. Models combining geometric and ray-cast variables match the choice of reference of the group of humans some 76\% of the time. Although niether of these machine models are likely to be indistinguishable from a human, the reference choices are rarely, if ever, entirely ridiculous. A secondary goal of the study is to contribute to the understanding of the process by which humans select reference objects. Several statistically significant results concerning the necessary complexity of the human models and the nature of the variables within them are established. Problems that remain with both the representation of the near-real-world environment and the Bayesian models and variables used within them are detailed. While these problems cast some doubt on the results it is argued that solving these problems is possible and would, on balance, lead to improved performance of the machine models. This further supports the assertion that machine models producing reference choices indistinguishable from those of humans are possible

Affinity Death Penalty Criminology And Law

Moderno doba i pojava interneta i društvenih mreža, to jest, novih medija, znatno djeluje na živote ljudi i načine na koje komuniciraju. U prvome dijelu ovoga rada, predstavljen je pojam novi mediji, istaknuta njihova važnost i objašnjen njihov utjecaj na život suvremenoga čovjeka. Na društvenim mrežama se jezik koristi kao sredstvo prijenosa informacije ne obazirući se na njegova pravila i standarde; važna je brzina i jednostavnost poruke. Stoga nije neuobičajeno napisati rečenicu poput ove: „ Tnx, vjv dolazim. vt “. Društvene mreže imaju značajan utjecaj na načine komuniciranja. Njihov neprestani razvoj zahtjeva i od hrvatskoga jezika da se neprestano mijenja i razvija. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter i slične platforme mijenjaju naš vokabular, povećavaju broj svakodnevnih interakcija i brzinu kojom šaljemo informaciju. Hrvatskom jeziku ponekad nedostaju nazivlja za nove pojave, stoga se koriste riječi preuzete iz engleskoga jezika, često neprilagođene hrvatskome. S druge strane, hrvatski jezikoslovci uporno rade na proširenju vokabulara pa bi se like mogao zamijeniti s izrazom sviđa mi se, umjesto OK, moglo bi se reći dogovoreno, a umjesto selfie moglo bi se reći samoslika. Bez obzira na to, korisnici hrvatskoga jezika to često zanemaruju te radije posežu za stranim nazivljem zbog jednostavnosti. Ovaj rad objašnjava promjene koje se događaju u hrvatskome jeziku te ističe dva različita stava o priljevu stranih riječi; obogaćuje li se ili osiromašuje hrvatski jezik uporabom stranih riječi, nitko ne može reći sa sigurnošću. Nadalje, rasprava se može nadovezati i na uporabu emotikona koji u internetskoj komunikaciji nadoknađuju neverbalne znakove, ali u isto vrijeme utječu na formalnost poruke. Sva navedena odstupanja jasno su vidljiva na društvenim mrežama poznatih osoba čiju komunikaciju detaljnije objašnjavam u ovome radu

Between Species: Choreographing Human and Nonhuman Bodies

BETWEEN SPECIES: CHOREOGRAPHING HUMAN AND NONHUMAN BODIES is a dissertation project informed by practice-led and practice-based modes of engagement, which approaches the space of the zoo as a multi-species, choreographic, affective assemblage. Drawing from critical scholarship in dance literature, zoo studies, human-animal studies, posthuman philosophy, and experiential/somatic field studies, this work utilizes choreographic engagement, with the topography and inhabitants of the Toronto Zoo and the Berlin Zoologischer Garten, to investigate the potential for kinaesthetic exchanges between human and nonhuman subjects. In tracing these exchanges, BETWEEN SPECIES documents the creation of the zoomorphic choreographic works ARK and ARCHE and creatively mediates on: more-than-human choreography; the curatorial paradigms, embodied practices, and forms of zoological gardens; the staging of human and nonhuman bodies and bodies of knowledge; the resonances and dissonances between ethological research and dance ethnography; and, the anthropocentric constitution of the field of dance studies

Nuclear Reproduction: Race, Gender, and Reproductive Control in US Cold War Speculative Fictions

This dissertation argues that race, gender, and reproduction together played a major role in shaping the Cold War American imagination. Using an intersectional approach, “Nuclear Reproduction” finds that normative notions of reproduction grounded in whiteness and masculinity organized much of American domestic life but so too did the threatening specter of nonwhite female reproduction. From the 1940s to the 1980s, US culture was permeated with racialized and gendered reproductive images, such as the cookie-cutter nuclear family, the unassimilable Asian immigrant, and the bad black mother. These figures appeared frequently in speculative fictions, or texts that map out potential futures. From civil defense manuals and nuclear war scenarios to overpopulation polemics and science fiction novels, speculative fictions helped to construct the ideal of the nuclear family, police the racial borders of the national body, and offer strategies to survive in a post-nuclear world. Within these fictions, the interplay between racism and sexism was crucial, albeit paradoxically, to Cold War understandings of American freedom, domestic harmony, and cultural democracy. Each chapter in this dissertation explores a different decade of the Cold War in relation to a larger reproductive issue. Chapter one, about the years immediately following World War II, looks at the emergence of the nuclear family as a strategy of domestic containment in civilian nuclear defense and post-nuclear-war fiction. Chapter two, covering the late 1960s to the early 1970s, focuses on the anti-Asian racism and xenophobia that suffused fears of a global population explosion as expressed in overpopulation fiction. Chapter three, on the Reagan Era, uncovers the interspecies dependencies that sustain post-nuclear life in Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy and that disrupt conservative reproductive ideologies of the 1980s.Doctor of Philosoph