Haptic directional information for spatial exploration

This paper investigates the efficacy of a tactile and haptic human robot interface developed and trialled to aid navigation in poor visibility and audibility conditions, which occur, for example, in search and rescue. The new developed interface generates haptic directional information that will support human navigation when other senses are not or only partially accessible. The central question of this paper was whether humans are able to interpret haptic signals as denoting different spatial directions. The effectiveness of the haptic signals was measured in a novel experimental set up. Participants were given a stick (replicating the robot interface) and asked to reproduce the specific spatial information denoted by each of the haptic signals. The task performance was examined quantitatively and results show that the haptic signals can denote distinguishable spatial directions, supporting the hypothesis that tactile and haptic information can be effectively used to aid human navigation

Integrating the First Person View and the Third Person View Using a Connected VR-MR System for Pilot Training

Virtual reality (VR)-based flight simulator provides pilots the enhanced reality from the first-person view. Mixed reality (MR) technology generates effective 3D graphics. The users who wear the MR headset can walk around the 3D graphics to see all its 360 degrees of vertical and horizontal aspects maintaining the consciousness of real space. A VR flight simulator and an MR application were connected to create the capability of both first-person view and third-person view for a comprehensive pilot training system. This system provided users the capability to monitor the aircraft progress along the planned path from the third-person view as well as how the aircraft pilot follows the desired flight procedures in the cockpit from the first-person view. Six flight instructors provided their feedback after trying the prototype functions. The three flight instructors with more than 1,000 flight hours gave negative feedback whereas the three instructors with less than 1,000 flight hours were more open to the technologies. The effectiveness of MR-based real-time monitoring and post-debriefing system is yet to be clear. However, the test results included the potentials of the prototype for future improvement based on MR technology’s flexibility

Human robot interaction in the absence of visual and aural feedback: Exploring the haptic sense

The potential of robot swarms for Search and Rescue has been shown by the Guardians project (EU, 2006-2010); however the project also showed the problem of human robot interaction in smoky (non-visibility) and noisy conditions. The REINS project (UK, 2011-2015) focused on human robot interaction in such conditions. This paper briefly reviews the scientific context relevant for designing a haptic interface for human robot navigation and examines what we have achieved since then. The aim is to put the major design issues into context

Factors Related to the Performance of Elite Young Sailors in a Regatta: Spatial Orientation, Age and Experience

The objective of this study was to examine the role of spatial orientation in the performance of sport sailors. Participants were 30 elite male sailors from classes 420, Laser, Windsurfing RS:X and Windsurfing Techno, grouped into two categories: Monohull (18 sailors) and Windsurfing (12 sailors). Ages ranged between 13 and 18 years old (M = 15.7, SD = 1.05). To assess spatial orientation, the Perspective Taking/Spatial Orientation Test was used, and performance was inferred from the final classification at the regatta. In addition, the influence of experience and age on the performance was analyzed. The results show that in the Monohull group, the performance is determined by the spatial orientation (18% of the explained variance), while in the Windsurfing group, the variables that are related to performance are sailing experience and age (60% of the explained variance). Spatial orientation seems to be the more important variable for performance in the Monohull group, while in classes belonging to the Windsurfing group, this variable does not seem to be decisive for obtaining good results in the regatta

No single, stable 3D representation can explain pointing biases in a spatial updating task

People are able to keep track of objects as they navigate through space, even when objects are out of sight. This requires some kind of representation of the scene and of the observer's location but the form this might take is debated. We tested the accuracy and reliability of observers' estimates of the visual direction of previously-viewed targets. Participants viewed 4 objects from one location, with binocular vision and small head movements then, without any further sight of the targets, they walked to another location and pointed towards them. All conditions were tested in an immersive virtual environment and some were also carried out in a real scene. Participants made large, consistent pointing errors that are poorly explained by any stable 3D representation. Any explanation based on a 3D representation would have to posit a different layout of the remembered scene depending on the orientation of the obscuring wall at the moment the participant points. Our data show that the mechanisms for updating visual direction of unseen targets are not based on a stable 3D model of the scene, even a distorted one

Updating of Mental Representations in Spatial Reasoning: Two pilot ERP Experiments

Bringing together the notions of mental impasses in problem solving and perceptual restructuring of spatial information during re-orientation the present study investigates brain activity in two real-world pilot experiments on spatial reasoning: an orientation pointing task and a Sudoku puzzle. The working hypothesis of this research is that if we approach wayfinding as an instance of problem solving we can create intellectual bridges between labbased experimental situations and real-world scenarios and adopt new perspectives on existing findings. Two pilot ERP experiments have been conducted in an attempt to check the feasibility of mobile EEG (Emotiv) in detecting a distinct pattern of brain activity during the representational update in real-world spatial problem solving. Initial results in both cases suggest a P3- like component might be the brain’s signature of a representational update

Valóság és fikció: Téri tájékozódás fizikailag valós és computer által létrehozott virtuális környezetben

Az összefoglaló rövid áttekintést ad a téri tájékozódás kognitív idegtudományi kutatásának előzményeiről, bemutatja meghatározó egyéniségeit. A neuropszichológiai szemelvények és a helytanulás tudománytörténeti ismertetése után kitér a helyhez kötött emlékezés többdimenziós természetére. A teret különböző modalitású ingerek alkotják, amelyek mind alkotórészei egy történetnek, amit magunk szövünk mások inspirációi alapján. Megvizsgáljuk az egocentrikus-allocentrikus reprezentációk dinamikai változásait, valamint a figyelmi előtér és háttér klinikai vonzatait, a szorongás és a téri navigáció kölcsönhatásait. A felsorakoztatott adatok felhívják a figyelmet a jövő évtizedeket érintő néhány aktuális kérdésre. Hogyan alkalmazkodjunk a tömegesen megjelenő computer által létrehozott valóságokhoz? A tér általános szemlélete mennyiben segíti az én elhatárolódásra vagy fúzióra törekvő automatizmusait? Mit kínál nekünk, szakembereknek a taktilis, auditív, proprioceptív ingereket is alkalmazó fejlettebb virtuális realitás

Spatial memory for vertical locations

Most studies on spatial memory refer to the horizontal plane, leaving an open question as to whether findings generalize to vertical spaces where gravity and the visual upright of our surrounding space are salient orientation cues. In three experiments, we examined which reference frame is used to organize memory for vertical locations: the one based on the body vertical, the visual-room vertical, or the direction of gravity. Participants judged interobject spatial relationships learned from a vertical layout in a virtual room. During learning and testing, we varied the orientation of the participant’s body (upright vs. lying sideways) and the visually presented room relative to gravity (e.g., rotated by 90° along the frontal plane). Across all experiments, participants made quicker or more accurate judgments when the room was oriented in the same way as during learning with respect to their body, irrespective of their orientations relative to gravity. This suggests that participants employed an egocentric body-based reference frame for representing vertical object locations. Our study also revealed an effect of body–gravity alignment during testing. Participants recalled spatial relations more accurately when upright, regardless of the body and visual-room orientation during learning. This finding is consistent with a hypothesis of selection conflict between different reference frames. Overall, our results suggest that a body-based reference frame is preferred over salient allocentric reference frames in memory for vertical locations perceived from a single view. Further, memory of vertical space seems to be tuned to work best in the default upright body orientation

How Pantomime Works: Implications for Theories of Language Origin

Pantomime refers to iconic gesturing that is done for communicative purposes in the absence of speech. Gestural theories of the origins of language claim that a stage of pantomime preceded speech as an initial form of referential communication. However, gestural theories conceive of pantomime as a unitary process, and do not distinguish among the various means by which it can be produced. We attempt here to develop a scheme for classifying pantomime based on a proposal of two new sub-categories of pantomime, resulting in a final scheme comprised of five categories of iconic gesturing. We employ the scheme to establish associations between the category of pantomime used and the type of action and/or object being depicted. Based on these associations, we argue that there are two basic modes of pantomiming and that these apply to distinct semantic categories of referents. These modes of pantomiming lead to two alternative models for a gestural origin of language, one based on people and one based on the environment