Human Behavior Models for Agents in Simulators and Games: Part II Gamebot Engineering with PMFserv

Many producers and consumers of legacy training simulator and game environments are beginning to envision a new era where psycho-socio-physiologic models could be interoperated to enhance their environments\u27 simulation of human agents. This paper explores whether we could embed our behavior modeling framework (described in the companion paper, Part 1) behind a legacy first person shooter 3D game environment to recreate portions of the Black Hawk Down scenario. Section 1 amplifies the interoperability needs and challenges confronting the field, presents the questions that are examined, and describes the test scenario. Sections 2 and 3 review the software and knowledge engineering methodology, respectively, needed to create the system and populate it with bots. Results (Section 4) and discussion (Section 5) reveal that we were able to generate plausible and adaptive recreations of Somalian crowds, militia, women acting as shields, suicide bombers, and more. Also, there are specific lessons learned about ways to advance the field so that such interoperabilities will become more affordable and widespread

User-centered multi-layer programming approach to model scenarios on driving simulators

Le simulateur de conduite est un outil très utilisé par les chercheurs, Il leurs permet d'étudier le comportement des conducteurs, d'analyser certains aspects de la sécurité routière et d'évaluer des Systèmes d'Aide à la Conduite (SAC). La modélisation des scénarios pour ces simulateurs de conduite est une tâche cruciale et complexe pour le chercheur. Elle exige des compétences techniques et de programmation spécifiques, pour lesquelles les chercheurs ne sont pas nécessairement formés. Une des principales raisons est le manque de conception centrée sur l'utilisateur (UCD), ce qui pourrait expliquer la difficulté des chercheurs à atteindre leurs objectifs avec des simulateurs de conduite. L'interface utilisateur n'est donc pas très intuitive et conviviale dans la plupart des simulateurs de conduite. Afin de combler l'écart entre les compétences des utilisateurs et les objectifs qu'ils souhaitent atteindre en utilisant des simulateurs de conduite, une approche de programmation multicouche centrée sur l'utilisateur est proposée. Une étude a été menée sur des utilisateurs afin de recueillir leurs besoins et leurs exigences pour modéliser des scénarios sur simulateur de conduite. Les différentes étapes que suit l'utilisateur final lors de la conception d'un protocole expérimental et les différents types d'utilisateurs qui interagissent avec les simulateurs de conduite ont été identifiés. L'interface pour le développement d'un protocole expérimental a été divisée en trois sous-interfaces, qui sont utilisées par les différents utilisateurs qui interagissent avec les simulateurs de conduite : le 'Template Builder' pour le personnelle technique, le 'Experiment Builder' pour les chercheurs, et le 'Experiment Interface' pour les opérateurs expérimentés. L'utilisation de cet 'Experiment Builder' peut permettre aux chercheurs de développer des scénarios à haut niveau tout en exploitant les primitives de programmation. Une évaluation de l'approche a été effectuée sur un prototype semi-fonctionnel et fonctionnel. Lors de l'évaluation, les utilisateurs finaux (les chercheurs) ont développé un protocole expérimental sur simulateurs de conduite. Les résultats obtenus ont montré que l'approche proposée permet aux chercheurs non-programmeurs de modéliser des scénarios sur les simulateurs de conduite sans aucune aide technique ou de programmation. En outre, chaque simulateur de conduite à une plate-forme d'exécution différente. Un cadre d'interopérabilité et un Scénario-Meta Langage (SML) ont été proposés et développés afin de porter les scénarios d'une plateforme à une autre. Les scénarios développés avec l'approche de programmation multicouches peuvent ainsi être exécutées sur différent simulateurs de conduite. Le cadre d'interopérabilité et le métalangage ont été testés avec succès en les intégrant dans le logiciel SCANeR.Driving simulators are useful tools for researcher in order to study the drivers' behaviour, to analyze road safety features and to evaluate ADAS (Advance Driving Assistance Systems). Modeling scenarios on driving simulators is a critical and complex task for behavioral researcher. It requires specific technical and programming skills, for which researchers are not formally trained. One of the main reasons why designing scenarios is a complex task is the lack of User-Centered Design (UCD) of the scenario authoring tools, which could account for the skills they lack in order to achieve their objectives with driving simulators. The user interfaces are thus not very intuitive and user-friendly in most driving simulators. A User- Centered andMultilayer programming approach is proposed in order to fill the gap between the end-user's skills and the goals they want to achieve with driving simulators. A user study was conducted to gather the user's needs and requirements to model scenarios on driving simulators. Different steps have been identified, followed by the end-users while designing an experimental protocol; moreover, different types of users who interactwith driving simulators have been identified. We propose that the interface to develop an experimental protocol should be split into three sub-interfaces used by different end-users who interact with driving simulators: the Template Builder for Technical persons, the Experiment Builder for Researchers, and the Experiment Interface, for Experiment operators. Using the Experiment Builder, researchers can develop scenarios at high-level exploiting the programming primitives. An evaluation of the approach was conducted on a semi-functional and a functional prototype. During the evaluation, end-users (behavioral researchers) developed experimental protocols on driving simulators. The results have shown that the proposed approach has empowered the non-programmers to model scenarios on driving simulators without any technical or programming help from technical persons. Besides, every driving simulator has a different execution platform. An interoperability framework and a Scenario-Meta Language (SML) is proposed and developed to port the scenarios from one platform to another. The scenarios developed using the multi-layer programming approach can be executed on different driving simulators. The interoperability framework and the meta-language has been successfully tested by integrating them with the SCANeR software

Management and Visualisation of Non-linear History of Polygonal 3D Models

The research presented in this thesis concerns the problems of maintenance and revision control of large-scale three dimensional (3D) models over the Internet. As the models grow in size and the authoring tools grow in complexity, standard approaches to collaborative asset development become impractical. The prevalent paradigm of sharing files on a file system poses serious risks with regards, but not limited to, ensuring consistency and concurrency of multi-user 3D editing. Although modifications might be tracked manually using naming conventions or automatically in a version control system (VCS), understanding the provenance of a large 3D dataset is hard due to revision metadata not being associated with the underlying scene structures. Some tools and protocols enable seamless synchronisation of file and directory changes in remote locations. However, the existing web-based technologies are not yet fully exploiting the modern design patters for access to and management of alternative shared resources online. Therefore, four distinct but highly interconnected conceptual tools are explored. The first is the organisation of 3D assets within recent document-oriented No Structured Query Language (NoSQL) databases. These "schemaless" databases, unlike their relational counterparts, do not represent data in rigid table structures. Instead, they rely on polymorphic documents composed of key-value pairs that are much better suited to the diverse nature of 3D assets. Hence, a domain-specific non-linear revision control system 3D Repo is built around a NoSQL database to enable asynchronous editing similar to traditional VCSs. The second concept is that of visual 3D differencing and merging. The accompanying 3D Diff tool supports interactive conflict resolution at the level of scene graph nodes that are de facto the delta changes stored in the repository. The third is the utilisation of HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) for the purposes of 3D data management. The XML3DRepo daemon application exposes the contents of the repository and the version control logic in a Representational State Transfer (REST) style of architecture. At the same time, it manifests the effects of various 3D encoding strategies on the file sizes and download times in modern web browsers. The fourth and final concept is the reverse-engineering of an editing history. Even if the models are being version controlled, the extracted provenance is limited to additions, deletions and modifications. The 3D Timeline tool, therefore, implies a plausible history of common modelling operations such as duplications, transformations, etc. Given a collection of 3D models, it estimates a part-based correspondence and visualises it in a temporal flow. The prototype tools developed as part of the research were evaluated in pilot user studies that suggest they are usable by the end users and well suited to their respective tasks. Together, the results constitute a novel framework that demonstrates the feasibility of a domain-specific 3D version control

Social interaction in collaborative engineering environments

Thesis (M.Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 1999.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-131).by Joon Suk Hor.M.Eng

A multi-fold assessment framework for virtualized collaborative and social learning scenarios

Proposem un procés de virtualització de sessions col·laboratives en directe a partir de fòrums de discussió i xats web amb l'objectiu de produir recursos d'aprenentatge en línia interactius per a ser utilitzats pels alumnes i generar un efecte positiu en la participació de l'alumne. Per tal de millorar encara més la implicació de l'aprenentatge, vam dotar al nostre procés de virtualització d'un marc d'avaluació múltiple que proporciona la consciència efectiva i la retroalimentació constructiva als alumnes de la col·laboració original amb interaccions entre els membres del grup. La investigació presentada es centra en l'avaluació electrònica d'aprenentatge col·laboratiu i social i s'estén amb analítiques d'aprenentatge i tècniques d'anàlisi de xarxa social que són capaces d'analitzar i representar les interaccions cognitives i socials amb sessions de col·laboració en viu subjacents.Proponemos un proceso de virtualización de sesiones colaborativas en directo a partir de foros de discusión y chats web con el objetivo de producir recursos de aprendizaje en línea interactivos para ser utilizados por los alumnos y generar un efecto positivo en la participación del alumno. Con el fin de mejorar aún más la implicación del aprendizaje, dotamos a nuestro proceso de virtualización de un marco de evaluación múltiple que proporciona la conciencia efectiva y la retroalimentación constructiva a los alumnos de la colaboración original con interacciones entre los miembros del grupo. La investigación presentada se centra en la evaluación electrónica de aprendizaje colaborativo y social y se extiende con analíticas de aprendizaje y técnicas de análisis de red social que son capaces de analizar y representar las interacciones cognitivas y sociales con sesiones de colaboración en vivo subyacentes.We propose a virtualization process of live collaborative sessions from Web discussion forums and chats with the aim to produce interactive and attractive online learning resources to be used by learners, thus having a positive effect in learner engagement. In order to enhance further learning engagement, we endow our virtualization process with a multifold assessment framework that provides effective awareness and constructive feedback to learners from the original collaborative interactions among group members. The research presented focuses on e-assessment of collaborative and social learning and extends it with Learning Analytics and Social Network Analysis techniques that are able to analyse and represent cognitive and social interactions underlying live collaborative sessions

Affective Computing

This book provides an overview of state of the art research in Affective Computing. It presents new ideas, original results and practical experiences in this increasingly important research field. The book consists of 23 chapters categorized into four sections. Since one of the most important means of human communication is facial expression, the first section of this book (Chapters 1 to 7) presents a research on synthesis and recognition of facial expressions. Given that we not only use the face but also body movements to express ourselves, in the second section (Chapters 8 to 11) we present a research on perception and generation of emotional expressions by using full-body motions. The third section of the book (Chapters 12 to 16) presents computational models on emotion, as well as findings from neuroscience research. In the last section of the book (Chapters 17 to 22) we present applications related to affective computing

Agents for educational games and simulations

This book consists mainly of revised papers that were presented at the Agents for Educational Games and Simulation (AEGS) workshop held on May 2, 2011, as part of the Autonomous Agents and MultiAgent Systems (AAMAS) conference in Taipei, Taiwan. The 12 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from various submissions. The papers are organized topical sections on middleware applications, dialogues and learning, adaption and convergence, and agent applications