Take It to the Curb: Scalable Communication Between Autonomous Cars and Vulnerable Road Users Through Curbstone Displays

Automated driving will require new approaches to the communication between vehicles and vulnerable road users (VRUs) such as pedestrians, e.g., through external human-machine interfaces (eHMIs). However, the majority of eHMI concepts are neither scalable (i.e., take into account complex traffic scenarios with multiple vehicles and VRUs), nor do they optimize traffic flow. Speculating on the upgrade of traffic infrastructure in the automated city, we propose Smart Curbs, a scalable communication concept integrated into the curbstone. Using a combination of immersive and non-immersive prototypes, we evaluated the suitability of our concept for complex urban environments in a user study (N = 18). Comparing the approach to a projection-based eHMI, our findings reveal that Smart Curbs are safer to use, as our participants spent less time on the road when crossing. Based on our findings, we discuss the potential of Smart Curbs to mitigate the scalability problem in AV-pedestrian communication and simultaneously enhance traffic flow

The use of Virtual Reality in Enhancing Interdisciplinary Research and Education

Virtual Reality (VR) is increasingly being recognized for its educational potential and as an effective way to convey new knowledge to people, it supports interactive and collaborative activities. Affordable VR powered by mobile technologies is opening a new world of opportunities that can transform the ways in which we learn and engage with others. This paper reports our study regarding the application of VR in stimulating interdisciplinary communication. It investigates the promises of VR in interdisciplinary education and research. The main contributions of this study are (i) literature review of theories of learning underlying the justification of the use of VR systems in education, (ii) taxonomy of the various types and implementations of VR systems and their application in supporting education and research (iii) evaluation of educational applications of VR from a broad range of disciplines, (iv) investigation of how the learning process and learning outcomes are affected by VR systems, and (v) comparative analysis of VR and traditional methods of teaching in terms of quality of learning. This study seeks to inspire and inform interdisciplinary researchers and learners about the ways in which VR might support them and also VR software developers to push the limits of their craft.Comment: 6 Page

A study of event traffic during the shared manipulation of objects within a collaborative virtual environment

Event management must balance consistency and responsiveness above the requirements of shared object interaction within a Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE) system. An understanding of the event traffic during collaborative tasks helps in the design of all aspects of a CVE system. The application, user activity, the display interface, and the network resources, all play a part in determining the characteristics of event management. Linked cubic displays lend themselves well to supporting natural social human communication between remote users. To allow users to communicate naturally and subconsciously, continuous and detailed tracking is necessary. This, however, is hard to balance with the real-time consistency constraints of general shared object interaction. This paper aims to explain these issues through a detailed examination of event traffic produced by a typical CVE, using both immersive and desktop displays, while supporting a variety of collaborative activities. We analyze event traffic during a highly collaborative task requiring various forms of shared object manipulation, including the concurrent manipulation of a shared object. Event sources are categorized and the influence of the form of object sharing as well as the display device interface are detailed. With the presented findings the paper wishes to aid the design of future systems

Immersive and non immersive 3D virtual city: decision support tool for urban sustainability

Sustainable urban planning decisions must not only consider the physical structure of the urban development but the economic, social and environmental factors. Due to the prolonged times scales of major urban development projects the current and future impacts of any decision made must be fully understood. Many key project decisions are made early in the decision making process with decision makers later seeking agreement for proposals once the key decisions have already been made, leaving many stakeholders, especially the general public, feeling marginalised by the process. Many decision support tools have been developed to aid in the decision making process, however many of these are expert orientated, fail to fully address spatial and temporal issues and do not reflect the interconnectivity of the separate domains and their indicators. This paper outlines a platform that combines computer game techniques, modelling of economic, social and environmental indicators to provide an interface that presents a 3D interactive virtual city with sustainability information overlain. Creating a virtual 3D urban area using the latest video game techniques ensures: real-time rendering of the 3D graphics; exploitation of novel techniques of how complex multivariate data is presented to the user; immersion in the 3D urban development, via first person navigation, exploration and manipulation of the environment with consequences updated in real-time. The use of visualisation techniques begins to remove sustainability assessment’s reliance on the existing expert systems which are largely inaccessible to many of the stakeholder groups, especially the general public

Traditional museums, virtual museums. Dissemination role of ICTs.

Molti spazi della cultura, che si configurano come musei di sé stessi, presentano al loro interno pochi reperti esposti. È il caso di musei in edifici o aree archeologiche di seconda fascia, dai quali la maggior parte dei reperti è stata spostata in musei di importanza superiore o dove i reperti sono stati rimossi per diverse esigenze organizzative/espositive. In queste situazioni le ICT permettono di sviluppare un efficace sistema di comunicazione e disseminazione, coinvolgendo i visitatori e gli studiosi mediante l’utilizzo di procedure collegate all’Edutainment, all’interactive ed immersive experience, ai serious games e alla gamification. Come caso studio sono presi il Museo delle Mura, come museo in un edificio, e la Villa di Massenzio, come area archeologica, entrambi collocati sulla Via Appia Antica a Roma. Le esigenze della Sovrintendenza sono di valorizzare e divulgare: - la presenza del Museo, collocato in una delle numerose porte romane ancora ben conservate e site nel giro delle Mura Aureliane; - la storia della porta e del breve tratto di mura ad essa connesse; - la storia e l’articolazione delle mura di Roma. Per la Villa di Massenzio l’obiettivo principale è far comprendere la storia e la funzione delle due strutture (il circo ed il Mausoleo di Romolo), oggi visibili e visitabili, garantendo una maggiore comprensione di un’area di circa 4 ettari, in cui i visitatori oggi possono beneficiare solo di alcuni pannelli informativi.Many cultural spaces, which have been transformed into museums contain very few exhibits. In particular, museums in buildings or second-tier archaeological areas, where most of the finds have been moved to museums of major importance or exhibits that have been removed for different organizational/exhibition needs. In these situations, the use of ICT affords the possibility to incorporate effective communication and dissemination systems. As a result, it involves visitors and scholars within the exhibit using procedures related to edutainment, interactive and immersive experiences, serious games and gamification. As a case study are taken the Museum of the Walls, as a museum in building, and the archaeological area of the Maxentius archaeological complex, as an open-air museum, both located on the Ancient Appia road. In the Museum of the Walls Superintendent's requirements are to enhance and disseminate: - the presence of the Museum, located in one of the many well-preserved Roman city gates located in the Aurelian Walls; - the history of the city gate and of the short section of walls connected to it; - the history and articulation of the walls of Rome. In the Maxentius archaeological the main goal is to make understand the history and the function of the two main structures (the circus and a Mausoleum of Romulus), which are visible and open to visitors, ensuring a greater understanding of an area with the size of about 4 hectares, where visitors today can only benefit information from some panels

Business Case and Technology Analysis for 5G Low Latency Applications

A large number of new consumer and industrial applications are likely to change the classic operator's business models and provide a wide range of new markets to enter. This article analyses the most relevant 5G use cases that require ultra-low latency, from both technical and business perspectives. Low latency services pose challenging requirements to the network, and to fulfill them operators need to invest in costly changes in their network. In this sense, it is not clear whether such investments are going to be amortized with these new business models. In light of this, specific applications and requirements are described and the potential market benefits for operators are analysed. Conclusions show that operators have clear opportunities to add value and position themselves strongly with the increasing number of services to be provided by 5G.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure

Exploring the Design Space of Immersive Urban Analytics

Recent years have witnessed the rapid development and wide adoption of immersive head-mounted devices, such as HTC VIVE, Oculus Rift, and Microsoft HoloLens. These immersive devices have the potential to significantly extend the methodology of urban visual analytics by providing critical 3D context information and creating a sense of presence. In this paper, we propose an theoretical model to characterize the visualizations in immersive urban analytics. Further more, based on our comprehensive and concise model, we contribute a typology of combination methods of 2D and 3D visualizations that distinguish between linked views, embedded views, and mixed views. We also propose a supporting guideline to assist users in selecting a proper view under certain circumstances by considering visual geometry and spatial distribution of the 2D and 3D visualizations. Finally, based on existing works, possible future research opportunities are explored and discussed.Comment: 23 pages,11 figure

Virtual reality simulation for the optimization of endovascular procedures : current perspectives

Endovascular technologies are rapidly evolving, often - requiring coordination and cooperation between clinicians and technicians from diverse specialties. These multidisciplinary interactions lead to challenges that are reflected in the high rate of errors occurring during endovascular procedures. Endovascular virtual reality (VR) simulation has evolved from simple benchtop devices to full physic simulators with advanced haptics and dynamic imaging and physiological controls. The latest developments in this field include the use of fully immersive simulated hybrid angiosuites to train whole endovascular teams in crisis resource management and novel technologies that enable practitioners to build VR simulations based on patient-specific anatomy. As our understanding of the skills, both technical and nontechnical, required for optimal endovascular performance improves, the requisite tools for objective assessment of these skills are being developed and will further enable the use of VR simulation in the training and assessment of endovascular interventionalists and their entire teams. Simulation training that allows deliberate practice without danger to patients may be key to bridging the gap between new endovascular technology and improved patient outcomes

Natural User Interface for Education in Virtual Environments

Education and self-improvement are key features of human behavior. However, learning in the physical world is not always desirable or achievable. That is how simulators came to be. There are domains where purely virtual simulators can be created in contrast to physical ones. In this research we present a novel environment for learning, using a natural user interface. We, humans, are not designed to operate and manipulate objects via keyboard, mouse or a controller. The natural way of interaction and communication is achieved through our actuators (hands and feet) and our sensors (hearing, vision, touch, smell and taste). That is the reason why it makes more sense to use sensors that can track our skeletal movements, are able to estimate our pose, and interpret our gestures. After acquiring and processing the desired – natural input, a system can analyze and translate those gestures into movement signals