34,528 research outputs found
Honesty, social presence, and self-service in retail
Retail self-service checkouts (SCOs) can benefit consumers and retailers, providing control and autonomy to shoppers independent from staff. Recent research indicates that the lack of presence of staff may provide the opportunity for consumers to behave dishonestly. This study examined whether a social presence in the form of visual, humanlike SCO interface agents had an effect on dishonest user behaviour. Using a simulated SCO scenario, participants experienced various dilemmas in which they could financially benefit themselves undeservedly. We hypothesised that a humanlike social presence integrated within the checkout screen would receive more attention and result in fewer instances of dishonesty compared to a less humanlike agent. Our hypotheses were partially supported by the results. We conclude that companies adopting self-service technology may consider the implementation of social presence to support ethical consumer behaviour, but that more research is required to explore the mixed findings in the current study
Experimenting with the Gaze of a Conversational Agent
We have carried out a pilot experiment to investigate the effects of different eye gaze behaviors of a cartoon-like talking face on the quality of human-agent dialogues. We compared a version of the talking face that roughly implements some patterns of humanlike behavior with two other versions. We called this the optimal version. In one of the other versions the shifts in gaze were kept minimal and in the other version the shifts would occur randomly. The talking face has a number of restrictions. There is no speech recognition, so questions and replies have to\ud
be typed in by the users of the systems. Despite this restriction we found that participants that conversed with the optimal agent appreciated the agent more than participants that conversed with the other agents. Conversations with the optimal version proceeded more efficiently. Participants needed less time to complete their task
Controlling the Gaze of Conversational Agents
We report on a pilot experiment that investigated the effects of different eye gaze behaviours of a cartoon-like talking face on the quality of human-agent dialogues. We compared a version of the talking face that roughly implements some patterns of human-like behaviour with\ud
two other versions. In one of the other versions the shifts in gaze were kept minimal and in the other version the shifts would occur randomly. The talking face has a number of restrictions. There is no speech recognition, so questions and replies have to be typed in by the users\ud
of the systems. Despite this restriction we found that participants that conversed with the agent that behaved according to the human-like patterns appreciated the agent better than participants that conversed with the other agents. Conversations with the optimal version also\ud
proceeded more efficiently. Participants needed less time to complete their task
Social presence and dishonesty in retail
Self-service checkouts (SCOs) in retail can benefit consumers and retailers, providing control and autonomy to shoppers independent from staff, together with reduced queuing times. Recent research indicates that the absence of staff may provide the opportunity for consumers to behave dishonestly, consistent with a perceived lack of social presence. This study examined whether a social presence in the form of various instantiations of embodied, visual, humanlike SCO interface agents had an effect on opportunistic behaviour. Using a simulated SCO scenario, participants experienced various dilemmas in which they could financially benefit themselves undeservedly. We hypothesised that a humanlike social presence integrated within the checkout screen would receive more attention and result in fewer instances of dishonesty compared to a less humanlike agent. This was partially supported by the results. The findings contribute to the theoretical framework in social presence research. We concluded that companies adopting self-service technology may consider the implementation of social presence in technology applications to support ethical consumer behaviour, but that more research is required to explore the mixed findings in the current study.<br/
Choreographic and Somatic Approaches for the Development of Expressive Robotic Systems
As robotic systems are moved out of factory work cells into human-facing
environments questions of choreography become central to their design,
placement, and application. With a human viewer or counterpart present, a
system will automatically be interpreted within context, style of movement, and
form factor by human beings as animate elements of their environment. The
interpretation by this human counterpart is critical to the success of the
system's integration: knobs on the system need to make sense to a human
counterpart; an artificial agent should have a way of notifying a human
counterpart of a change in system state, possibly through motion profiles; and
the motion of a human counterpart may have important contextual clues for task
completion. Thus, professional choreographers, dance practitioners, and
movement analysts are critical to research in robotics. They have design
methods for movement that align with human audience perception, can identify
simplified features of movement for human-robot interaction goals, and have
detailed knowledge of the capacity of human movement. This article provides
approaches employed by one research lab, specific impacts on technical and
artistic projects within, and principles that may guide future such work. The
background section reports on choreography, somatic perspectives,
improvisation, the Laban/Bartenieff Movement System, and robotics. From this
context methods including embodied exercises, writing prompts, and community
building activities have been developed to facilitate interdisciplinary
research. The results of this work is presented as an overview of a smattering
of projects in areas like high-level motion planning, software development for
rapid prototyping of movement, artistic output, and user studies that help
understand how people interpret movement. Finally, guiding principles for other
groups to adopt are posited.Comment: Under review at MDPI Arts Special Issue "The Machine as Artist (for
the 21st Century)"
http://www.mdpi.com/journal/arts/special_issues/Machine_Artis
Autonomous behaviour in tangible user interfaces as a design factor
PhD ThesisThis thesis critically explores the design space of autonomous and actuated artefacts, considering
how autonomous behaviours in interactive technologies might shape and influence users’
interactions and behaviours.
Since the invention of gearing and clockwork, mechanical devices were built that both fascinate
and intrigue people through their mechanical actuation. There seems to be something magical
about moving devices, which draws our attention and piques our interest. Progress in the
development of computational hardware is allowing increasingly complex commercial products
to be available to broad consumer-markets. New technologies emerge very fast, ranging from
personal devices with strong computational power to diverse user interfaces, like multi-touch
surfaces or gestural input devices. Electronic systems are becoming smaller and smarter, as they
comprise sensing, controlling and actuation. From this, new opportunities arise in integrating
more sensors and technology in physical objects.
These trends raise some specific questions around the impacts smarter systems might have
on people and interaction: how do people perceive smart systems that are tangible and what
implications does this perception have for user interface design? Which design opportunities are
opened up through smart systems? There is a tendency in humans to attribute life-like qualities
onto non-animate objects, which evokes social behaviour towards technology. Maybe it would be
possible to build user interfaces that utilise such behaviours to motivate people towards frequent
use, or even motivate them to build relationships in which the users care for their devices. Their
aim is not to increase the efficiency of user interfaces, but to create interfaces that are more
engaging to interact with and excite people to bond with these tangible objects.
This thesis sets out to explore autonomous behaviours in physical interfaces. More specifically, I
am interested in the factors that make a user interpret an interface as autonomous. Through a
review of literature concerned with animated objects, autonomous technology and robots, I have
mapped out a design space exploring the factors that are important in developing autonomous
interfaces. Building on this and utilising workshops conducted with other researchers, I have
vi
developed a framework that identifies key elements for the design of Tangible Autonomous
Interfaces (TAIs). To validate the dimensions of this framework and to further unpack the
impacts on users of interacting with autonomous interfaces I have adopted a ‘research through
design’ approach. I have iteratively designed and realised a series of autonomous, interactive
prototypes, which demonstrate the potential of such interfaces to establish themselves as social
entities. Through two deeper case studies, consisting of an actuated helium balloon and desktop
lamp, I provide insights into how autonomy could be implemented into Tangible User Interfaces.
My studies revealed that through their autonomous behaviour (guided by the framework) these
devices established themselves, in interaction, as social entities. They furthermore turned out to
be acceptable, especially if people were able to find a purpose for them in their lives. This thesis
closes with a discussion of findings and provides specific implications for design of autonomous
behaviour in interfaces
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