Combining heterogeneous inputs for the development of adaptive and multimodal interaction systems

In this paper we present a novel framework for the integration of visual sensor networks and speech-based interfaces. Our proposal follows the standard reference architecture in fusion systems (JDL), and combines different techniques related to Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing and User Modeling to provide an enhanced interaction with their users. Firstly, the framework integrates a Cooperative Surveillance Multi-Agent System (CS-MAS), which includes several types of autonomous agents working in a coalition to track and make inferences on the positions of the targets. Secondly, enhanced conversational agents facilitate human-computer interaction by means of speech interaction. Thirdly, a statistical methodology allows modeling the user conversational behavior, which is learned from an initial corpus and improved with the knowledge acquired from the successive interactions. A technique is proposed to facilitate the multimodal fusion of these information sources and consider the result for the decision of the next system action.This work was supported in part by Projects MEyC TEC2012-37832-C02-01, CICYT TEC2011-28626-C02-02, CAM CONTEXTS S2009/TIC-1485Publicad

Layered evaluation of interactive adaptive systems : framework and formative methods

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Expect the unexpected: the co-construction of assistive artifacts

This paper aims to explain emerging design activities within community-based rehabilitation contexts through the science of self-organization and adaptivity. It applies an evolutionary systematic worldview (Heylighen, 2011) to frame spontaneous collaboration between different local agents which produce self-made assistive artifacts. Through a process of distinction creation and distinction destruction occupational therapist, professional non-designers, caregivers and disabled people co-evolve simultaneously towards novel possibilities which embody a contemporary state of fitness. The conversation language is build on the principles of emotional seeding through stigmergic prototyping and have been practically applied as a form of design hacking which blends design time and use time. Within this process of co-construction the thought experiment of Maxwell’s Demon is used to map perceived behavior and steer the selecting process of following user-product adaptation strategies. This practice-based approach is illustrated through a case study and tries to integrate both rationality and intuition within emerging participatory design activities

On the Development of Adaptive and User-Centred Interactive Multimodal Interfaces

Multimodal systems have attained increased attention in recent years, which has made possible important improvements in the technologies for recognition, processing, and generation of multimodal information. However, there are still many issues related to multimodality which are not clear, for example, the principles that make it possible to resemble human-human multimodal communication. This chapter focuses on some of the most important challenges that researchers have recently envisioned for future multimodal interfaces. It also describes current efforts to develop intelligent, adaptive, proactive, portable and affective multimodal interfaces

User-centred design of flexible hypermedia for a mobile guide: Reflections on the hyperaudio experience

A user-centred design approach involves end-users from the very beginning. Considering users at the early stages compels designers to think in terms of utility and usability and helps develop the system on what is actually needed. This paper discusses the case of HyperAudio, a context-sensitive adaptive and mobile guide to museums developed in the late 90s. User requirements were collected via a survey to understand visitors’ profiles and visit styles in Natural Science museums. The knowledge acquired supported the specification of system requirements, helping defining user model, data structure and adaptive behaviour of the system. User requirements guided the design decisions on what could be implemented by using simple adaptable triggers and what instead needed more sophisticated adaptive techniques, a fundamental choice when all the computation must be done on a PDA. Graphical and interactive environments for developing and testing complex adaptive systems are discussed as a further step towards an iterative design that considers the user interaction a central point. The paper discusses how such an environment allows designers and developers to experiment with different system’s behaviours and to widely test it under realistic conditions by simulation of the actual context evolving over time. The understanding gained in HyperAudio is then considered in the perspective of the developments that followed that first experience: our findings seem still valid despite the passed time