Visual Indication while Sharing Items from a Private 3D Portal Room UI to Public Virtual Environments

Part 2: Interactive PostersInternational audienceIn this paper, we describe the user experience evaluation results of a 3D Portal Room UI for sharing 3D objects from private space to remote public virtual environments. The user evaluation with 30 participants was conducted with a functional prototype and additional high quality images that were printed on paper sheets. The evaluation indicated that participants liked this way of sharing objects and found it also useful. However, it also raised some privacy concerns, especially if the target virtual environment was perceived as public. Evaluation elicited that the visual indication while sharing objects is important; therefore, designers of 3D virtual environments should prefer a distinguishable glow around the shared object and portal

Development of cooperative assistive technology user experience evaluation model for blind and visually impaired people

Abstract Blind and visually impaired people are among those who require very specific types of assistive technology. This type of technology has been a research and development focus for decades. As technology has matured, more affordable and practical solutions have entered the market. Unfortunately, this has not resulted in a very positive trend in terms of acceptance or adoption. Our research on usability and user experience indicated that there is a need to extend standardized questionnaires when evaluating assistive technology. This paper details the development of an evaluation model with extended contexts that can be used with cooperative assistive technology aimed for blind or visually impaired people and their caretakers. We present our evaluation setting and procedure for the model. The development of the model is based on testing, literature review, expert interviews, and discussions. The extended contexts should also contribute towards the trend of modularity with standardized user experience questionnaires

Studying the navigation assistance system for the visually impaired and blind persons and ICT use by their caretakers

Abstract Telecare solutions have been seen as a potential means of addressing the future care needs of ageing societies. With the growing proportion of dependent people (ageing, disabled users), tele-assistance and tele-monitoring platforms will play a significant role to provide an efficient and less-costly remote care and support. It will allow aged and disabled persons to maintain their independence and lessen the burden and cost of caregiving. In the case of visually impaired (VIP) and blind persons, guide dog and white cane provide them a fair degree of independence. However, those are very limited in guiding the user towards a specific desired location, especially in an unknown environment. The assistance of other people presents a feasible solution, though it does not improve the idea of autonomous guidance and privacy. This paper presents a tele-guidance based navigation assistance system that is based on the idea that a blind or VIP pedestrian can be assisted by haptics based cues and spoken instructions from a remote caretaker who receives a live video stream from a camera carried by the blind or VIP. Also, we present results of the study conducted in Pakistan with 14 blind and VIP participants for testing haptics user interface concept of proposed teleguidance system. In this study also two caretakers are interviewed. In addition, we present results of the attitude towards assistive technology study conducted with 19 blind and VIP in Finland. Moreover, we introduce the environmental model to aid development of assistive tools for blind and VIP

Teleguidance-based remote navigation assistance for visually impaired and blind people:usability and user experience

Abstract This paper reports the development of a specialized teleguidance-based navigation assistance system for the blind and the visually impaired. We present findings from a usability and user experience study conducted with 11 blind and visually impaired participants and a sighted caretaker. Participants sent live video feed of their field of view to the remote caretaker’s terminal from a smartphone camera attached to their chest. The caretaker used this video feed to guide them through indoor and outdoor navigation scenarios using a combination of haptic and voice-based communication. Haptic feedback was provided through vibrating actuators installed in the grip of a Smart Cane. Two haptic methods for directional guidance were tested: (1) two vibrating actuators to guide left and right movement and (2) a single vibrating actuator with differentiating vibration patterns for the same purpose. Users feedback was collected using a meCUE 2.0 standardized questionnaire, interviews, and group discussions. Participants’ perceptions toward the proposed navigation assistance system were positive. Blind participants preferred vibrational guidance with two actuators, while partially blind participants preferred the single actuator method. Familiarity with cane use and age were important factors in the choice of haptic methods by both blind and partially blind users. It was found that smartphone camera provided sufficient field of view for remote assistance; position and angle are nonetheless important considerations. Ultimately, more research is needed to confirm our preliminary findings. We also present an expanded evaluation model developed to carry out further research on assistive systems

A Bermuda Triangle?: A Review of Method Application and Triangulation in User Experience Evaluation

User experience (UX) evaluation is a growing field with diverse approaches. To understand the development since previous meta-review efforts, we conducted a state-of-the-art review of UX evaluation techniques with special attention to the triangulation between methods. We systematically selected and analyzed 100 papers from recent years and while we found an increase of relevant UX studies, we also saw a remaining overlap with pure usability evaluations. Positive trends include an increasing percentage of field rather than lab studies and a tendency to combine several methods in UX studies. Triangulation was applied in more than two thirds of the studies, and the most common method combination was questionnaires and interviews. Based on our analysis, we derive common patterns for triangulation in UX evaluation efforts. A critical discussion about existing approaches should help to obtain stronger results, especially when evaluating new technologies

An optimal design of contactless power transfer system applied for electric vehicles using electromagnetic resonant coupling

Over the past decades, contactless power transfer (CPT) has been acquiring considerable attentions for investigations on wireless power transmitting (WPT) based electric vehicles (EV) charging solutions. This paper describes a geometrically improved CPT system using innovative H-shape ferrite core prototype and electromagnetically analytical methods. In order to address the key issues such as system power transfer rating levels, maximization of system efficiency and charging distance of two coils, the CPT prototype in this paper focuses on operating frequencies, coupling distances and electromagnetic performances. This H-shape CPT prototype has been modelled in 3D finite element method (FEM) environment, resulting in a maximum coil transmitting efficiency of 63%, an optimal system efficiency of over 40% and a maximum RMS real power of 20.39 kW on the load end, with an air gap of 30 mm. Moreover, the H-shape system with 20-mm air gap could be measured to output an RMS real power of 31.95 kW on the load of the CPT system, achieving a maximum coil transmitting efficiency and overall system efficiency of over 77% and 47%, respectively. Furthermore, from the perspective of electromagnetics, the proposed CPT coupling design in this paper tends to appear advantages on electromagnetic field performance by analyzing the generated parameters of flux linkage, flux line distributions, magnetic flux density and so on. In addition, the limitations and future works on the CPT technologies for EV have been discussed in this research paper