A multi-touch interface for multi-robot path planning and control

In the last few years, research in human-robot interaction has moved beyond the issues concerning the design of the interaction between a person and a single robot. Today many researchers have shifted their focus toward the problem of how humans can control a multi-robot team. The rising of multi-touch devices provides a new range of opportunities in this sense. Our research seeks to discover new insights and guidelines for the design of multi-touch interfaces for the control of biologically inspired multi-robot teams. We have developed an iPad touch interface that lets users exert partial control over a set of autonomous robots. The interface also serves as an experimental platform to study how human operators design multi-robot motion in a pursuit-evasion setting

Service Design in HCI Research: The Extended Value Co-creation Model

In this paper, we discuss what it means to practice service design in an academic research setting. For a long time, the primary focal point of design research has been the users—of their experiences, needs, desires, and values. By contrast, designers have been relatively anonymous and unlocatable. In shift to the service-centric design paradigm, we argue that it is important to recognize design researchers as distinct stakeholders, who actively interact with systems and services with a goal to fulfill their own values and achieve desired outcomes. In practice, typically the role of designer is that of a design consultant working for (or rather on behalf of) the client. By contrast, in academic research settings, the role of designer is that of a design researcher working with their own research agenda.We provide a case study of a service design research project aimed at developing new digital services for public libraries. We encountered a series of issues with a complex set of values at play, in which design researchers emerged as distinct stakeholders with specific sets of research questions, goals, and visions. The main contribution of this paper is a model that (a) clarifies the position of design researchers within the sociocultural context in which they practice design, and (b) visualize how their positions impact the value co-creation, and in turn, the design outcome

On the Stability of Approximation for Hamiltonian Path Problems

We consider the problem of finding a cheapest Hamiltonian path of a complete graph satisfying a relaxed triangle inequality, i.e., such that for some parameter β > 1, the edge costs satisfy the inequality c({x, y}) ≤β (c({x, z}) + c({z, y})) for every triple of vertices x, y, z. There are three variants of this problem, depending on the number of prespecified endpoints: zero, one, or two. For metric graphs there exist approximation algorithms, with approximation ratio 3/2 for the first two variants and 5/3 for the latter one. Using results on the approximability of the Travelling Salesman Problem with input graphs satisfying the relaxed triangle inequality, we obtain for our problem approximation algorithms with ratio in(β 2 + β,3/2 β 2) for zero or one respecified endpoints, and 5/3 β2 for two endpoints

Evaluación neuropsicológica en un caso de trastorno del espectro autista

El siguiente trabajo tuvo como propósito realizar una evaluación neurocognitiva a un caso de trastorno del espectro autista. El objetivo principal fue evaluar el estado cognitivo general del paciente y cuáles eran las funciones cerebrales más afectadas por el trastorno. De esta manera, se pudo elaborar un perfil neurocognitivo del caso, teniendo en cuenta las funciones deterioradas, las conservadas y las modificaciones positivas que el paciente ha realizado, para adaptarse al entorno en el que se desarrolla. Se le aplicó al paciente evaluado una batería de tests neurocognitivos que incluyó: el mini-mental, Bender, Barcelona y el test de inteligencia Raven, en el marco de un estudio exploratorio y descriptivo. Los resultados sugieren que las funciones afectadas se encuentran relacionadas con la capacidad del paciente para desenvolverse a nivel social. Posee retraso mental, por lo que se encuentra disminuida su capacidad para realizar abstracciones semicomplejas y complejas. Presenta dificultades en la organización, planificación y establecimiento de metas para llevar a cabo una tarea, por lo que la función ejecutiva se encuentra afectada. A partir de los resultados, se elaboró un perfil neurocognitivo del paciente y se propuso un plan de rehabilitación.The purpose of the present study was to conduct a neurocognitive evaluation of a case of autism spectrum disorder. The main objective was to assess the general cognitive status of the patient and which were the brain functions most affected by the disorder. A neurocognitive profile of the case was elaborated taking into account the deteriorated functions, the conserved ones and the positive modifications that the patient has made to adapt to the environment in which it is developed. A battery of neurocognitive tests including the mini-mental, Bender, Barcelona and the Raven intelligence test were applied to the evaluated patient as part of an exploratory and descriptive study. The results suggest that the affected functions are related to the patient's ability to function socially. He hasan intellectual disability, so his ability to perform complex and semi-complex abstractions is diminished. It presents difficulties in organizing, planning and setting goals to carry out a task, so the executive function is affected. From the results, a neurocognitive profile of the patient was elaborated and a rehabilitation plan was proposed.Fil: Forlizzi, Laura Celin

The Dark Side of Interaction Design

This panel will provoke the audience into reflecting on the dark side of interaction design. It will ask what role the HCI community has played in the inception and rise of digital addiction, digital persuasion, data exploitation and dark patterns and what to do about this state of affairs. The panelists will present their views about what we have unleashed. They will examine how g€stickiness' came about and how we might give users control over their data that is sucked up in this process. Finally, they will be asked to consider the merits and prospects of an alternative agenda, that pushes for interaction design to be fairer, more ethically-grounded and more transparent, while at the same time addressing head-on the dark side of interaction design