Towards high-accuracy augmented reality GIS for architecture and geo-engineering

L’architecture et la géo-ingénierie sont des domaines où les professionnels doivent prendre des décisions critiques. Ceux-ci requièrent des outils de haute précision pour les assister dans leurs tâches quotidiennes. La Réalité Augmentée (RA) présente un excellent potentiel pour ces professionnels en leur permettant de faciliter l’association des plans 2D/3D représentatifs des ouvrages sur lesquels ils doivent intervenir, avec leur perception de ces ouvrages dans la réalité. Les outils de visualisation s’appuyant sur la RA permettent d’effectuer ce recalage entre modélisation spatiale et réalité dans le champ de vue de l’usager. Cependant, ces systèmes de RA nécessitent des solutions de positionnement en temps réel de très haute précision. Ce n’est pas chose facile, spécialement dans les environnements urbains ou sur les sites de construction. Ce projet propose donc d’investiguer les principaux défis que présente un système de RA haute précision basé sur les panoramas omnidirectionels.Architecture and geo-engineering are application domains where professionals need to take critical decisions. These professionals require high-precision tools to assist them in their daily decision taking process. Augmented Reality (AR) shows great potential to allow easier association between the abstract 2D drawings and 3D models representing infrastructure under reviewing and the actual perception of these objects in the reality. The different visualization tools based on AR allow to overlay the virtual models and the reality in the field of view of the user. However, the architecture and geo-engineering context requires high-accuracy and real-time positioning from these AR systems. This is not a trivial task, especially in urban environments or on construction sites where the surroundings may be crowded and highly dynamic. This project investigates the accuracy requirements of mobile AR GIS as well as the main challenges to address when tackling high-accuracy AR based on omnidirectional panoramas

TOBE: Tangible Out-of-Body Experience

We propose a toolkit for creating Tangible Out-of-Body Experiences: exposing the inner states of users using physiological signals such as heart rate or brain activity. Tobe can take the form of a tangible avatar displaying live physiological readings to reflect on ourselves and others. Such a toolkit could be used by researchers and designers to create a multitude of potential tangible applications, including (but not limited to) educational tools about Science Technologies Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and cognitive science, medical applications or entertainment and social experiences with one or several users or Tobes involved. Through a co-design approach, we investigated how everyday people picture their physiology and we validated the acceptability of Tobe in a scientific museum. We also give a practical example where two users relax together, with insights on how Tobe helped them to synchronize their signals and share a moment

Pointing in Spatial Augmented Reality from 2D Pointing Devices

International audienceSpatial Augmented Reality (SAR) opens interesting perspectives for new generations of mixed reality applications. Compared to traditional human-computer interaction contexts, there is little work that studies user performance in SAR. In this paper, we present an experiment that compares pointing in SAR versus pointing in front of a screen, from standard pointing devices (mouse and graphics tablet). The results showed that the participants tend to interact in SAR in a way that is similar to the screen condition, without a big loss of performance

Tangible Viewports: Getting Out of Flatland in Desktop Environments

International audienceAbstract Spatial augmented reality and tangible interaction enrich the standard computer I/O space. Systems based on such modalities offer new user experiences and open up interesting perspectives in various fields. On the other hand, such systems tend to live outside the standard desktop paradigm and, as a consequence, they do not benefit from the richness and versatility of desktop environments. In this work, we propose to join together physical visualization and tangible interaction within a standard desktop environment. We introduce the concept of Tangible Viewport, an on-screen window that creates a dynamic link between augmented objects and computer screens, allowing a screen-based cursor to move onto the object in a seamless manner. We describe an implementation of this concept and explore the interaction space around it. A preliminary evaluation shows the metaphor is transparent to the users while providing the benefits of tangibility

The Good, the Bad and the Hacked: Creative Coding on Objects

International audienceIn a near future scenario, we will replace some of our everyday objects with counterparts in form of Computational Objects (COs). COs look similar to the original object; however, inside them there are input sensors, output devices such as displays and a CPU. Furthermore, COs still convey the context and meaning that the original object had. For instance, a clock is associated with time and thus users could expect its CO version to display time-related data. We suggest that any user should be able to easily code new appearances and behaviors for his or her own objects. Using creative coding as a base, we propose to add the notions of affordances and conventions to this programming context. Moreover, we suggest that COs could be used as a creativity support tool although modifying their behavior beyond conventions could confuse the user. Finally, we reckon that with the proper tools, users could also make physical modifications to COs. For example, a retractile cord can be attached to the clock and be used to pull data out and display them in a linear layout

Inner Garden: Connecting Inner States to a Mixed Reality Sandbox for Mindfulness

International audienceDigital technology has been completely integrated into our daily lives, yet the potential of technology to improve its users’ life satisfaction is still largely untapped. Mindfulness, the act of paying a deliberate and non-judgmental attention to the present moment, has been shown to have a positive impact on a person’s health and subjective well-being – commonly called “happiness”. Based on an iterative process with meditation teachers and practitioners, we designed a new tool to support mindfulness practices. This tool takes the shape of an augmented sandbox, designed to inspire the user’s self-motivation and curiosity. By shaping the sand, the user creates a living miniature world that is projected back onto the sand. The natural elements of the garden are connected to real-time physiological measurements, such as breathing, helping the user to stay focused on the body. Moreover, using a Virtual Reality headset, they can travel inside their garden for a dedicated meditation session. Preliminary results seem to indicate that the system is well suited for mindfulness and induces a calm and mindful state on the user. The meditation teachers envisioned the use of Inner Garden in their practice

Augmented Human Experience: Spatial Augmented Reality and Physiological Computing

International audienceHuman Computer Interfaces are in constant advance. Current research focuses on moving the interaction out of the limited reach of computers into the environment, but the focus is still on performance. The maturity of physiological sensors enables interaction that takes into account the user's inner state, but users are not really aware of such states. It is possible to take a step further and expose those inner states to the user, which have been shown to increase well-being. This talk will include an introduction to the joint field and a set of projects that work towards building an augmented humane experience

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results

Search for squarks and gluinos in events with isolated leptons, jets and missing transverse momentum at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing at least one isolated lepton (electron or muon), jets and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy s√=8 TeV collected in 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20 fb−1. No significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed. Limits are set on supersymmetric particle masses for various supersymmetric models. Depending on the model, the search excludes gluino masses up to 1.32 TeV and squark masses up to 840 GeV. Limits are also set on the parameters of a minimal universal extra dimension model, excluding a compactification radius of 1/R c = 950 GeV for a cut-off scale times radius (ΛR c) of approximately 30

Search for squarks and gluinos with the ATLAS detector in final states with jets and missing transverse momentum using √s=8 TeV proton-proton collision data

A search for squarks and gluinos in final states containing high-p T jets, missing transverse momentum and no electrons or muons is presented. The data were recorded in 2012 by the ATLAS experiment in s√=8 TeV proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider, with a total integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb−1. Results are interpreted in a variety of simplified and specific supersymmetry-breaking models assuming that R-parity is conserved and that the lightest neutralino is the lightest supersymmetric particle. An exclusion limit at the 95% confidence level on the mass of the gluino is set at 1330 GeV for a simplified model incorporating only a gluino and the lightest neutralino. For a simplified model involving the strong production of first- and second-generation squarks, squark masses below 850 GeV (440 GeV) are excluded for a massless lightest neutralino, assuming mass degenerate (single light-flavour) squarks. In mSUGRA/CMSSM models with tan β = 30, A 0 = −2m 0 and μ > 0, squarks and gluinos of equal mass are excluded for masses below 1700 GeV. Additional limits are set for non-universal Higgs mass models with gaugino mediation and for simplified models involving the pair production of gluinos, each decaying to a top squark and a top quark, with the top squark decaying to a charm quark and a neutralino. These limits extend the region of supersymmetric parameter space excluded by previous searches with the ATLAS detector