Clothing-Integrated Human-Technology Interaction

Due to the different disabilities of people and versatile use environments, the current handheld and screen-based digital devices on the market are not suitable for all consumers and all situations. Thus, there is an urgent need for human- technology interaction solutions, where the required input actions to digital devices are simple, easy to establish, and instinctive, allowing the whole society to effortlessly interact with the surrounding technology. In passive ultra-high frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) systems, the tag consists only of an antenna and a simple integrated circuit (IC). The tag gets all the needed power from the RFID reader and can be thus seamlessly and in a maintenance-free way integrated into clothing. In this thesis, it is presented that by integrating passive UHF RFID technology into clothing, body movements and gestures can be monitored by monitoring the individual IDs and backscattered signals of the tags. Electro-textiles and embroidery with conductive thread are found to be suitable options when manufacturing and materials for such garments are considered. This thesis establishes several RFID- based interface solutions, multiple types of inputs through RFID platforms, and controlling the surrounding and communicating with RFID-based on/off functions. The developed intelligent clothing is visioned to provide versatile applications for assistive technology, for entertainment, and ambient assistant living, and for comfort and safety in work environments, just to name a few examples

Environment 2.0 : the 9th Biennial Conference on Environmental Psychology, 26-28 September 2011, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

On behalf of the Environmental Psychology Division of the German Association of Psychology, the 9th Biennial International Conference on Environmental Psychology is organized by the Human-Technology Interaction (HTI) group of the School of Innovation Sciences of the Eindhoven University of Technology. The HTI group is internationally acclaimed for perception research, and has become established as a major centre of excellence in human-technology interaction research. Bringing together psychological and engineering expertise, its central mission is investigating and optimizing interactions between people, systems, and environments, in the service of a socially and ecologically sustainable society

The design with intent method: A design tool for influencing user behaviour

The official published version can be found at the link below.Using product and system design to influence user behaviour offers potential for improving performance and reducing user error, yet little guidance is available at the concept generation stage for design teams briefed with influencing user behaviour. This article presents the Design with Intent Method, an innovation tool for designers working in this area, illustrated via application to an everyday human–technology interaction problem: reducing the likelihood of a customer leaving his or her card in an automatic teller machine. The example application results in a range of feasible design concepts which are comparable to existing developments in ATM design, demonstrating that the method has potential for development and application as part of a user-centred design process

One Design Rule to Rule Them All: Towards a Universal Golden Rule for Designers of Human-Technology Interaction

This article aims at raising awareness and dialogue about ethical dimensions of human-technology design of socio-technical systems in general, the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) designer responsibility towards users, stakeholders and society in particular, as well as the raise of the dark side of design and the responses of the HCI community to it. This article identifies four dimensions in human-technology interaction design ethics and proposes a universal golden rule for human-technology interaction design. To sum up these different aspects of ethical design and the responsibilities of a designer, this position article concludes with a proposed universal golden rule for designing human-technology interactions: Design as easy to use, honest, sustainable, and safe human-technology interactions as you would want others to design for you

The Role of Task and Situational Characteristics on the Dependability of Human-Technology Interaction

While the impact of "human error" on failures of complex human-technology systems has widely been demonstrated and accepted, the relevance of situational and task-related characteristics on human performance has not yet been considered sufficiently. For this purpose and on the example of electrically powered wheel chair control this paper analyzes the effects of situational characteristics ( e.g., turns to the left/right in the backward/forward driving mode) on the impact of fine motor abilities on human performance. A study with 23 participants is described in the paper, during which relevant data such as the subjects' precision and aiming capacity, the number of collisions caused while driving as an indicator for human performance, and the situational characteristics were measured. The data analyses demonstrate an influence of especially the number of turns driven to the right in the backward mode on the impact of the precision ability on the number of safety-critical collisions. The results highlight the necessity not only to develop a wheelchair system which is adaptable to the user’s fine motor abilities, but also to the situational characteristics in order to increase the dependability of the human-technology system at hand

The narrative self, distributed memory, and evocative objects

In this article, I outline various ways in which artifacts are interwoven with autobiographical memory systems and conceptualize what this implies for the self. I first sketch the narrative approach to the self, arguing that who we are as persons is essentially our (unfolding) life story, which, in turn, determines our present beliefs and desires, but also directs our future goals and actions. I then argue that our autobiographical memory is partly anchored in our embodied interactions with an ecology of artifacts in our environment. Lifelogs, photos, videos, journals, diaries, souvenirs, jewelry, books, works of art, and many other meaningful objects trigger and sometimes constitute emotionally-laden autobiographical memories. Autobiographical memory is thus distributed across embodied agents and various environmental structures. To defend this claim, I draw on and integrate distributed cognition theory and empirical research in human-technology interaction. Based on this, I conclude that the self is neither defined by psychological states realized by the brain nor by biological states realized by the organism, but should be seen as a distributed and relational construct

Smart Packaging in Intralogistics: An Evaluation Study of Human-Technology Interaction in Applying New Collaboration Technologies

Handling and packaging of heterogeneous products with different weights and sizes with optimal packaging schemes is a challenging task for the e-commerce industry. Furthermore, to keep the packaging process on a standardized level independent of the experience level of the employee, the demand of digital human-centered solutions is increasing. Against this background, two different digital assistance systems to indicate packaging order and scheme – Augmented Reality (AR) based data glasses and a LED based packaging assistant - were developed. In a laboratory study the interaction between human and both digital devices regarding subjective workload, usability, user experience, physical complaints and objective measurements was evaluated – with a conventional paper list as control group. Results indicate that both the AR and LED interface are appropriate solutions to assist warehouse workers in packaging. However, it can be supposed that the LED interface seems to be a better method in terms of physical and especially visual strains

Autonomous robot systems and competitions: proceedings of the 12th International Conference

This is the 2012’s edition of the scientific meeting of the Portuguese Robotics Open (ROBOTICA’ 2012). It aims to disseminate scientific contributions and to promote discussion of theories, methods and experiences in areas of relevance to Autonomous Robotics and Robotic Competitions. All accepted contributions are included in this proceedings book. The conference program has also included an invited talk by Dr.ir. Raymond H. Cuijpers, from the Department of Human Technology Interaction of Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands.The conference is kindly sponsored by the IEEE Portugal Section / IEEE RAS ChapterSPR-Sociedade Portuguesa de Robótic

Editorial: A Look at the Digitalisation of Education in the Context of Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications

In this article digital transformation in education and the associated ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) are considered. In order to make use of the innovation potential of mixed reality and artificial intelligence in vocational education and training, it is argued in this article that a constructive approach should be used for the ethical, legal, and social implications. To this end, after the introduction and a brief presentation of the potential of digital technologies, selected ethical, legal, and social implications are discussed in order to provide starting points and recommendations for a reflective approach to the ELSI aspects. Keywords: Digital transformation, Mixed Reality (MR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Learning An-alytics (LA), Human-Technology Interaction (HTI), ELSIABSTRACT: In this article digital transformation in education and the associated ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) are considered. In order to make use of the innovation potential of mixed reality and artificial intelligence in vocational education and training, it is argued in this article that a constructive approach should be used for the ethical, legal, and social implications. To this end, after the introduction and a brief presentation of the potential of digital technologies, selected ethical, legal, and social implications are discussed in order to provide starting points and recommendations for a reflective approach to the ELSI aspects.Keywords: Digital transformation, Mixed Reality (MR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Learning An-alytics (LA), Human-Technology Interaction (HTI), ELS