Now showing 1 - 10 of 11
  • Publication
    Using an industry-ready AR HMD on a real maintenance task: AR benefits performance on certain task steps more than others
    This paper presents a novel evaluation of an industry-ready HMD for delivering AR work instructions in a real-life, industrial procedure for novice users. A user study was performed to examine the potential benefits and limitations of a dynamic 3D virtual model and AR text instructions, delivered through an optical see through HMD, for training users in a new industry procedure (i.e., Yaw Motor Servicing of a wind turbine). Measures of task accuracy and completion time were used to evaluate the performance of one group of mechanical engineering students performing this procedure for the first time guided by AR compared to a second group performing it using a tablet-delivered instruction manual. Results showed AR improved accuracy but not speed of task completion. AR significantly increased accuracy on one specific task-step in the procedure, namely measurement of a thin air gap (see figure 1, left panel), but also showed limitations with other task-steps not benefitting or even being slowed down by AR (see figure 1, right panel). Findings speak to the importance of incorporating an analysis at the level of individual task steps in order to fully evaluate AR work instructions.
      762Scopus© Citations 21
  • Publication
    Facilitating ubiquitous interaction using intelligent agents
    Facilitating intuitive interaction is a prerequisite for the ubiquitous computing paradigm in all its manifestations. How to achieve such interaction in practice remains an open question. Such interfaces must be perceived as being intuitive across a variety of contexts, including those of the hosting devices. Indeed, the heterogeneity of the device population raises significant challenges. While individual devices and the interaction modalities supported by, each satisfy the requirements of individual domains, integrating diverse devices such that the user experiences is perceived as consistent and intuitive is problematic. This chapter discusses and illustrates how intelligent agents may be harnessed for integrating a range of diverse interface and interaction modalities such that the ubiquitous user interface concept may be validated.
    Scopus© Citations 5  1086
  • Publication
    NeXuS: delivering behavioural realism through intentional agents
    This paper explores the challenge of delivering Behavioural Realism to embedded avatars. An agent based approach is adopted and demonstrated within a Mixed Reality (MR) environment. The realism of an avatar is driven by the state of the intentional agent that underpins its behaviour. The traditional disconnect often found with avatars that exhibit shallow levels of behavioural realism is no longer evident.
      446Scopus© Citations 5
  • Publication
    FreeGaming : mobile, collaborative, adaptive and augmented ExerGaming
    Addressing the obesity epidemic that plagues many societies remains an outstanding public health issue. One innovative approach to addressing this problem is Exergaming. A combination of "Exercise" and "Gaming", the objective is to motivate people participate in exercise regimes, usually in their home environment. In this paper a more holistic interpretation of this exercise paradigm is proposed. Freegaming augments Exergaming in a number of key dimensions but especially through the promotion of games in outdoor mobile contexts and within a social environment. The design and implementation of a platform for Freegaming is described and illustrated through the description of a sample game.
      1669Scopus© Citations 15
  • Publication
    Exergaming : a future of mixing entertainment and exercise assisted by mixed reality agents
    Childhood obesity [Lung and Initiative, 2000] has become a major problem for many countries in recent years and addressing the obesity epidemic remains an outstanding public health issue. Childhood especially in developed countries become one which is synonymous with abundance. Not only food is in abundance but also is Entertainment. Many blame this increase on a lack physical activity on entertainment, in particular on Video Games [Vandewater et al., 2004]. Entertainment in the future need not exaggerate this problem but become a solution, called Exergaming. Exergaming is the combination of words “Exercise” and “Gaming” and its objective is to motivate people to participate in exercise regimes.
    Scopus© Citations 12  1118
  • Publication
    NEXUS : Mixed Reality Experiments with Embodied Intentional Agents
    This paper seeks to erode the traditional boundaries that exist between the physical and the virtual world. It explores mixed reality experiences and the deployment of situated embodied agents that offer mediation in the control of, and interaction between, avatars. The NEXUS system is introduced which facilitates the construction and experimentation with mixed reality multi-character scenarios. The behaviour of such characters or avatars is governed by a BDI agent architecture that can effectively sense both the real and the virtual world overlay. Within this paper we describe the NEXUS infrastructure together with the technology set that envelops it. We outline the design and results from a series of mixed reality experiments that have been conducted using the NEXUS system.
      208
  • Publication
    MiRA - mixed reality agents
    In recent years, an increasing number of Mixed Reality (MR) applications have been developed using agent technology—both for the underlying software and as an interface metaphor. However, no unifying field or theory currently exists that can act as a common frame of reference for these varied works. As a result, much duplication of research is evidenced in the literature. This paper seeks to fill this important gap by outlining ‘‘for the first time’’ a formal field of research that has hitherto gone unacknowledged, namely the field of Mixed Reality Agents (MiRAs), which are defined as agents embodied in a Mixed Reality environment. Based on this definition, a taxonomy is offered that classifies MiRAs along three axes: agency, based on the weak and strong notions outlined by Wooldridge and Jennings (1995); corporeal presence, which describes the degree of virtual or physical representation (body) of a MiRA; and interactive capacity, which characterises its ability to sense and act on the virtual and physical environment. Furthermore, this paper offers the first comprehensive survey of the state-of-the-art of MiRA research and places each project within the proposed taxonomy. Finally, common trends and future directions for MiRA research are discussed. By defining Mixed Reality Agents as a formal field, establishing a common taxonomy, and retrospectively placing existing MiRA projects within it, future researchers can effectively position their research within this landscape, thereby avoiding duplication and fostering reuse and interoperability.
    Scopus© Citations 69  1695
  • Publication
    Immersive human-robot interaction
    Networked robotic applications enable robots to operate in distant, hazardous, or otherwise inaccessible environments, such as search and rescue, surveillance, and exploration applications. The most difficult challenge which persists for such systems is that of supporting effective human-robot interaction, as this usually demands managing dynamic views, changeable interaction modalities, and adaptive levels of robotic autonomy. In contrast of sophisticated screen-based graphical user interfaces (GUIs), the solution proposed herein is to enable more natural human-robot interaction modalities through a networked immersive user interface. This paper describes the creation of one such shared space where to test such an approach, with both simulated and real robots.
      618Scopus© Citations 8
  • Publication
    The LAIR : Lightweight Affordable Immersion Room
    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009-10) ; ; ;
    This paper proposes a virtual environment system called a lightweight affordable immersion room (LAIR) that we propose for use in space and financially constrained situations. The LAIR consists of four walls arranged in a square providing a 360° degree view. By using front projection and two projectors per wall, the LAIR provides a compact environment which gives users some freedom of movement. The LAIR may be considered in terms of performance and cost as somewhere between a power wall and a CAVE - more immersive than a power wall, but less than a CAVE - and similarly moderate in terms of use of space and cost.
      1431Scopus© Citations 10
  • Publication
    NeXus: Behavioural Realism in Mixed Reality Scenarios through Virtual Sensing
    This paper aims to demonstrate how behavioural realism can be achieved by situating intentional agents within an Augmented Reality (AR) framework. We contest that imbuing agents with the ability to virtually sense the world within which they are situated produces a heightened sense of behavioural realism. We introduce the reader to NeXuS, a framework for the development of AR applications that depends upon these concepts to create a rich interactive environment whereby traditional boundaries between the virtual and physical domain may be overcome.
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