Cette recherche traite du phénomène immersif dans les mondes virtuels accessibles « grâce à » internet. Second Life sert de terrain d'analyse car il permet de discuter trois régimes immersifs : le perceptif, le narratif et le lien social. Au traversd'une approche formelle (Simmel) et de la théorie de l'acteur-réseau (ANT, Latour), nous analysons diverses médiations conditionnant ces régimes : les villes modélisées dans Second Life sont étudiées de façon approfondie comme le lieu duvivre ensemble et de l'hétérogénéité des publics et des usages.Notre thèse qui s'appuie sur la sociologie a également recours aux sciences de l'information et de la communication, à la philosophie, à la géographie de l'espace social et aux digital humanities. Il s'agit d'une approche transdisciplinaire sollicitant des matériaux variés : observations participantes, entretiens, questionnaires. Nous développons une techniqueautomatisée de « tracking » pour générer des « Big Data » permettant l'analyse des pratiques spatiales des avatars dans l'univers digital.Nous montrons que l'immersion dépend des choix de l'utilisateur (point de vue visuel, choix des activités, etc.) et des qualités et possibles de Second Life (architecture technique, carte du monde, forme du cadre bâti, etc.). Des phénomènes d'appropriation et d'attachement entre des acteurs et des lieux sont décrits et permettent de constater la formalisation d'un« chez-soi ». Les diverses étapes de ce travail contribuent à une théorie de l'habiter dans les mondes virtuels / This research deals with the phenomenon of immersion in virtual worlds which are accessible "thanks to" the internet. Second Life is used as fieldwork because it allows to discuss three immersion regimes: perceptive, narrative andsocial ones. Through a formal approach (Simmel) and actor-network theory (ANT, Latour), we analyze various mediations which condition these immersion regimes: cities modeled in Second Life are studied in depth as the place to live togetherand as heterogeneous audiences and uses.Our thesis which is based on sociology also uses information and communication sciences, philosophy, geography of social space, and digital humanities. It is a transdisciplinary approach using various methods: participant observations,interviews, questionnaires. We develop an automated tracker to generate "Big Data" for the analysis of spatial practices of avatars in the digital world.We show that the immersion depends on the choice of the user (visual point of view, choice of activities, etc.) and on qualities and potentialities of Second Life (technical architecture, world map, shape of the built environment, etc.).Appropriation and attachment phenomena between actors and locations are described and allow us to observe the formalization of a "home". The various steps of this work contribute to a theory of habitat in virtual worlds

Werkzeugmaschinen besitzen als Produktionsmittel einen wesentlichen Anteil an der Gesamtheit der industriellen Produktion. Als Investitionsgut muss eine hohe Verfügbarkeit und lange Lebensdauer erzielt werden, die durch einen optimalen Instandhaltungsprozess abgesichert werden muss. Durch die immer höheren Anforderungen an die Produktion neuer Produkte werden Werkzeugmaschinen jedoch komplexer und individueller, das zu aufwendigeren und komplizierteren Instandhaltungsprozessen führt. Dazu muss der Instandhalter komplexere Tätigkeiten ausführen, die Spezialwissen verlangen und höheres Potenzial für Fehler besitzen. Zur Verbesserung des Instandhaltungsprozesses werden neben der technischen Dokumentation der Werkzeugmaschine neue digitale Methoden, wie die Augmented Reality (AR), eingesetzt. Dabei entstehen neue Problemfelder, da entsprechend viel Fachwissen des Instandhaltungsplaners erforderlich ist, der Einsatz der neuen Technologie eine hohe Komplexität aufweist und der Planungsprozess einen erheblichen Aufwand zur individuellen Anpassung an die jeweilige Werkzeugmaschine erfordert. In dieser Arbeit werden der Instandhaltungsplanungsprozess von Werkzeugmaschinen unter Nutzung der AR-Technologie analysiert und neue Methoden und Konzepte zur Integration verschiedener AR-Komponenten sowie Unternehmenssysteme und -daten in den Planungsprozess entwickelt, die anhand verschiedener Instandhaltungsszenarien verifiziert werden.:Abkürzungsverzeichnis Abbildungsverzeichnis Tabellenverzeichnis 1 Einleitung 1.1 Motivation zur Anwendung der Augmented Reality bei der Instandhaltung von Werkzeugmaschinen 1.2 Problemstellung des Einsatzes der Augmented Reality bei der Instandhaltung von Werkzeugmaschinen 2 Stand der Technik 2.1 Instandhaltung von Werkzeugmaschinen 2.1.1 Die Werkzeugmaschine als Instandhaltungsobjekt 2.1.2 Begriff der Instandhaltung 2.1.3 Maßnahmen zur Instandhaltung 2.1.4 Technische Dokumentation für die Instandhaltung 2.1.5 Diskussion bestehender technischer Dokumentationsformen 2.2 Augmented Reality 2.2.1 Entwicklung der Augmented Reality 2.2.2 Merkmale der Augmented Reality 2.2.3 Hard- und Software-Komponenten der Augmented Reality 2.2.4 Technische Anwendungsgebiete der Augmented Reality 2.2.5 Frameworks für Augmented-Reality-Anwendungen 2.2.6 Erstellungskonzepte für Augmented-Reality-Anwendungen 2.3 Augmented Reality in der Instandhaltung von Werkzeugmaschinen 2.3.1 Vorteile der Nutzung von Augmented Reality in der Instandhaltung 2.3.2 Augmented-Reality-Nutzungskonzepte für die Instandhaltung 2.3.3 Augmented-Reality-Erstellungskonzepte für die Instandhaltung 2.3.4 Diskussion bestehender Augmented-Reality-Erstellungskonzepte 2.4 Zusammenfassung Stand der Technik 3 Zielsetzung und Vorgehensweise 3.1 Zielsetzung 3.2 Vorgehensweise 4 Methode zur Integration der Augmented Reality in die Instandhaltung 4.1 Anforderungen an die Augmented-Reality-basierte Instandhaltung 4.1.1 Anforderungen an die Augmented-Reality-Anwendung 4.1.2 Anforderungen an die Augmented-Reality-Komponenten 4.1.3 Anforderungen an die Instandhaltungsdokumentation 4.1.4 Anforderungen an den Instandhaltungsplanungsprozess 4.2 Konzept des Augmented-Reality-Systems zur Instandhaltung 4.2.1 Konzept des Instandhaltungsplanungsprozesses 4.2.2 Konzept des Augmented-Reality-Gesamtsystems 4.3 Integration von Augmented-Reality-Komponenten 4.3.1 Kamerabild 4.3.2 Tracking 4.3.3 Visualisierung 4.3.4 Interaktion 4.4 Integration von Produktionsdaten 4.4.1 CAD-Anwendung 4.4.2 Dokumentationsanwendung für die Instandhaltung 4.4.3 PDM-System 4.5 Integration von Maschinendaten 4.5.1 Manufacturing Execution System 4.5.2 Maschinensteuerung 5 Verifikation der Methode 5.1 Vorgehensweise der Verifikation 5.2 Definition der Instandhaltungsszenarien 5.2.1 Instandhaltungsszenario A: Dreh-Fräs-Bearbeitungszentrum 5.2.2 Instandhaltungsszenario B: Drahtziehmaschine 5.3 Anwendung der Methode auf die Instandhaltungsszenarien 5.3.1 Instandhaltungsszenario A: Dreh-Fräs-Bearbeitungszentrum 5.3.2 Instandhaltungsszenario B: Drahtziehmaschine 5.4 Auswertung der Methode 6 Zusammenfassung und Ausblick 6.1 Zusammenfassung 6.2 Ausblick Literaturverzeichnis

This research investigates how shifts in perception might be brought about through the development of visual imagery created by the use of virtual environment technology. Through a discussion of historical uses of immersion in art, this thesis will explore how immersion functions and why immersion has been a goal for artists throughout history. It begins with a discussion of ancient cave drawings and the relevance of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. Next it examines the biological origins of “making special.” The research will discuss how this concept, combined with the ideas of “action” and “reaction,” has reinforced the view that art is fundamentally experiential rather than static. The research emphasizes how present-day virtual environment art, in providing a space that engages visitors in computer graphics, expands on previous immersive artistic practices. The thesis examines the technical context in which the research occurs by briefly describing the use of computer science technologies, the fundamentals of visual arts practices, and the importance of aesthetics in new media and provides a description of my artistic practice. The aim is to investigate how combining these approaches can enhance virtual environments as artworks. The computer science of virtual environments includes both hardware and software programming. The resultant virtual environment experiences are technologically dependent on the types of visual displays being used, including screens and monitors, and their subsequent viewing affordances. Virtual environments fill the field of view and can be experienced with a head mounted display (HMD) or a large screen display. The sense of immersion gained through the experience depends on how tracking devices and related peripheral devices are used to facilitate interaction. The thesis discusses visual arts practices with a focus on how illusions shift our cognition and perception in the visual modalities. This discussion includes how perceptual thinking is the foundation of art experiences, how analogies are the foundation of cognitive experiences and how the two intertwine in art experiences for virtual environments. An examination of the aesthetic strategies used by artists and new media critics are presented to discuss new media art. This thesis investigates the visual elements used in virtual environments and prescribes strategies for creating art for virtual environments. Methods constituting a unique virtual environment practice that focuses on visual analogies are discussed. The artistic practice that is discussed as the basis for this research also concentrates on experiential moments and shifts in perception and cognition and references Douglas Hofstadter, Rudolf Arnheim and John Dewey. iv Virtual environments provide for experiences in which the imagery generated updates in real time. Following an analysis of existing artwork and critical writing relative to the field, the process of inquiry has required the creation of artworks that involve tracking systems, projection displays, sound work, and an understanding of the importance of the visitor. In practice, the research has shown that the visitor should be seen as an interlocutor, interacting from a first-person perspective with virtual environment events, where avatars or other instrumental intermediaries, such as guns, vehicles, or menu systems, do not to occlude the view. The aesthetic outcomes of this research are the result of combining visual analogies, real time interactive animation, and operatic performance in immersive space. The environments designed in this research were informed initially by paintings created with imagery generated in a hypnopompic state or during the moments of transitioning from sleeping to waking. The drawings often emphasize emotional moments as caricatures and/or elements of the face as seen from a number of perspectives simultaneously, in the way of some cartoons, primitive artwork or Cubist imagery. In the imagery, the faces indicate situations, emotions and confrontations which can offer moments of humour and reflective exploration. At times, the faces usurp the space and stand in representation as both face and figure. The power of the placement of the caricatures in the paintings become apparent as the imagery stages the expressive moment. The placement of faces sets the scene, establishes relationships and promotes the honesty and emotions that develop over time as the paintings are scrutinized. The development process of creating virtual environment imagery starts with hand drawn sketches of characters, develops further as paintings on “digital canvas”, are built as animated, three-dimensional models and finally incorporated into a virtual environment. The imagery is generated while drawing, typically with paper and pencil, in a stream of consciousness during the hypnopompic state. This method became an aesthetic strategy for producing a snappy straightforward sketch. The sketches are explored further as they are worked up as paintings. During the painting process, the figures become fleshed out and their placement on the page, in essence brings them to life. These characters inhabit a world that I explore even further by building them into three dimensional models and placing them in computer generated virtual environments. The methodology of developing and placing the faces/figures became an operational strategy for building virtual environments. In order to open up the range of art virtual environments, and develop operational strategies for visitors’ experience, the characters and their facial features are used as navigational strategies, signposts and methods of wayfinding in order to sustain a stream of consciousness type of navigation. Faces and characters were designed to represent those intimate moments of self-reflection and confrontation that occur daily within ourselves and with others. They sought to reflect moments of wonderment, hurt, curiosity and humour that could subsequently be relinquished for more practical or purposeful endeavours. They were intended to create conditions in which visitors might reflect upon their emotional state, v enabling their understanding and trust of their personal space, in which decisions are made and the nature of world is determined. In order to extend the split-second, frozen moment of recognition that a painting affords, the caricatures and their scenes are given new dimensions as they become characters in a performative virtual reality. Emotables, distinct from avatars, are characters confronting visitors in the virtual environment to engage them in an interactive, stream of consciousness, non-linear dialogue. Visitors are also situated with a role in a virtual world, where they were required to adapt to the language of the environment in order to progress through the dynamics of a drama. The research showed that imagery created in a context of whimsy and fantasy could bring ontological meaning and aesthetic experience into the interactive environment, such that emotables or facially expressive computer graphic characters could be seen as another brushstroke in painting a world of virtual reality.

In order to simulate virtual humans more realistically and enable them life-like behaviours, several exploration research on emotion calculation, synthetic perception, and decision making process have been discussed. A series of sub-modules have been designed and simulation results have been presented with discussion. A visual based synthetic perception system has been proposed in this thesis, which allows virtual humans to detect the surrounding virtual environment through a collision-based synthetic vision system. It enables autonomous virtual humans to change their emotion states according to stimuli in real time. The synthetic perception system also allows virtual humans to remember limited information within their own First-in-first-out short-term virtual memory. The new emotion generation method includes a novel hierarchical emotion structure and a group of emotion calculation equations, which enables virtual humans to perform emotionally in real-time according to their internal and external factors. Emotion calculation equations used in this research were derived from psychologic emotion measurements. Virtual humans can utilise the information in virtual memory and emotion calculation equations to generate their own numerical emotion states within the hierarchical emotion structure. Those emotion states are important internal references for virtual humans to adopt appropriate behaviours and also key cues for their decision making. The work introduces a dynamic emotional motion database structure for virtual human modelling. When developing realistic virtual human behaviours, lots of subjects were motion-captured whilst performing emotional motions with or without intent. The captured motions were endowed to virtual characters and implemented in different virtual scenarios to help evoke and verify design ideas, possible consequences of simulation (such as fire evacuation). This work also introduced simple heuristics theory into decision making process in order to make the virtual human’s decision making more like real human. Emotion values are proposed as a group of the key cues for decision making under the simple heuristic structures. A data interface which connects the emotion calculation and the decision making structure together has also been designed for the simulation system.

The aim of the present research was to determine a range of principles for the development of virtual natural environments (VNEs), using low-cost commercial-off-the-shelf simulation technologies, for bedside and clinical healthcare applications. A series of studies have been conducted to systematically investigate different aspects of the VNEs on a wide variety of participants, ranging from undergraduate and postgraduate students, hospital patients and clinicians, to West Country villagers. The results of these studies suggest that naturalistic environmental spatial sounds can have a positive impact on user ratings of presence and stress levels. High visual fidelity and real-world-based VNEs can increase participants’ reported ratings of presence, quality and realism. The choice of input devices also has a significant impact on usability with these types of virtual environment (VE). Overall, the findings provide a strong set of principles supporting the future development of VNEs. Highly transferrable tools and techniques have also been developed in order to investigate the exploitation of new digital technology approaches in the generation of believable and engaging real-time, interactive virtual natural environments that can be modified and updated relatively easily, thereby delivering a system that can be regularly modified and updated to meet the needs of individual patients.

L’objectif de cette thèse est double : 1) contribuer à la production de connaissances dans le champ théorique de la didactique professionnelle sur les activités liées aux systèmes vivants ; 2) aider à la conception, à l’ingénierie pédagogique et à l’évaluation de l’EVAH VirTeaSy. L’examen de la littérature dans le domaine des EVAH dentaires montre que les EVAH « haptiques » semblent être les plus pertinents pour répondre aux problématiques de formation en implantologie. Cependant, bien que des études montrent leur efficacité du point de vue de l’apprentissage, il reste des problèmes à résoudre en termes de méthodologie de conception. En effet, la démarche de conception s’appuie couramment sur des collaborations entre experts métiers et informaticiens qui aboutissent au développement d’EVAH technocentrés. Afin de contourner les écueils constatés dans ce type de démarche, nous choisissons d’inclure les sciences humaines sur l’ensemble du processus de conception de l’EVAH. Pour identifier les compétences à viser dans l’EVAH, nous mobilisons, dans le cadre de la didactique professionnelle, une analyse de l’activité. Celle-ci se finalise par l’identification de la structure conceptuelle de la situation reposant sur des concepts organisateurs de l’activité en liens avec des variables et des indicateurs. Notre première étude s’attache ainsi à identifier la structure conceptuelle de la situation en implantologie dentaire. Au cours de situations réelles de pose d’implant dentaire, des données d’enregistrement ont été recueillies et complétées par des verbalisations obtenues lors d’entretiens d’auto-confrontation. L’analyse des données à l’aide de la méthodologie des catégories conceptualisantes nous a permis de faire émerger les concepts organisant l’activité des dix chirurgiens-dentistes observés. L’activité d’implantologie consiste à réaliser un compromis entre le concept organisateur « d’émergence » qui permet de réaliser le projet prothétique et le concept « d’ancrage » qui permet au projet prothétique de durer dans le temps. Ces deux concepts n’étant pas toujours convergents. La conception de VirTeaSy s’appuie sur les résultats de l’étude 1 et se réalise grâce à une méthodologie en cinq étapes. Notre expérience de cette mise en œuvre méthodologique montre qu’il faut constamment faire des choix. Ces choix reposent dans un premier temps sur la littérature et conduisent à définir des éléments de conception généraux. Ces éléments sont ensuite spécifiés à l’aide des résultats de l’analyse de l’activité, celle-ci prend alors toute sa pertinence afin que l’EVAH traduise les compétences-clefs que les apprenants doivent construire pour être efficaces. L’étude 2 porte sur le transfert d’apprentissage du virtuel au réel. Pour ce faire, trente-deux dentistes sont répartis de façon aléatoire dans trois groupes : un groupe (n=10) nommé GRV formé dans VirTeaSy, un groupe (n=11) nommé GT formé de manière traditionnelle et un groupe (n=11) nommé contrôle (GC) ne recevant aucune formation. Tous les sujets sont novices en implantologie dentaire. Une semaine après que chaque groupe ait suivit sa formation, tous les sujets réalisent la tâche de réinvestissement consistant à poser un implant sur un cadavre humain. Pour chaque sujet, nous mesurons, à l’aide d’un scanner, la différence entre la performance demandée et la performance réalisée. Les mesures portent sur l’angulation, l’émergence et la centration. Nos résultats ne montrent pas de différence significative entre les trois groupes. Des prolongements à cette thèse sont en cours de mise en œuvre. Il s’agit : 1) d’étendre l’analyse de l’activité à une population internationale ; 2) d’évaluer VirTeaSy grâce à différents protocoles incluant les fonctionnalités issues de l’analyse de l’activité ; 3) d’élargir le périmètre de formation de VirTeaSy à l’odontologie. / The objective of this thesis is twofold: 1) to build knowledge in the theoretical field “didactique professionnelle” for living systems activities; 2) to help design and assess VirTeaSy. An analysis of the literature in dental V.E.T showed that “haptic V.E.T.” seem to be the most relevant for the challenge of training in dental implantology. However, some studies show, there are still problems to be solved in terms of design methodology. Indeed, the usual design approach relies on collaboration between dental experts and IT engineers. In this approach, IT engineers carry on the V.E.T. development. This means that the result is often a V.E.T. developed from an IT point of view rather than from a learning point of view. To overcome issues associated with this type of approach, we have chosen to include experts in pedagogy in design process of Virteasy.We have undertaken an analysis of activity within the framework of “didactique professionnelle” in order to identify the skills which the students were going to learn with our V.E.T. The final aim of this analysis is identification of the “conceptual structure of the situation” (structure conceptuelle de la situation) based on “organizing concepts” (concept organisateur) of the activity links with variables and indicators. Our first study deals with identifying the “conceptual structure of the situation” in dental implantology. Recorded data (movies) were gathered from ten dentist experts during a live implant surgery. This was followed by in depth interviews within the dentists watching the recording of the surgery and verbalizing their mental process during the procedure. A content analysis of the interview showed that the mental process of the dentist performing an implantology procedure is based on two concepts. The first is concept is “emergence”, the dentist’s actions are guided by the prosthetic teeth which is going to be fitted on the implant. The second is “anchorage”, the dentist’s action are guided by the longevity of the implant. These two concepts are not always compatible which shows the real challenge faced by implant experts. VirTeaSy design is based on the results of Study 1 and make with a five-step methodology Our experience shows that a lot decision have to be made at each stage of the methodology. These decisions were based initially on literature and led to the definition of general design elements. These components were then specified using the results of the activity analysis. This showed how important and relevant an activity analysis was in making specific and accurate decisions in the design of V.E.T. Because of this process, the V.E.T. is enable to teach skills and competences that students must acquire to perform procedures in real life situations. The study 2 focused on learning transfer from virtual to reality. To do this, thirty-two dentists are randomized into three groups: one group (n = 10) named Group with Virtual Training (GVT); one group (n = 11) named Group with Traditional Training (GTT) and one group (n = 11 ) named Control Group (CG) receiving no training. All subjects were novice to dental implantology. One week after training, all subjects had to perform a task during which they had to demonstrate and apply the skills acquired during the training (“the reinvestment” task consisting of placing an implant on a human corpse). For each subject, we measured the difference between the required performance and the performance achieved using a scanner. We recorded three kind of measure: angle; depth and center. The results showed no significant difference between the three groups. Extensions of this thesis are being implemented. Some are based on international partnerships with well-known Universities. These extensions are: 1) to extend the activity analysis to an international population, 2) To evaluate VirTeaSy through various protocols including features from the activity analysis, 3) To broaden the scope of using VirTeasy in dental training.

Mobile augmented reality has become an influential tool for digital content representation and visualization of media content in terms of enhancing users' experience and improving the adaptability and usability of typical augmented reality applications, such as in e-commerce shopping, virtual museum, or digital heritage scenarios. This research proposes a new Service Oriented Mobile AR Architecture called SOMARA, which includes a novel mobile AR client application. SOMARA takes advantage the ability to integrate third party content through service orientation. The SOMARA architecture enhances traditional standalone mobile AR applications with embedded media content by uniquely integrating a web service framework into an augmented reality client application to create more efficient and flexible mobile augmented reality applications that efficiently supports novel media content acquisition and visualization through appropriate access parameters. The proposed architecture requires access to media content through specific media content service providers, e.g. a museum commissioning an augmented reality based museum interactive — predetermined media content, or any third party with their own service APIs, e.g. the Victoria and Albert Museum API — related external media content. This approach allows relevant third party media content to be ‘mashed' via their public API with museums' augmented reality interactive's ‘embedded' media content in the SOMARA mobile AR client. In this way novel mobile AR interactive applications, such as a museum augmented reality interactive, can be created based on particular museum environment scenarios that integrate a museum visitor's experience with the interactive's cultural objects. Such experiences based on a SOMARA type museum augmented reality interactive can also be saved allowing visitors to take home their museum experience. SOMARA thus allows museum interactive experiences based on visualization of museums and third party media content physically located in the museum to be migrated to the visitor's home environment for further study, enjoyment and understanding. This unique feature, ability to effectively replay the experience at home, of the proposed system utilizes service-orientation to integrate third party media content, which is currently deficient from commercial augmented reality solutions.

L'automatisation de la conduite est un processus en cours qui est en train de changer radicalement la façon dont les gens voyagent et passent du temps dans leur voiture pendant leurs déplacements. Les véhicules conditionnellement automatisés libèrent les conducteurs humains de la surveillance et de la supervision du système et de l'environnement de conduite, leur permettant d'effectuer des activités secondaires pendant la conduite, mais requièrent qu’ils puissent reprendre la tâche de conduite si nécessaire. Pour les conducteurs, il est essentiel de comprendre les capacités et les limites du système, d’en reconnaître les notifications et d'interagir de manière adéquate avec le véhicule pour assurer leur propre sécurité et celle des autres usagers de la route. À cause de la diversité des situations de conduite que le conducteur peut rencontrer, les programmes traditionnels de formation peuvent ne pas être suffisants pour assurer une compréhension efficace de l'interaction entre le conducteur humain et le véhicule pendant les transitions de contrôle. Il est donc nécessaire de permettre aux conducteurs de vivre ces situations avant leur première utilisation du véhicule. Dans ce contexte, la Réalité Mixte constitue un outil d'apprentissage et d'évaluation des compétences potentiellement efficace qui permettrait aux conducteurs de se familiariser avec le véhicule automatisé et d'interagir avec le nouvel équipement dans un environnement sans risque. Si jusqu'à il y a quelques années, les plates-formes de Réalité Mixte étaient destinées à un public de niche, la démocratisation et la diffusion à grande échelle des dispositifs immersifs ont rendu leur adoption plus accessible en termes de coût, de facilité de mise en œuvre et de configuration. L'objectif de cette thèse est d'étudier le rôle de la réalité mixte dans l'acquisition de compétences pour l'interaction d'un conducteur avec un véhicule conditionnellement automatisé. En particulier, nous avons exploré le rôle de l'immersion dans le continuum de la réalité mixte en étudiant différentes combinaisons d'espaces de visualisation et de manipulation et la correspondance entre le monde virtuel et le monde réel. Du fait des contraintes industrielles, nous avons limité les candidats possibles à des systèmes légers portables, peu chers et facilement accessibles; et avons analysé l’impact des incohérences sensorimotrices que ces systèmes peuvent provoquer sur la réalisation des activités dans l’environnement virtuel. À partir de ces analyses, nous avons conçu un programme de formation visant l'acquisition des compétences, des règles et des connaissances nécessaires à l'utilisation d'un véhicule conditionnellement automatisé. Nous avons proposé des scénarios routiers simulés de plus en plus complexes pour permettre aux apprenants d’interagir avec ce type de véhicules dans différentes situations de conduite. Des études expérimentales ont été menées afin de déterminer l'impact de l'immersion sur l'apprentissage, la pertinence du programme de formation conçu et, à plus grande échelle, de valider l'efficacité de l'ensemble des plateformes de formation par des mesures subjectives et objectives. Le transfert de compétences de l'environnement de formation à la situation réelle a été évalué par des essais sur simulateurs de conduite haut de gamme et sur des véhicules réels sur la voie publique. / Driving automation is an ongoing process that is radically changing how people travel and spend time in their cars during journeys. Conditionally automated vehicles free human drivers from the monitoring and supervision of the system and driving environment, allowing them to perform secondary activities during automated driving, but requiring them to resume the driving task if necessary. For the drivers, understanding the system’s capabilities and limits, recognizing the system’s notifications, and interacting with the vehicle in the appropriate way is crucial to ensuring their own safety and that of other road users. Because of the variety of unfamiliar driving situations that the driver may encounter, traditional handover and training programs may not be sufficient to ensure an effective understanding of the interaction between the human driver and the vehicle during transitions of control. Thus, there is the need to let drivers experience these situations before their first ride. In this context, Mixed Reality provides potentially valuable learning and skill assessment tools which would allow drivers to familiarize themselves with the automated vehicle and interact with the novel equipment involved in a risk-free environment. If until a few years ago these platforms were destined to a niche audience, the democratization and the large-scale spread of immersive devices since then has made their adoption more accessible in terms of cost, ease of implementation, and setup. The objective of this thesis is to investigate the role of Mixed Reality in the acquisition of competences needed for a driver’s interaction with a conditionally automated vehicle. In particular, we explored the role of immersion along the Mixed Reality continuum by investigating different combinations of visualization and manipulation spaces and the correspondence between the virtual and the real world. For industrial constraints, we restricted the possible candidates to light systems that are portable, cost-effective and accessible; we thus analyzed the impact of the sensorimotor incoherences that these systems may cause on the execution of tasks in the virtual environment. Starting from these analyses, we designed a training program aimed at the acquisition of skills, rules and knowledge necessary to operate a conditionally automated vehicle. In addition, we proposed simulated road scenarios with increasing complexity to suggest what it feels like to be a driver at this level of automation in different driving situations. Experimental user studies were conducted in order to determine the impact of immersion on learning and the pertinence of the designed training program and, on a larger scale, to validate the effectiveness of the entire training platform with self-reported and objective measures. Furthermore, the transfer of skills from the training environment to the real situation was assessed with test drives using both high-end driving simulators and actual vehicles on public roads.

Using consumer satisfaction as an example of complex communication and a virtual world as a mediating platform, a novel framework for eliciting consumer satisfaction has been developed. Consumer satisfaction is a key element for business success, while the elicitation of satisfaction perceptions from consumers can help vendors to assess and to improve their business performance. The objectives here are: how consumer satisfaction is defined, understood and measured; how virtual worlds function, both as a platform and a product; how users typically perceive their experiences in virtual worlds; and how consumer satisfaction metrics can be translated into a virtual environment. Second Life is used as an enabling technology for gathering requirements as well as for the construction, refinement and validation of the framework. Second Life is a virtual world, a multi-user, 3D, immersive environment, which has its own internal economy. The choice of using this social virtual world was due to Second Life being a resilient and widely used platform. The main contribution of this thesis is a framework that can be used to identify and categorise the complex and inter-related factors that affect the use of Second Life in terms of consumer satisfaction perceptions. Another contribution here is a novel approach to Search Engine trend analysis, which focuses on the number or search results returned as opposed to the number of queries for a given search phrase. Based on the research conducted by the author and knowledge gained from the literature, a framework has been developed which identifies interrelated components that provide a wider context to perceive the user experience of Second Life. The approach taken by the framework enables it to be used as a means to comprehend Second Life both as a product and as a platform. A Straussian Grounded Theory approach was taken to data gathering, analysis and interpretation in the context of the framework; further refinements are made to the framework as a consequence of emergent themes revealed through the process of analysing the gathered data. Guidance is given in brief as to how the framework can be adapted to reveal consumer satisfaction perceptions from other internet based services.

Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία ασχολείται με την κατασκευή ενός εικονικού περιβάλλοντος που αναπαριστά μια σχολική τάξη. Στην εικονική τάξη προστίθενται εικονικοί χαρακτήρες που αποτελούν τους μαθητές της τάξης καθώς επίσης και τη δασκάλα τους. Το σενάριο που ακολουθεί είναι η ενημέρωση των εικονικών μαθητών από τη διδάσκουσα για τους τρόπους αντίδρασης των μαθητών σε περίπτωση σεισμού. / -