This project has been carried out in cooperation with Volvo Construction Equipment. A new control intended to give an intuitive understanding for the new generation of operators of how to handle the motor grader has been developed. The project includes parts of the development process, idea to finished concept. The project started with a thorough study of the functions of motor graders not only those built by Volvo but also those from the biggest competitors. Interviews were made with operators about today’s and future controls of graders. In comparison the competitors seem to offer better controls both from ergonomic and cognitive points of view. Hitherto too little interest has been focused by design engineers in problems of the operators. Operators are exposed to wear and tear when driving the graders and they also have difficulties driving the machines all because of the design of the manoeuvring device. From the start to the final concept a great variety of people has been involved in this project e.g. young and old operators, scientists and constructors resulting in a large spread of ideas. The final concept is a new thinking control with respect to the combination of functionality, ergonomics and intuitivety. / Detta projekt har gjorts i samarbete med Volvo Construction Equipment. En ny kontroll har utvecklats som syftar till att ge en intuitiv förståelse för nästa generations väghyvelförare om hur väghyveln hanteras. Projektet inkluderar delar av designprocessen, idé till färdigt koncept. Projektet inleddes med en grundlig studie av väghyvelns funktioner, inte bara de som Volvo tillhandahåller utan även konkurrenternas. Intervjuer hölls med operatörer med frågor om dagens manövrering och framtida lösningar. I jämförelse förefaller det som att konkurrenterna tillhandahåller bättre lösningar på kontrollen ur ergonomiska och kognitiva perspektiv. Tidigare har de problem som operatören upplever inte varit i fokus i produktutvecklingsprocessen. Operatörer riskerar förslitningsskador när de kör väghyveln. De har, på grund av utformningen av styrenheten, även svårigheter att manövrera väghyveln samtidigt som de kör. Redan från start har en stor variation av människor varit inblandade i projektet t.ex. yngre och äldre förare, forskare och konstruktörer. Detta har resulterat i en stor spridning av idéer. Slutkonceptet är en nytänkande kontroll med avseende på kombination av funktionalitet, ergonomi och intuitivitet.

This thesis study presents a hand gesture recognition system, which replaces input devices like keyboard and mouse with static and dynamic hand gestures, for interactive computer applications. Despite the increase in the attention of such systems there are still certain limitations in literature. Most applications require different constraints like having distinct lightning conditions, usage of a specific camera, making the user wear a multi-colored glove or need lots of training data. The system mentioned in this study disables all these restrictions and provides an adaptive, effort free environment to the user. Study starts with an analysis of the different color space performances over skin color extraction. This analysis is independent of the working system and just performed to attain valuable information about the color spaces. Working system is based on two steps, namely hand detection and hand gesture recognition. In the hand detection process, normalized RGB color space skin locus is used to threshold the coarse skin pixels in the image. Then an adaptive skin locus, whose varying boundaries are estimated from coarse skin region pixels, segments the distinct skin color in the image for the current conditions. Since face has a distinct shape, face is detected among the connected group of skin pixels by using the shape analysis. Non-face connected group of skin pixels are determined as hands. Gesture of the hand is recognized by improved centroidal profile method, which is applied around the detected hand. A 3D flight war game, a boxing game and a media player, which are controlled remotely by just using static and dynamic hand gestures, were developed as human machine interface applications by using the theoretical background of this study. In the experiments, recorded videos were used to measure the performance of the system and a correct recognition rate of ~90% was acquired with nearly real time computation.

La prise en compte des usagers et des usages dans la conception des produits reste un aspect difficile à traiter, en particulier lorsque leur caractérisation est très spécifique (c'est le cas des personnes handicapées ou des situations d'usages dans des environnements contraignants). Dans ce contexte, l'objet de ces travaux est de contribuer à une meilleure prise en compte des usagers et usages par la mise en place d'outils et de méthodes permettant de les caractériser. Cette caractérisation, intégrée dans un processus de conception de produits, a contribué à répondre aux besoins de l'Association AE2M (Adaptation Ergonomique du Matériel Musical). Celle-ci a pour objectif de mettre à disposition de personnes en situation de handicap moteur des aides techniques leur permettant de jouer un ou plusieurs instruments de musique avec le même niveau d'autonomie que les personnes valides. Dans le cadre de ce travail de thèse, nous avons tout d'abord proposé une conceptualisation commune de ce qu'est une situation de handicap et avons mis en avant les conditions de bon déroulement des travaux de recherche. Dans un second temps, nous avons effectué une étude bibliographique centrée sur les approches de conception liée au handicap, les interactions Homme Machine dans le contexte musicale et les moyens et méthodes d'analyse des spécificités motrices des sujets. Cette étape nous a permis de proposé une méthode générique de processus de conception adapté au contexte de la conception d'aides techniques pour personnes en situation de handicap. Cette méthode nommée CARACTH est inspirée de la méthodologie de la Conception Centrée Utilisateur à laquelle nous proposons d'insérer : (1) une étape de caractérisation des spécificités motrices des utilisateurs et (2) une étape pour la définition d'une architecture produit modulaire. Ces évolution permettent notamment (3) de simplifier les phases d'itérations à l'intérieur du processus de conception pour permettre une personnalisation efficace et rapide du produit (partie commande et partie opérative). Nous présentons ensuite un ensemble d'expérimentations menées au laboratoire et sur le terrain. Elles ont permis de proposer et de valider la pertinence de l'architecture produit modulaire pour faciliter la conception d'aides techniques pour la pratique musicale, mais aussi de concevoir un système nommé KinecLAB pour la mesure et l'interprétation des possibilités gestuelles des usagers. Ce système KinectLAB a été testé et validé auprès de professionnel kinésithérapeute du CHU Michallon de Grenoble. Enfin, notre processus CARACTH a été appliqué pour la conception d'un système personnalisable aux capacités motrices d'un utilisateur en situation de handicap. Nous avons pu vérifier sa bonne intégration dans une situation d'usage en concert et aussi d'étudier la pertinence de la personnalisation sur les performances et la charge de travail de l'utilisateur. / The users and uses inclusion in product design remains a difficult aspect to be addressed, especially when their characterization is very specific (in the case of disabled people or situations of uses in stressful environments). In this context, the purpose of this work is to contribute to a better consideration of the users and uses by the implementation of tools and methods to characterize them. This characterization integrated into the design process, helped to meet the needs of AE2M Association (Ergonomic Adaptation of Musical Equipments). It aims to provide assistive technologies for people with physical impairments. These systems allow them to play musical instruments with the same level of independence that able-bodied people. In the context of this thesis, we firstly proposed a common conceptualization of "disability situation" in our context and have highlighted the constraints to the success of this thesis. Secondly, we did a bibliography study about design approaches in the disabled context, Human-Machine Interface in the musical context, and means and methods for the analysis of the users' motors specificities. This step allowed us to propose a generic design process approach adapted to the context of the design of assistive technology for people with physical impairments. This CARACTH method is inspired from the User Centered Design methodology to which we propose to insert: (1) a specific users' motor characterization step and (2) a modular architecture product definition step. These proposals permitted (3) to simplifying the iteration phases within the design process to allow a quick and effective personalization of the product (control and operative parts). Next, a set of experiments was conducted in the laboratory and in situ. They allowed offering and validating the modular product architecture pertinence for facilitating the assistive devices design for music practice, but also for proposing a system named KinecLAB to measure and interpret user's gestural capabilities. This KinectLAB system was tested and validated with professional physiotherapists in the Michallon Grenoble Hospital. Finally, our CARACTH process was applied to design a customizable system adapted to the physical capabilities of a disabled user. We confirmed its successful integration into a use situation during musical concert. We also studied the relevance of customization on user performances and workload.

This thesis aimed to study the interaction between an educational technology system and its users and give suggestions for design improvements. The technology system is called EDIT (Educational Development through Information Technology) and has been developed and applied at Linköping University’s Faculty of Health Science. EDIT supports Problem Based Learning and enables scenarios to be presented through the World Wide Web. The study was divided into two parts. The first part consisted of a qualitative study with the objective to describe the interaction between the students and EDIT. Students from the faculty’s medical-, nursing- and social care programs were interviewed and observed using the system. The study showed that EDIT was not fully designed to support multiple user interaction. EDIT could only be operated by one user at a time which in turn resulted in an interaction reliant on the operators technical knowledge and ability to handle the system. The second part consisted of a redesign of EDIT. The design goal was to create a groupware that could be operated by multiple users. The design solutions were presented as lofi prototypes to three EDIT users. The users approved of the ideas but stressed the danger of using too advanced and unfamiliar technology.

Orientador: José Raimundo de Oliveira / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-19T12:19:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mamani_AnaBeatrizAlvarez_M.pdf: 4159333 bytes, checksum: 1e7bbac608fe9a8dc553adedc4b721b7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: Esta tese apresenta uma nova e efetiva abordagem neuro-genética denominada MAAM-GA constituída por um algoritmo genético e uma rede neural associativa morfológica para a solução de problemas de reconhecimento de padrões. Especificamente, uma rede neural associativa morfológica é combinada com um algoritmo genético que é utilizado na construção da rede neural com a finalidade de aumentar a eficiência e robustez no reconhecimento de padrões. Um estudo detalhado do desempenho da abordagem é apresentado, utilizando imagens em níveis de cinza como padrões. Resultados numéricos e visuais da recuperação dos padrões são apresentados e o desempenho alcançado é comparado com outros modelos neurais associativos morfológicos relevantes para padrões de valor real, mostrando a eficiência e a robustez da abordagem proposta na recordação de imagens em níveis de cinza. Esta abordagem faz parte do desenvolvimento dos sistemas inteligentes que impulsionam o avanço de outras áreas. Pensando em uma potencial aplicação, a proposta neuro-genética é utilizada para resolver o problema de reconhecimento de gestos da mão. O reconhecimento de gestos é um caminho natural de interação humano-computador, e considerando a diversidade e a diferença manifestada pelo ser humano, para muitas pessoas que possuem deficiência física e sensorial, os gestos da mão são o meio principal de comunicação. Várias tecnologias têm sido propostas para trazer benefícios às pessoas com limitações de comunicação. Os ambientes inteligentes surgiram com o principal propósito de melhorar a qualidade de vida do ser humano baseados em ferramentas computacionais, facilitando o desenvolvimento de processos e ações de nosso cotidiano. O reconhecimento de gestos da mão é uma função do ambiente inteligente. Assim, para pessoas portadoras de deficiências físicas que limitem a sua comunicação oral, o reconhecimento de gestos em um ambiente inteligente poderá lhes trazer múltiplos benefícios na comunicação, interação e acessibilidade, permitindo a sua integração com o ambiente. Embora preocupados com pessoas portadoras de deficiências físicas, o sistema de reconhecimento de gestos da mão como parte de um ambiente inteligente destina-se, sobretudo a beneficiar todo e qualquer cidadão que dele tenha acesso. Assim, nesta tese é apresentado um estudo de um sistema de reconhecimento de gestos da mão baseado em visão artificial capaz de reconhecer gestos estáticos específicos da mão. Este sistema foi dividido em três módulos, módulo de detecção e segmentação, módulo de extração de características e o módulo de identificação e reconhecimento propriamente dito que utiliza a abordagem neuro-genética proposta. Métodos utilizados no pré-processamento das imagens para segmentação e caracterização também são apresentados. Resultados alcançados com a abordagem proposta são muito incentivadores e sugerem que a proposta possa ser considerada como uma ferramenta eficiente e robusta para recuperação e identificação a ser usada em diversas aplicações relacionadas à interface natural humano-computador. O ótimo desempenho do sistema é um passo para continuar na busca de novas tecnologias para criar um ambiente inteligente que dê suporte às necessidades de pessoas com deficiência visual, auditiva ou motora lhes dando certo nível de autonomia, capacidade de controle do entorno e de comunicação / Abstract: This thesis presents an innovative approach to solving problems of pattern recognition using a neural-genetic combination. Specifically, a morphological associative neural network is combined with a genetic algorithm that is used in the construction of the neural network for increasing the efficiency and robustness of pattern recall. A detailed study about the performance of the approach is presented, using grayscale images as patterns. Numerical and visual results are presented and the performance achieved is compared with other morphological associative neural models showing its effectiveness and robustness in the grayscale images recall. Thinking about a potential application, the proposed approach is used to solve the problem of hand gestures recognition. The hand gestures recognition is a natural way of human-computer interaction and considering the diversity and difference manifested by the human, for many people who have physical and sensory disabilities, the hand gestures is the primary means of communication. Several technologies have been proposed to bring benefits to people with limited communication. The intelligent environments emerged with the main purpose of improving the quality of human life based in computational tools facilitating the development of processes and actions of everyday life. The hand gestures recognition is a function of intelligent environments. So, for people with physical disabilities that limit their oral communication gesture recognition in an intelligent environment can take many benefits in communication, interaction and accessibility allowing its integration with the environment. Although concerned about people with disabilities, the hand gestures recognition system is mainly intended to benefit every people who has access to the environment. Thus, this thesis presents a study of a hand gestures recognition system. The system is able to recognize static hand gestures using the proposed Neural-Genetic Approach. Methods used in the image preprocessing and characterization are also presented. Results achieved with the proposed approach are very encouraging and suggest that the proposal can be considered as an efficient and robust tool for recovery and identification to be used in various applications related to natural human-computer interface. The optimal system performance is a big step to continue the search for new technologies to create an intelligent environment that supports the needs of people with visual, hearing or motor disability / Mestrado / Engenharia de Computação / Doutor em Engenharia Elétrica

In der industriellen Fertigung wird fortlaufend neuartige Technik implementiert. In der Automobilindustrie stellen kooperative Roboter eine Form neuartiger Technik dar. Für die Einstellung gegenüber kooperativen Robotern und deren Nutzung spielt die Akzeptanz vor allem beim Erstkontakt eine entscheidende Rolle. Der Grund ist die quasi-soziale Interaktion mit menschlichen Interaktionspartnern. Damit es nicht zur grundlosen Ablehnung kooperativer Roboter als Form neuartiger Technik kommt, verfolgt diese Arbeit als Ziele die Erklärung und anschließende Beeinflussung der Akzeptanz gegenüber kooperativen Robotern auf Grundlage der „unified theory of acceptance and use of technology“ (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003). Dafür wurden Einflussvariablen auf die Akzeptanz kooperativer Roboter identifiziert. Anschließend wurde die Beeinflussbarkeit der Akzeptanz untersucht und es wurden verschiedene Wege der Einführung eines kooperativen Roboters im Anwendungsfeld der Automobilindustrie miteinander verglichen. Die Akzeptanzsteigerung vor der eigentlichen Nutzung eines kooperativen Roboters konnte realisiert werden. Zudem ließen sich die Ergebnisse auch auf eine weitere Form neuartiger Technik im Untersuchungskontext übertragen. / New technologies are constantly implemented in the industrial context. Cooperative robots are a new technology in the automobile industry. The acceptance of these is important for the user’s attitude towards and their usage of them before and during the first contact. The reason for that is the quasi-social interaction with human interaction partners. To counteract the possibility of an unsubstantiated rejection of the use of this new technology, this paper has the aims of explaining and subsequently influencing the acceptance of cooperative robots based on the „unified theory of acceptance and use of technology“ (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003). Therefore variables affecting the acceptance of cooperative robots were identified. Afterwards the influenceability of the acceptance was tested and different ways of introducing a cooperative robot to new interaction partners in the new context of the automobile industry have been compared. As a result an increase of the user’s acceptance could be achieved before the actual use of the cooperative robot. Furthermore the results could also be transferred to another new technology in the same context of research.

Cette thèse a pour but d'améliorer la tâche de reconnaître des gestes de main en utilisant des techniques d'apprentissage par ordinateur et de traitement du signal. Les principales contributions de la thèse sont dédiés à la théorie de l'apprentissage par ordinateur et à l'interaction homme-machine. L'objectif étant d'implanter toutes méthodes en temps réel, toute méthode employé au cours de cette thèse était un compromis entre puissance et temps de calcul nécessaire.Plusieurs pistes ont été poursuivi : au début, la fusion des informations fournies par plusieurs capteurs tu type « time-of-flight » a été étudiée, dans le but d'améliorer le taux de reconnaissances correctes par rapport au cas avec un seul capteur. En particulier, l'impact des différentes caractéristiques calculés à partir d'une nuage de points, et de ses paramètres, a été évalué. Egalement, la performance des réseaux multi-couches (MLP) à été comparé avec celle d'un séparateur à vaste marge (SVM).En s'appuyant sur ces résultats, l'implantation du système dans une voiture a eté effectuée. Tout d'abord, nous avons montré que le système n'est pas du tout gêné par le fait d'être exposé aux conditions d'éclairage « outdoor ». L'extension de la base d'entraînement et une modification des caractéristiques calculé de la nuage des points a pu augmenter le taux de bonnes reconnaissances de façon très significative, ainsi que le rajout des mesures de confiance à la classification.Afin d'améliorer la performance des classifieurs à la base des réseaux multi-couche (MLP), une nouvelle méthode assez simple a été mise au point ensuite. Cette méthode met au profit des informations déjà présentes dans la dernière couche du réseau. En combinant cette nouvelle approche avec une technique de fusion, le taux de bonnes reconnaissances est amélioré, et surtout pour le cas des échantillons « difficiles ». Ces résultats ont été analysés et comparés de façon approfondie en comparant des différentes possibilités de fusion dans un tel contexte. L'exploitation du fait que les données traitées dont des séquences, et qu'il y a par conséquent une cohérence temporelle dans des échantillons successifs, a également été abordée un utilisant les mêmes techniques de fusion. Un système de « infotainment » implanté sur un smartphone, qui utilise les techniques décrites ici, a également été réalisé.Dans un dernier temps, un modèle simplifié de la reconnaissance des gestes dynamiques a été proposé et validé dans un contexte applicatif. Il a été montré que un geste peut être défini de façon assez robuste par une pose initiale et une pose finale, qui sont classé par le système décrit ci-dessus. / This thesis aims at improving the complex task of hand gesture recognition by utilizing machine learning techniques to learn from features calculated from 3D point cloud data. The main contributions of this work are embedded in the domains of machine learning and in the human-machine interaction. Since the goal is to demonstrate that a robust real-time capable system can be set up which provides a supportive means of interaction, the methods researched have to be light-weight in the sense that descriptivity balances itself with the calculation overhead needed to, in fact, remain real-time capable. To this end several approaches were tested:Initially the fusion of multiple ToF-sensors to improve the overall recognition rate was researched. It is examined, how employing more than one sensor can significantly boost recognition results in especially difficult cases and get a first grasp on the influence of the descriptors for this task as well as the influence of the choice of parameters on the calculation of the descriptor. The performance of MLPs with standard parameters is compared with the performance of SVMs for which the parameters have been obtained via grid search.Building on these results, the integration of the system into the car interior is shown. It is demonstrated how such a system can easily be integrated into an outdoor environment subject to strongly varying lighting conditions without the need for tedious calibration procedures. Furthermore the introduction of a modified light-weight version of the descriptor coupled with an extended database significantly boosts the frame rate for the whole recognition pipeline. Lastly the introduction of confidence measures for the output of the MLPs allows for more stable classification results and gives an insight on the innate challenges of this multiclass problem in general.In order to improve the classification performance of the MLPs without the need for sophisticated algorithm design or extensive parameter search a simple method is proposed which makes use of the existing recognition routines by exploiting information already present in the output neurons of the MLPs. A simple fusion technique is proposed which combines descriptor features with neuron confidences coming from a previously trained net and proves that augmented results can be achieved in nearly all cases for problem classes and individuals respectively.These findings are analyzed in-depth on a more theoretical scale by comparing the effectiveness of learning solely on neural activities in the output layer with the previously introduced fusion approach. In order to take into account temporal information, the thesis describes a possible approach on how to exploit the fact that we are dealing with a problem within which data is processed in a sequential manner and therefore problem-specific information can be taken into account. This approach classifies a hand pose by fusing descriptor features with neural activities coming from previous time steps and lays the ground work for the following section of making the transition towards dynamic hand gestures. Furthermore an infotainment system realized on a mobile device is introduced and coupled with the preprocessing and recognition module which in turn is integrated into an automotive setting demonstrating a possible testing environment for a gesture recognition system.In order to extend the developed system to allow for dynamic hand gesture interaction a simplified approach is proposed. This approach demonstrates that recognition of dynamic hand gesture sequences can be achieved with the simple definition of a starting and an ending pose based on a recognition module working with sufficient accuracy and even allowing for relaxed restrictions in terms of defining the parameters for such a sequence.

No description available.

Logistics 4.0 describes the profound paradigm shift driven by digital transformation that poses new challenges for the logistics industry. Working conditions change significantly as Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) take over material handling tasks. However, Human-Machine Interaction (HMI) between AGVs and their users, and the requirements for the design of AGV user interfaces considering the challenges of Logistics 4.0 have not yet been researched in depth. This qualitative study in collaboration with the intralogistics company FlexQube explores the perceived usability of AGV user interfaces for their users, derives usability criteria and investigates how usability affects the HMI. Research subject is the company's own AGV line. The six exploratory user interviews conducted with both customers and internal employees show the relevance of Nielsen's usability heuristics and identify overlaps with existing propositions for Human-Robot Interaction. The findings also highlight the impact of user demographics on the perceived usability and on the use of the automated features of the AGV. Also, the impact of the challenges of Logistics 4.0 is discussed. Thus, the study proposes that these four main aspects should be considered in the design of AGV user interfaces and suggests further research on the influence of usability on technology acceptance of automation.

Adaptiva system är idag en viktig resurs för att kunna utföra vardagliga uppgifter och tillgodose användarnas behov med personliga anpassningar. Sådana system är vanligtvis baserade på modeller som förlitar sig på komplexa algoritmer för artificiell intelligens som gör att systemets beteende uppfattas som ogenomskinligt för användarna. Därför behövs förklaringar av systemets beteende för att förbättra systemets transparens. I den här studien utvärderas två förklaringsmetoder, textbaserad och interaktiv, i samband med tre adaptiva system i ett fordon. Forskningsprojektet syftar till att bedöma potentialen hos de interaktiva förklaringarna jämfört med de textbaserade när det gäller acceptans av systemet, förtroende för systemet och dess användarupplevelse (UX). I detta syfte har en körstudie med 38 deltagare genomförts. Resultaten i allmänhet visar inga signifikanta skillnader för de tre variablerna mellan de två förklaringsmetoderna, även om en liten dominans av det textbaserade konceptet kan noteras. Resultaten i UX och Trust uppmuntrar dock till ytterligare undersökningar av interaktiva förklaringsmetoder. Från resultaten framkom dessutom behovet av kontroll av föraren i anpassningarna, och nödvändigheten av att skräddarsy förklaringsmetoden beroende på vilket förklaringsdesignmönster som används och vilket adaptivt system som avses. Dessa resultat uppmuntrar till framtida forskning om utformningen av användarcentrerade adaptiva system i fordon. / Nowadays adaptive systems represent an essential resource in achieving everyday life tasks, meeting users’ needs with personalized adaptations. Such systems are usually based on models that rely on complex artificial intelligence algorithms that make perceive the system behavior as opaque to the users. Therefore explanations of the system’s behavior are needed to improve system transparency. In this study, two explanatory approaches, named text-based and interactive, are evaluated in the context of three in-vehicle adaptive systems. The research aims to assess the potential of the interactive explanations compared with the text-based ones in terms of Acceptance of the system, Trust in the system, and User Experience (UX) of the system. To this purpose, a real-world driving study with 38 participants has been conducted. The results in general do not indicate significant differences in the three variables between the two explanatory approaches, although a slight predominance of the text-based concept is recognizable. However, the results in UX and Trust encourage further explorations of interactive explanatory approaches. From this research, it emerged the need for control of the driver over the adaptations, and the necessity of tailoring the explanatory approach depending on the explanations design pattern used, and the adaptive system targeted. These findings encourage future research in the design of user-centered in-vehicle adaptive systems.