Thesis. 1976. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. / Microfiche copy available in Archives and Engineering. / Bibliography: leaves 95-97. / by David R. Lampe. / M.S.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1980. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Bahman Daryanian. / M.S.

Thesis. 1975. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Arye R. Ephrath. / Ph.D.

Les nouvelles versions de produits optroniques de Safran Electronic & Defense comme les jumelles multifonctions ou les lunettes de visée disposent de plus en plus de fonctionnalités, ce qui rend nécessaire une amélioration des dispositifs d’interaction mis à disposition des utilisateurs. L’intégration du regard comme modalité d’interaction semble notamment intéressante en raison de son caractère rapide, naturel et disponible. Si pour des utilisateurs handicapés, l'interaction au regard est déjà bien développée, elle n'est pas encore une technologie mature pour des personnes valides. Lors d'interactions actives au regard, expressions explicites de l'intention d'agir d'un utilisateur, un problème appelé Midas Touch apparait : il s'agit de l'incapacité pour un utilisateur de dissocier les phases d'analyse et les phases d'action, parce que l’œil est avant tout un organe senseur. Plusieurs modalités d'interaction au regard cherchent à outrepasser ce problème : on peut par exemple utiliser un temps de fixation minimum sur un item pour l'activer (DwellTime) ou un temps de fixation minimum sur un item spécifique disposé à côté de l'item d'intérêt (DwellTime délocalisé) ou encore associer une autre modalité d'interaction pour spécifier l'intention d'activation (multimodalité oeil-bouton). Chacune de ces modalités dispose d'avantages et d'inconvénients spécifiques, et déterminer la modalité d'interaction la plus adaptée n'est pas une question triviale. C'est d'autant plus difficile que les performances des modalités semblent dépendre de facteurs extérieurs variables, c'est-à-dire du contexte d'utilisation de la modalité. Afin de mieux intégrer le suivi du regard dans des systèmes et de choisir quelle modalité utiliser, il est nécessaire de bien comprendre quels sont les éléments du contexte de l'interaction et comment ils agissent sur les modalités. Le but de cette thèse est de modéliser le contexte de la modalité d'interaction, c'est-à-dire de déterminer l'ensemble de éléments extérieurs à la modalité pouvant en influencer les performances. A partir d'un état de l'art et d'une étude de l'interaction au regard, nous proposons une séparation de ce contexte en quatre axes : l'utilisateur, la tâche, le système et l'environnement. Chacun de ces axes correspond à un ensemble de caractéristiques dont l'influence est justifiée par des travaux antérieurs ou par des raisonnements théoriques. Malgré une préférence des utilisateurs novices pour la multimodalité, en étudiant le contexte des modalités d'interaction, nous montrons qu'une interaction à base de temps de fixation est surement plus adaptée pour une intégration dans des systèmes optroniques. L'étude d'autres caractéristiques du contexte permettra d'affiner ces résultats et d'identifier la modalité d'interaction adéquate à une situation donnée. / New versions of Safran Electronics & Defense optronic products such as infrared binoculars or firearm sights are endowed with more and more functionalities. This leads to a need in the improvement of the user interface of those systems. The integration of eye-gaze bases interaction modalities seems interesting because of the speed, the naturalness and the availability of the eye. The eye-gaze based interaction is already well developed for impaired people but is not a mature technology for healthy people yet. During active eye-based interactions, which are explicit input from the user, a problem named Midas Touch arises. It consists in the in the incapacity of the system to differentiate scene analysis and voluntary user input. This is because the eye is a sensory organ over all. To overcome this problem, several interaction modalities have been designed: Dwell Time uses for example a minimum gaze dwell duration to trigger input, but the fixation area may also be located near the item to activate (relocated Dwell Time). It is also possible to associate the eye with another input modality such as a press button to indicate the intent from the user (multimodality eye-button). Each of these modalities has pros and cons and cherry-picking the most suitable to a given situation is not trivial. Moreover, the performances of the interaction modalities seem dependent from external variables, which represents the context of an interaction modality. To integrate eye-based interaction in systems and to choose which modality to use, it is necessary to identify what are the context characteristics and how they affect the modalities. Our goal is to propose an interaction modality context model,; that is to define all the external characteristics affecting the modality performances. From a state of the art of the eye-based interaction, we propose a description of the context following four axes: the user, the task, the system and the environment. Each of these axes decomposed in characteristics whose influence is justified by previous works or theoretical reasonings. Then we studied three characteristics which appeared to us as critical for the integration in optronic products, and we compared the performances of precited modalities against these characteristics. The first one is the type of menu (linear or circular). Contrary to the mouse, the tested interaction modalities present no significative differences depending on the type of menu they are used on. The second characteristic is linked to the user task. The aim is to evaluate the adequacy of interaction modalities with one’s ability to split his/her visual attention, that is, to fixate an area while being visually focused elsewhere. This skill is necessary during target following tasks. The fixation-based modalities seemed more permissive concerning this ability. The third characteristic is about peripheral visual alert detection in order to ensure that the user can be warned at all time. Fixation based modalities seemed to less reduce the visual field than others. Despite novice user preferences for the use of multimodality, we showed that fixation-based modalities may be more adequate for use in optronic systems. The further study of other characteristics of the context will allow to highlight the modality to use for each situation.

Thesis. 1977. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND AERONAUTICS. / Bibliography : leaves 127-133. / M.S.

abstract: Reading partners’ actions correctly is essential for successful coordination, but interpretation does not always reflect reality. Attribution biases, such as self-serving and correspondence biases, lead people to misinterpret their partners’ actions and falsely assign blame after an unexpected event. These biases thus further influence people’s trust in their partners, including machine partners. The increasing capabilities and complexity of machines allow them to work physically with humans. However, their improvements may interfere with the accuracy for people to calibrate trust in machines and their capabilities, which requires an understanding of attribution biases’ effect on human-machine coordination. Specifically, the current thesis explores how the development of trust in a partner is influenced by attribution biases and people’s assignment of blame for a negative outcome. This study can also suggest how a machine partner should be designed to react to environmental disturbances and report the appropriate level of information about external conditions. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Human Systems Engineering 2019

Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo a realização de experimentos poéticos em artes visuais, que também foram o seu objeto de estudo. Os experimentos pretenderam explorar imagens de meu corpo em seus estados transitórios, realizando ações e modificações, por meio de peles artificiais e máscaras e acrescentando dispositivos ao corpo, produzindo sensações visuais, táteis, auditivas, espaciais e temporais que buscam gerar reflexões sobre os corpos dos seres em geral. Através das ações que meu corpo realiza ou, em alguns outros trabalhos, por meio de palavras que remetem ao corpo e a seus comportamentos, pretendi produzir sensações e ficções que discutem questões ligadas à existência cotidiana como: relações sociais, efemeridade, mutações da sensibilidade, subjetividade, relação humano-máquina e mecanização dos sentimentos. / This research aimed to carry out poetic experiments, which were also its object of study. The experiments attempted to explore images of my body in its transient states, performing actions and modifications, using artificial skins and masks, adding devices to the body, producing visual, tactile, auditory, spatial and temporal sensations which seek to generate reflections on the bodies of beings in general. Through the actions that my body performs or in some other works, through words that refer to the body and its behaviors, I intend to produce sensations and fictions that discuss issues related to daily existence such as: social relations, ephemerality, sensitivity mutations, subjectivity, human-machine relationship and mechanization of feelings.

The current study evaluates the effectiveness of a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) system that operates by detecting a P300 elicited by one of four randomly presented stimuli (i.e., YES, NO, PASS, END). Two groups of participants were tested. The first group included three ALS patients that varied in degree of disability, but all retained the ability to communicate; the second group included three Non-ALS controls. Each participant participated in ten experimental sessions during a period of approximately 6 weeks. Sessions were conducted either at the participant's home or in the lab. During each run the participant's task was to attend to one stimulus and disregard the other three. Stimuli were presented auditorily, visually, or in both modes. Additionally, on each run, the experimenter would either tell the participant which stimulus to focus on, or ask the participant a question and the participant would focus on the correct "YES/NO" answer to the question. Overall, for each participant, the ERPs elicited by the target stimuli could be discriminated from the non-target stimuli; however, less variability was observed in the Non-ALS group. Comparing across sessions, the within session variability was lower than across session variability. In addition, waveform morphology varied as a function of the presentation mode, but not in a similar pattern for each participant. Offline and simulated online classification algorithms conducted using step-wise discriminant analysis produced results suggesting the potential for online classification performance at levels acceptable for communication. Future investigations will begin to focus on testing online classification performance with real-time feedback, and continuing to examine stimulus properties to determine how to maximize P300 amplitude for individual users.

<p>Today’s automobile cockpit is filled with different buttons and screen-based displays giving input and relaying information in a complex human-machine system. Following in the footsteps of the early 1970s flight industry, this thesis work focused on creating a complete glass cockpit concept in the automobile.</p><p>Our automobile glass cockpit consists of three displays. A touch screen based centre console with an interface that we took part in creating during the spring of 2006. Parallel to this ongoing master thesis, a head-up display was installed by a group of students and we had the opportunity of giving input regarding the design of the graphical interface.</p><p>The third display, a LCD, replaces the main instruments displaying speed, RPM, fuel level, engine temperature etc. Together with ideas on an extended allocation of functions to the area on and around the steering wheel, creating a dynamic mode based interface replacing today’s static main instruments was the focus of this project.</p><p>After conducting a thorough theoretical study, a large number of ideas were put to the test and incorporated in concept sketches. Paper sketches ranging from detailed features to all-embracing concepts combined with interviews and brainstorming sessions converged into a number of computer sketches made in an image processing software. The computer sketches was easily displayed in the cockpit environment and instantly evaluated. Some parts were discarded and some incorporated in new, modified, ideas leading to a final concept solution.</p><p>After the design part was concluded, the new graphical interface was given functionality with the help of a programming software. As was the case with the computer sketches, the functionality of the interface could be quickly evaluated and modified. With the help of a custom-made application our interface could be integrated with the simulator software and fully implemented in the automobile cockpit at the university simulator facilities.</p><p>Using a custom made scenario, the interface underwent a minor, informal evaluation. A number of potential users were invited to the VR-laboratory and introduced to the new concept. After driving a pre-determined route and familiarizing themselves with the interface, their thoughts on screen-based solutions in general and the interface itself was gathered. In addition, we ourselves performed an evaluation of the interface based on the theoretical study.</p>

<p>This thesis work resulted in a template for how the thermal spray process can be controlled through robot programs. The robots today and their programs need to be replaced, therefore a new structure which can be matched with the new robot systems is needed. The work is limited to only concern structured programming on the new robots on Thermal Spray Centre (TC) with the programming language Rapid. The basic data for the program was retrieved from interviews with concerned personnel at TC, from studies on process parameters for thermal spray and from existing specifications at Volvo Aero Corporation (VAC). The thesis work briefly describes the process thermal spray and the four methods used at VAC. A literature survey on Jackson Structured Programming, Human Machine Interface and structured programming was made and used to compare, evaluate and suggest improvements for the thermal spray work cell. A functional suggestion for a menu system in a robot program for the thermal spray robot was presented. This will be in the robot permanently for uploading of detail programs from a network connected computer. An example of such a detail program was made but without robot movement and communication with the process computer. Testing of the programs has therefore only been made on a robot not suited for thermal spraying. The new detail program shows its parameters directly on the screen so they can be controlled against the operation papers. A programmer\2019s guide to the detail program has been made which is presented in the report.</p>