For the drivers of heavy trucks, performing some maneuvers with high precision could be a challenging task even for experienced ones. Volvo has a system which helps drivers in reversing the truck. Developing a human machine interface on a mobile platform with high usability for this system could help drivers to decrease both the stress level and spent time on maneuvering and will result in performing the task easier. This thesis introduces a new area in safety critical systems by combining automation with a mobile platform. An iterative and user centered design process utilized and three main iterations performed. In first iteration a low-fidelity prototype was created and evaluated by performing user tests. The output of usability test used to implement the software prototype for the second iteration. Evaluation of software prototype was done by desktop testing. In third iteration, second version of software prototype evaluated by performing field testing. Android and Google maps were used to implement three tasks: Destination, Rewind and Saved point. In all these iterations usability and safety were two main concerns and considered by looking into guidelines and performing evaluations. In the final test, the prototype was evaluated considering four usability factors: satisfaction, learnability, safety and achievement. After analyzing these factors prototype showed strong potential for a future product.

Estetiker inom design är ofta subjektiva, då vad som definierar interaktionens kvaliteter skiljer sig åt mellan dem. Vissa estetiker kan dock visas distinkt genom kroppsspråk, vilket påståendevis skulle vara en mer konkret metod för att förmedla upplevelser och intryck. Detta arbete utforskar trivsamt passivt gungande, ur perspektivet av en dansare och massör, genom first-person research. Den dokumenterar sedan designprocessen av en artefakt som har förmågan att kunna återskapa denna sensation. Gungande valdes på grund av personliga erfarenheter och intresse för hur det kan visas genom att endast använda kroppen, till skillnad från många andra estetiker. Genom att använda metoder inom Soma Design kombinerat med first-person research började denna process med brainstormingaktiviteter kring gungande och fortsatte sedan med att genom Feldenkrais-inspirerade aktiviteter främmandegöra konceptet. Med den nyvunna förståelsen av gungning skapades en formförändrande nackkudde kallad "The Neck Hammock" för att framkalla en gungande sensation hos en dansare eller en massör. Kvantitativt utforskande av rörelserna som skapades av "The Neck Hammock" placerade gungande längs et spektrum av olika upplevelser och visade även att den djupt själviaktagande upplevelsen kan resultera i starka minnesbilder och associationer av tidigare upplevelser. Dessa associationergjorde det enkelt at kategorisera en session med "The Neck Hammock", då framgångsrika sessioner väckte minnen från erfarenheter av gungstolar, hängmattor mm. Detta tyder på att individuella responser på "The Neck Hammock" kommer att vara unika och baserade på varje användares tidigare erfarenheter av gungande, trots att allmänna egenskaper som t.ex. behagligheten i det hela lär finnas kvar. Trots att många sessioner förmedlade en sensation av gungande var det fåsom passade perfekt in i det sökta ,trivsamma, passiva gungandet. De sessioner som var framgångsrika och framkallade tydliga minnesbilder hade en betydande känslomässig påverkan och orsakade stundom långvariga känslor i hela kroppen. / Aesthetics in design are often subjective because definitions of the qualities of interaction differ. Some aesthetics, however, can be distinctly shown with body movement, perhaps offering a more concrete method to communicate experience. This thesis explores a first-person understanding, as a dancer and masseuse, of pleasant passive rocking. It then documents the design process of an artefact capable of conveying the same experience. Rocking was chosen due to personal history and interest in how it can be shown explicitly using the body, unlike many other aesthetics. Using first-person Soma Design methods, this process began with brainstorming attributes of rocking and later utilized defamiliarization through Feldenkrais-inspired activities. With the newfound understanding of rocking, a shape-changing neck pillow named the Neck Hammock was created to evoke a dancer’s and masseuse’s rocking. Quantitative exploration of the Neck Hammock movement placed rocking along a spectrum of experience, and also revealed that the deeply introspective experience can result in vivid mental visualizations of past lived experiences. These visualizations made categorizing a session with the Neck Hammock simple, as successful trials evoked memories of hammocks, rocking chairs, etc. This suggests that individual responses to the Neck Hammock will be unique based upon the user’s past associations with rocking, though general qualities like pleasantness ought to remain. While many trials conveyed rocking, few aligned perfectly with the targeted pleasant passive rocking. The trials that were successful and caused a mental visualization had significant emotional impact and sometimes caused long-lasting full body experiences.

This dissertation presents a unique approach to human behavior analysis based on expert guidance and intervention through interactive construction and modification of behavior models. Our focus is to introduce the research area of behavior analysis, the challenges faced by this field, current approaches available, and present a new analysis approach: Interactive Relevance Search and Modeling (IRSM). More intelligent ways of conducting data analysis have been explored in recent years. Ma- chine learning and data mining systems that utilize pattern classification and discovery in non-textual data promise to bring new generations of powerful "crawlers" for knowledge discovery, e.g., face detection and crowd surveillance. Many aspects of data can be captured by such systems, e.g., temporal information, extractable visual information - color, contrast, shape, etc. However, these captured aspects may not uncover all salient information in the data or provide adequate models/patterns of phenomena of interest. This is a challenging problem for social scientists who are trying to identify high-level, conceptual patterns of human behavior from observational data (e.g., media streams). The presented research addresses how social scientists may derive patterns of human behavior captured in media streams. Currently, media streams are being segmented into sequences of events describing the actions captured in the streams, such as the interactions among humans. This segmentation creates a challenging data space to search characterized by non- numerical, temporal, descriptive data, e.g., Person A walks up to Person B at time T. This dissertation will present an approach that allows one to interactively search, identify, and discover temporal behavior patterns within such a data space. Therefore, this research addresses supporting exploration and discovery in behavior analysis through a formalized method of assisted exploration. The model evolution presented sup- ports the refining of the observer\'s behavior models into representations of their understanding. The benefit of the new approach is shown through experimentation on its identification accuracy and working with fellow researchers to verify the approach\'s legitimacy in analysis of their data. / Ph. D.

As robots become more prevalent in our everyday lives, both in our workplaces and in our homes, it becomes increasingly likely that people who are not experts in robotics will be asked to interface with robotic devices. It is therefore important to develop robotic controls that are intuitive and easy for novices to use. Robotic hands, in particular, are very useful, but their high dimensionality makes creating intuitive human-machine interfaces for them complex. In this dissertation, we study the control of non-anthropomorphic robotic hands by non-roboticists in two contexts: collaborative manipulation and assistive robotics. In the field of collaborative manipulation, the human and the robot work side by side as independent agents. Teleoperation allows the human to assist the robot when autonomous grasping is not able to deal sufficiently well with corner cases or cannot operate fast enough. Using the teleoperator’s hand as an input device can provide an intuitive control method, but finding a mapping between a human hand and a non-anthropomorphic robot hand can be difficult, due to the hands’ dissimilar kinematics. In this dissertation, we seek to create a mapping between the human hand and a fully actuated, non-anthropomorphic robot hand that is intuitive enough to enable effective real-time teleoperation, even for novice users. We propose a low-dimensional and continuous teleoperation subspace which can be used as an intermediary for mapping between different hand pose spaces. We first propose the general concept of the subspace, its properties and the variables needed to map from the human hand to a robot hand. We then propose three ways to populate the teleoperation subspace mapping. Two of our mappings use a dataglove to harvest information about the user's hand. We define the mapping between joint space and teleoperation subspace with an empirical definition, which requires a person to define hand motions in an intuitive, hand-specific way, and with an algorithmic definition, which is kinematically independent, and uses objects to define the subspace. Our third mapping for the teleoperation subspace uses forearm electromyography (EMG) as a control input. Assistive orthotics is another area of robotics where human-machine interfaces are critical, since, in this field, the robot is attached to the hand of the human user. In this case, the goal is for the robot to assist the human with movements they would not otherwise be able to achieve. Orthotics can improve the quality of life of people who do not have full use of their hands. Human-machine interfaces for assistive hand orthotics that use EMG signals from the affected forearm as input are intuitive and repeated use can strengthen the muscles of the user's affected arm. In this dissertation, we seek to create an EMG based control for an orthotic device used by people who have had a stroke. We would like our control to enable functional motions when used in conjunction with a orthosis and to be robust to changes in the input signal. We propose a control for a wearable hand orthosis which uses an easy to don, commodity forearm EMG band. We develop an supervised algorithm to detect a user’s intent to open and close their hand, and pair this algorithm with a training protocol which makes our intent detection robust to changes in the input signal. We show that this algorithm, when used in conjunction with an orthosis over several weeks, can improve distal function in users. Additionally, we propose two semi-supervised intent detection algorithms designed to keep our control robust to changes in the input data while reducing the length and frequency of our training protocol.

No description available.

No description available.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第24608号 / 工博第5114号 / 新制||工||1978(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科機械理工学専攻 / (主査)教授 松野 文俊, 教授 小森 雅晴, 教授 森本 淳 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DGAM

Gesturing is a natural way of communication between people and is used in our everyday conversations. Hand gesture recognition systems are used in many applications in a wide variety of fields, such as mobile phone applications, smart TVs, video gaming, etc. With the advances in human-computer interaction technology, gesture recognition is becoming an active research area. There are two types of devices to detect gestures; contact based devices and contactless devices. Using ultrasonic waves for determining gestures is one of the ways that is employed in contactless devices. Hand gesture recognition utilizing ultrasonic waves will be the focus of this thesis work. This thesis presents a new method for detecting and classifying a predefined set of hand gestures using a single ultrasonic transmitter and a single ultrasonic receiver. This method uses a linear frequency modulated ultrasonic signal. The ultrasonic signal is designed to meet the project requirements such as the update rate, the range of detection, etc. Also, it needs to overcome hardware limitations such as the limited output power, transmitter, and receiver bandwidth, etc. The method can be adapted to other hardware setups. Gestures are identified based on two main features; range estimation of the moving hand and received signal strength (RSS). These two factors are estimated using two simple methods; channel impulse response (CIR) and cross correlation (CC) of the reflected ultrasonic signal from the gesturing hand. A customized simple hardware setup was used to classify a set of hand gestures with high accuracy. The detection and classification were done using methods of low computational cost. This makes the proposed method to have a great potential for the implementation in many devices including laptops and mobile phones. The predefined set of gestures can be used for many control applications.

This thesis is based on a research project to evaluate a quality control system for car component stamping lines. The quality control system measures the abrasion of the stamping tools by measuring the surface of the products. A 3D vision system is developed for the real time online measurement of the product surface. In this thesis, there are three main research themes. First is to produce an industrial application. All the components of this vision system are selected from industrial products and user application software is developed. A rich human machine interface for interaction with the vision system is developed along with a link between the vision system and a control unit which is established for interaction with a production line. The second research theme is to enhance the robustness of the 3D measurement. As an industrial product, this system will be deployed in different factories. It should be robust against environmental uncertainties. For this purpose, a high signal to noise ratio is required with the light pattern being produced by a laser projector. Additionally, multiple height calculation methods and a spatial Kalman filter are proposed for optimal height estimation. The final research theme is to achieve real time 3D measurement. The vision system is expected to be installed on production lines for online quality inspection. A new 3D measurement method is developed. It combines the spatial binary coded method with phase shift methods with a single image needs to be captured. / SHRIS (Shanghai Ro-Intelligent System,co.,Ltd.)

The global automotive industry is currently experiencing a shift as the sector converts from fossil fuels to electric vehicles (EVs). However, the existing infrastructure for EV charging is facing difficulties in meeting the growingdemand in terms of accessibility and technical performance. In response, companies such as Zpark EnergySystems are actively engaged in the development of chargers to cater to the needs of the next generationchargers. As part of their efforts, Zpark has introduced a new product segment specifically tailored to thegrowing market demand, by creating a fast charger for the residential market. This thesis aims to create anexterior design for the charger and battery storage unit (BSU) suited to Scandinavian residential environments.The project has been divided into three main focus areas. The first area concerns design where primarily formtheory, material science and ergonomics have been researched. To validate the theory which established thedesign elements and features of the charger and BSU, extensive user testing was performed. The second areaconcerns adaptation in terms of how the product design will suit the intended home market. Scandinavian-architecture, -design, -colours and -climate has been studied for this area. The final focus area concerns theinteraction between users and mainly the charger. Research has been conducted to explore the integration ofuser interactive features into the design. The usability of these features has also been thoroughly examinedthrough user testing. Which has been combined with theories related to colour, human-machine interaction, andform theory in order to create a user-friendly interaction experience.The project approach has been divided into the following steps; exploration, ideation, evaluation andimplementation. For the explore phase background theory to the project was researched and methods such asbenchmarking, white space analysis, customer journey, placement analysis, and user research were conductedto gain an understanding of the market and the current pain points. For the ideation phase the goal was togenerate a large number of design concepts for both the charger and BSU. This was achieved through variousinternal ideatios methods within the team as well as external methods at workshops. To narrow down betweenthe design concepts an evaluation matrix was used which resulted in a final concept that was brought forward tothe next project phase, namely the evaluation. The evaluation phase concerned testing the final conceptsthough user testing and making technical specifications according to theory. At the end of this stage a finaldesign was achieved where all details were specified and loose ends tied together. The last phase concerningimplementation was then performed in correlation with the specified design through producing digital 3Dvisualisations and creating an animation of the final designs.The project resulted in an exterior design for the charger as well as the BSU which fulfils the aims of the projectscope. The design incorporates the features found to be necessary in the background research. Further auser-friendly design was established through various user tests investigating the integrated features and revisingthem according to the user test results. Adaptation to the home market is achieved through customisablecolours and modularity of the BSU. The design incorporates the characteristics of Scandinavian design boththrough its form elements and by the use of materials which makes the charger and BSU suit a Scandinavianresidential environment in a visually cohesive and aesthetically pleasing way. / Fordonsindustrin genomgår en omfattande förändring då branschen konverterar från fossila bränslen tillelektriska fordon (EF). Branschen står inför utmaningar de kommande åren då den befintliga infrastrukturen förelbilsladdning har svårigheter att möta den ökande efterfrågan när det gäller tillgänglighet och tekniskprestanda. Därav är företag som Zpark Energy Systems aktiva i utvecklingen av innovativa laddare för atttillgodose dessa behov hos nästa generations laddare. I linje med deras satsningar har Zpark introducerat en nyproduktkategori specifikt anpassad till den växande marknadsefterfrågan genom att skapa en snabbladdaresom är skräddarsydd för bostadsmarknaden. Detta examensarbete syftar till att skapa en exteriör design försnabbladdaren samt tillhörande batterilagringsenhet (BLE) anpassad till Skandinavisk bostadsmiljö.Projektet har delats upp i fyra huvudsakliga fokusområden. Det första området centrerar kring design där främstformteori, materialvetenskap och ergonomi har studerats. För att validera teorin som designelement ochfunktioner för laddaren och BLE har baserats på så utfördes användartester. Det andra fokusområdet i projektetavser anpassning i form av hur produktens design ska anpassas till den avsedda bostadsmiljön. Teori gällandeskandinavisk arkitektur, design, färger och klimat har studerats för att skapa en akademisk grund för dettaområde. Det sista fokusområdet för projektet rör interaktionen mellan användare och främst laddaren.Användartester har genomförts för att utforska integrationen av interaktiva funktioner i designen och dessanvändbarhet. Detta har kombinerats med teorier relaterade till färgsättning, människa-maskin-interaktion ochformteori för att skapa en användarvänlig upplevelse under laddningsprocessen.Projektets tillvägagångssätt är uppdelat i tre huvudmoment: utforskning, idégenerering, utvärdering ochimplementering. Under utforskningsfasen undersöktes bakgrundsteori för projektet och metoder sombenchmarking, white space analysis, customer journey, placeringsanalys och användarstudier användes för attfå en förståelse för marknaden och befintliga utmaningar. Under idégenereringsfasen var målet att generera ettstort antal designkoncept för både laddare och BLE. Detta uppnåddes genom olika interna och externaidégenereringsmetoder och workshops. För att välja bland designkoncepten användes en utvärderingsmatrissom resulterade i ett slutgiltigt koncept vilket sedan togs vidare till nästa projektfas. Utvärderingsfaseninnefattade utvärdering av det valda design konceptet genom användartester och tekniska specifikationer enligtteorin. Vid slutet av denna fas uppnåddes en slutlig design där alla detaljer specificerades och lösa ändar knötsihop. Den sista fasen rör implementering och utfördes i enlighet med den specificerade designen genom attproducera digitala 3D-visualiseringar och skapa en animering av de slutgiltiga designerna.Projektet resulterade i en exteriör design för laddaren och BLE:n som uppfyller projektets mål: Designeninkluderar de funktioner som identifierats som nödvändiga i bakgrundsundersökningen. När det gällerfunktionaliteten skapades en användarvänlig design genom olika användartester som utvärderade deintegrerade funktionerna vilka reviderades utifrån resultatet i testerna. Anpassning till hemmamarknaden uppnåsgenom anpassningsbara färger och modularitet för BLE. Designen innehåller kännetecknen för skandinaviskdesign både genom sina formelement och genom användningen av material vilket gör att laddare och BSUpassar i en skandinavisk bostadsmiljö på ett estetiskt tilltalande sätt med hög funktionalitet.