This thesis explores the potential of visual information and communication technologies (ICTs) for collaboration in emergency care. The thesis consists of four studies exploring future technology, 3D telepresence technology for medical consultation (3DMC), from several different methodological and analytical perspectives. Together the studies provide a broad view of the potential benefits, risks and implications of using visual technologies for collaboration in emergency care. The results show that paramedic-physician collaboration via 3DMC might have some benefits for patient care, both in the immediate patient care situation and beyond, for example, when coordinating transport and resources; improving understanding between different actors; and in developing paramedic competence and confidence in their skills. However, collaboration is heavily impacted by physicians’ and paramedics’ respective work practices which are situated in very different physical, professional and organizational contexts. Adding a visual dimension to this collaboration presents unique challenges for the overall design, development, implementation, and appropriation process. Thus, the thesis emphasizes the importance of understanding both the individual users as well as the complex overall image which, although often neglected or ignored, is crucial to understand when developing and introducing new technology that is successful and justified in the overall context while also being useful and meaningful for the individual users. / <p>Academic dissertation for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Library and Information Science at the University of Gothenburg and the University of Borås to be publicly defended on Thursday 19 September 2013 at 13:15 in the auditorium at Simonsland, University of Borås, Skaraborgsvägen 3, Borås.</p>

As companies are more globalised and teams become more geographically distributed, the demand for technical solutions to bring more variety of communication increases. The aim of this study is to get a deeper understanding of how Mobile Robotic Telepresence is perceived by people  that is working in an office for a non-technological oriented company, and is interacting with it for the first time. The study was conducted at the participants office during workday where they got to control and practically explore the robot through a computer. The result shows that there is a positive attitude towards new technology and possible solutions for people that would like to cut down on work-related travels or a new way to arrange meeting. even though there were positive attitude, only half of the participants saw a clear use for the robot in their current work environment.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-04T20:07:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 29 / Nenhuma,Comunidade Virtual de Aprendizagem da Rede de Instituições Católicas de Ensino Superior / Esta dissertação consiste no estudo teórico embasado, principalmente, na Teoria da Biologia do Conhecer da autoria de Humberto Maturana na articulação com o viver e conviver no Metaverso Second Life, tanto dos sujeitos que compõe a amostra da pesquisa quanto da própria pesquisadora. Deste modo, foram realizadas observações no contexto de dois processos formativos desenvolvidos pelo Grupo de Pesquisa em Educação Digital GPe-du UNISINOS/CNPq para a Rede de Instituições Católicas de Ensino Superior – RICESU, o desenvolvimento de uma atividade complementar intitulada “Educação Online em Mundos Digitais Virtuais em 3D – MDV3D: possibilidade ou realidade?” no contexto do Programa de Aprendizagem “Ensino e Aprendizagem no Mundo Educação Digital” parte do currículo do curso de Pedagogia da UNISINOS e a aplicação de questionários, bem como entrevistas com os sujeitos dos diferentes domínios investigativos que compõe a pesquisa. O foco principal da investigação foi compreender de que forma a (re)criação(?) de identidad / This dissertation is a theoretical study chiefly based on Humberto Maturana’s Biology of Knowledge in linking with living in and living with Second Life metaverse by both subjects in the research sample and the very researcher. Thus, we have observed two formative processes the Digital Education Research Group GPe-du UNISINOS/CNPq developed for the Catholic Network of Higher Education Institutions (RICESU): first the development of a complementary activity entitled ‘Online Education in 3D Digital-Virtual Worlds — MDV3: possibility or reality’ in the Learning Programme ‘Teaching and Learning in the Digital Education World’, which is part of the Pedagogy course at UNISINOS; and last but not least, administering questionnaires and interviews with subjects in different investigating areas making up the research. The central focus for the investigation was to understand how (re)creating (?) digital-virtual identities for interaction in Three-Dimensional Digital-Virtual Worlds might help to ameliorate paradigms as

Les environnements 3D immersifs et collaboratifs en ligne sont en pleine émergence. Ils posent les problématiques du sentiment de présence au sein des mondes virtuels, de l'immersion et des capacités d'interaction. Les systèmes 3D multi-caméra permettent, sur la base d'une information photométrique, d'extraire une information géométrique (modèle 3D) de la scène observée. Il est alors possible de calculer un modèle numérique texturé en temps-réel qui est utilisé pour assurer la présence de l'utilisateur dans l'espace numérique. Dans le cadre de cette thèse nous avons étudié comment coupler la capacité de présence fournie par un tel système avec une immersion visuelle et des interactions co-localisées. Ceci a mené à la réalisation d'une application qui couple un visio-casque, un système de suivi optique et un système multi-caméra. Ainsi l'utilisateur peut visualiser son modèle 3D correctement aligné avec son corps et mixé avec les objets virtuels. Nous avons aussi mis en place une expérimentation de télépresence sur 3 sites (Bordeaux, Grenoble, Orléans) qui permet à plusieurs utilisateurs de se rencontrer en 3D et de collaborer à distance. Le modèle 3D texturé donne une très forte impression de présence de l'autre et renforce les interactions physiques grâce au langage corporel et aux expressions faciales. Enfin, nous avons étudié comment extraire une information de vitesse à partir des informations issues des caméras, grâce au flot optique et à des correspondances 2D et 3D, nous pouvons estimer le déplacement dense du modèle 3D. Cette donnée étend les capacités d'interaction en enrichissant le modèle 3D. / Online immersive and collaborative 3D environments are emerging very fast. They raise the issues of sensation of presence within virtual worlds, immersion and interaction capabilities. Multi-camera 3D systems allow to extract geometrical information (3D model) of the observed scene using the photometric information. It enables calculation of a numerical textured model in real-time, which is then used to ensure the user's presence in cyberspace. In this thesis we have studied how to pair the ability of presence, obtained from such a system, with visual immersion and co-located interactions. This led to the realization of an application that combines a head mounted display, an optical tracking system and a multi-camera system. Thus, the user can view his 3D model correctly aligned with his own body and mixed with virtual objects. We also have implemented an experimental telepresence application featuring three sites (Bordeaux, Grenoble, Orleans) that allows multiple users to meet in 3D and collaborate remotely. Textured 3D model gives a very strong sense of presence of each other and strengthens the physical interactions, thanks to body language and facial expressions. Finally, we studied how to extract 3D velocity information from the cameras images; using 2D optical flow and 2D and 3D correspondences, we can estimate the dense displacement of the 3D model. This data extend the interaction capabilities by enriching the 3D model.

From object tracking to 3D reconstruction, RGB-Depth (RGB-D) camera networks play an increasingly important role in many vision and graphics applications. With the recent explosive growth of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) platforms, utilizing camera RGB-D camera networks to capture and render dynamic physical space can enhance immersive experiences for users. To maximize coverage and minimize costs, practical applications often use a small number of RGB-D cameras and sparsely place them around the environment for data capturing. While sparse color camera networks have been studied for decades, the problems of extrinsic calibration of and rendering with sparse RGB-D camera networks are less well understood. Extrinsic calibration is difficult because of inappropriate RGB-D camera models and lack of shared scene features. Due to the significant camera noise and sparse coverage of the scene, the quality of rendering 3D point clouds is much lower compared with synthetic models. Adding virtual objects whose rendering depend on the physical environment such as those with reflective surfaces further complicate the rendering pipeline. In this dissertation, I propose novel solutions to tackle these challenges faced by RGB-D camera systems. First, I propose a novel extrinsic calibration algorithm that can accurately and rapidly calibrate the geometric relationships across an arbitrary number of RGB-D cameras on a network. Second, I propose a novel rendering pipeline that can capture and render, in real-time, dynamic scenes in the presence of arbitrary-shaped reflective virtual objects. Third, I have demonstrated a teleportation application that uses the proposed system to merge two geographically separated 3D captured scenes into the same reconstructed environment. To provide a fast and robust calibration for a sparse RGB-D camera network, first, the correspondences between different camera views are established by using a spherical calibration object. We show that this approach outperforms other techniques based on planar calibration objects. Second, instead of modeling camera extrinsic using rigid transformation that is optimal only for pinhole cameras, different view transformation functions including rigid transformation, polynomial transformation, and manifold regression are systematically tested to determine the most robust mapping that generalizes well to unseen data. Third, the celebrated bundle adjustment procedure is reformulated to minimize the global 3D projection error so as to fine-tune the initial estimates. To achieve a realistic mirror rendering, a robust eye detector is used to identify the viewer's 3D location and render the reflective scene accordingly. The limited field of view obtained from a single camera is overcome by our calibrated RGB-D camera network system that is scalable to capture an arbitrarily large environment. The rendering is accomplished by raytracing light rays from the viewpoint to the scene reflected by the virtual curved surface. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed system is the first to render reflective dynamic scenes from real 3D data in large environments. Our scalable client-server architecture is computationally efficient - the calibration of a camera network system, including data capture, can be done in minutes using only commodity PCs.

With the advancements in medicine and welfare systems, the average life span of modern human beings is expanding, creating a new market for elderly care and assistive technology. Along with the development of assistive devices based on traditional aids such as voice-readers, electronic wheelchairs, and prosthetic limbs, a robotic platform is one of the most suitable platforms for providing multi-purpose assistance in human life. This research focuses on the transference of environmental perception to a human user through the use of interactive multi-modal feedback and an assistive robotic platform. A novel framework for haptic telepresence is presented to solve the problem, and state-of-the-art methodologies from computer vision, haptics, and robotics are utilized. The objective of this research is to design a framework that achieves the following: 1) This framework integrates visual perception from heterogeneous vision sensors, 2) it enables real-time interactive haptic representation of the real world through a mobile manipulation robotic platform and a haptic interface, and 3) it achieves haptic fusion of multiple sensory modalities from the robotic platform and provides interactive feedback to the human user. Specifically, a set of multi-disciplinary algorithms such as stereo-vision processes, three-dimensional (3D) map-building algorithms, and virtual-proxy based haptic volume representation processes will be integrated into a unified framework to successfully accomplish the goal. The application area of this work is focused on, but not limited to, assisting people with visual impairment with a robotic platform by providing multi-modal feedback of the environment.

在資訊科技越來越蓬勃發展的情況下,也讓博物館能帶來更好的使用者體驗。而現今已有許多博物館使用這些新技術,提供觀眾更有趣且吸引人的內容。本研究與國立故宮博物院合作,而故宮近年來也致力於新科技的採用與發展,虛擬實境則是其中一個例子,因此本篇會著重在探討虛擬實境在博物館展覽上是否為有效提升觀眾觀展興趣的互動媒介。當使用者在使用互動媒介的時候,會讓他們產生一種類似”身歷其境的”感覺,我們稱為”telepresence”而這種感覺則會進一步影響他們對於博物館的觀展意願。因此本篇論文會針對虛擬實境跟不同的互動媒介做比較,藉以了解比起其他互動媒介,虛擬實境是否能更能提升使用者體驗,這裡為了普及性及取材方便,採用故宮網站及影片來做比較。而為了衡量使用者體驗,我們則採用”享受程度”及”專注程度”來測量不同互動媒介所帶給他們的影響;此外個性以及使用者的過去相關經驗也是影響他們享受程度的重要因素,因此本篇研究也有將此兩個調節變數納入考量。而實驗內容則是隨機分配使用者使用其中一樣媒介,實驗結束後填寫相對應的問卷。實驗結果證明了互動媒介如果能帶來越高的 telepresence,則使用者會有更高的專注程度,越高的專注程度能讓使用者有更高的享受程度,而享受程度及專注程度皆能帶來較好的使用者體驗,進一步影響使用者的觀展意願;但高程度的 telepresence 並不會對享受程度有所影響,可能是因為互動媒介本身內容使用者並沒有興趣的關係,而兩個調節變數雖同樣不顯著,但試著探索性分析後發現擁有外向個性的人相較於其他人,在使用互動媒介時能有更高的專注程度,這也是未來可研究的方向。總結來說,本篇研究證明了虛擬實境能帶來較高的專注力,且專注力與享受程度能進一步地引起使用者的觀展興趣。 / Information technologies provided important opportunities for museums to create more engaging visitor experience. Many museums have decided to adopt new technologies to provide more interesting and attracting offerings. This study collaborates with National Palace Museum and focus on investigating whether virtual reality is an effective communication medium for museum exhibition. When people use different communication medium they will have variety telepresence, and the telepresence may influences on their performance expectation. Therefore this study presented in this paper compared three communication mediums, video, website and virtual reality. For evaluating user experience, we took engagement and attention to measure the effect of telepresence; also the role of users’ personality and their prior experience of communication media in moderating these effects are also considered. The experiment is held in National Cheng-Chi University and the participators are all students from the university, we randomly let user use one of three communication medium then give them questionnaire after finishing the experiment. By the result of our research, we found that high level of telepresence can let the user more focus on the media, and higher attention can enforce their engagement, in the last, both attention and engagement can further impact user’s visitation behavior. In our result, even personality and relative experience are both insignificant, but we found that when using communication medium, extravert can have higher attention than the other users, it may be a future research. Overall, this study confirm that VR with higher telepresence can catch more attention from user, attention enforce their engagement, then higher level of attention and engagement create better user experience.

In direct teleoperation the interface is vital to control a robot. Often it is reduced to a simple controller and the feedback provided by a camera stream in a monitor which leads to poor results. A telepresence system combined with a Free Look Control is proposed to increase the result in terms of situational awareness, usability and comfort. The telepresence system provides the sense of depth to the operatorin several manners. Free Look Control replaces Tank Control as control mode, in which the robot can be driven in any direction and the operator takes the control of the camera. A synergy is found when both features are implemented together as their advantages are increased. In addition a multi-camera setup is created, in order to build the 3D environment shown to the operator, which is calibrated in an automatic way. The two different control modes are tested and compared by several people. The outcome shows how the inclusion of these characteristics improve the result of the teleoperation in a visible way.

Background According to recent research, telepresence robots are increasingly used as self-support devices to aid in social interaction in remote areas. Increased participation in leisure activities is one of the most important outcomes of the intervention. However, there is still a scarcity of prior literature on studies with special-needs children. Objective This scoping review aims to explore the participation of children with functional limitations through telepresence robots while identifying barriers and facilitators in their application. Methods A comprehensive literature search was conducted using ten databases in English and Japanese. Prior studies were screened and selected based on a systematic procedure. The literature was collected based on the following criteria and mapped according to the components of the ICF. Results Environmental and human factors are all contributing to barriers or facilitating factors. Also, six themes emerged for telepresence robot interventions: user conditions, decision-maker approval, virtual inclusion, social attitudes, rapport, and children's preferences. Conclusion Since the main daily activities for children occur in the school setting, and it is necessary to build technology and support in line with children's needs. / 背景 近年、遠隔地における社会的交流を支援するための自立支援装置として、テレプレゼンスロボットの利用が進んでいる。また余暇活動への参加率の向上は、子供達への介入の最も重要な成果の一つである。しかし、特別な支援を必要とする児童を対象とした研究の先行文献はまだ少ない。 目的 本稿のスクーピングレビューでは、テレプレゼンスロボットを活用する機能的制限のある子どもの参加について調査し、その適用における障壁と促進要因を明らかにすることを目的とする。 方法 日本語と英語のデータベースを用いて包括的な文献検索を行った。先行研究をスクリーニングし、体系的な手順に基づいて選択した。文献は基準に沿って収集し、ICFの構成要素に従いマッピングした。 結果 環境的・人的要因のすべてが障壁や促進要因となっている。また、テレプレゼンスロボットによる介入では、ユーザーの条件、意思決定者の承認、バーチャルインクルージョン、社会的態度、ラポール、子どもの嗜好の6つのテーマが浮かび上がった。 結論 子どもの主な日常生活は学校生活の中で行われるため、子どものニーズに沿った技術や支援を構築することが必要である。

Es evidente la brecha de aprendizaje que se produce cuando un alumno no asiste a clases por algún motivo ajeno a su voluntad y que no limita su capacidad de aprendizaje. A pesar de la era digital en la que vivimos, podemos ser testigos de que aún falta mucha brecha que cubrir haciendo uso de la tecnología y en pro de impulsar una mejor calidad en la educación. Es por ello por lo que, hemos definido como objetivo principal de nuestro proyecto el diseñar un modelo tecnológico aplicado a la educación primaria que sirva como canal de apoyo en el aprendizaje de los alumnos que no puedan asistir a clases. Para llevar a cabo el presente proyecto se ha realizado una investigación previa de la necesidad planteada, como también de las herramientas de telepresencia que están actualmente en el mercado y sus características. Para efectos de validación del modelo se llevó a cabo el desarrollo básico de una plataforma de telepresencia, la cual se puso a prueba en tres colegios de zonas diferentes pertenecientes al sector socioeconómico C y D. Recogiendo posteriormente las opiniones tanto del alumno que hizo uso de la herramienta, como también de sus compañeros, profesores y padres de Familia. / The following project starts from the need to reduce learning gaps among students who miss classes due to different factors that do not limit their learning capacity and those who attend a constant. We believe that technology is the tool that can help reduce these gaps and be a support to the school community. That is why the goal of our project is a technology system for the development of primary education that supports the channel in the learning of students who cannot attend classes. In order to carry out the present project, a prior investigation of the need for the plant has been carried out, as well as the telepresence tools that are currently on the market and their characteristics. Likewise, the best solution that complies with the guidelines of our model has been defined and, at the same time, at a low cost. Its aim is to give students a new resource/communication channel for classes, which would be used when they cannot attend school due to health problems that do not affect their learning process. This solution seeks students to not be passive listeners during a session, but that they interact with their classmates and teachers during class. To validate the model, a telepresence platform based on WebRTC was developed. It was tested in three schools in different geographical areas, collecting data from the students who tested the tool, as well as from classmates, teachers, and parents. / Tesis