Exposición en el marco de la "Primera exposición GameLab" de desarrollo de videojuegos, llevado a cabo el 05 de Mayo en la Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC), el Campus Monterrico. Lima, Peru.

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In this work, we address the problem of the selection of 3D objects based on the user’s intent to interact with them in online virtual environments, both on desktop and VR devices. In addition to the traditional ray-casting technique, we select four promising techniques from the literature using time-dependent volumetric scoring (IntenSelect), trajectory prediction (KEP), Kalman filters enhancement (KalmanKEP) and machine learning with decision trees (MTP). We refine and adapt them to be implemented on both devices. We gather a number of raycasting-based 3D selections in a remote virtual environment, forming a small dataset that serves for simulations and training. The performance of the techniques is evaluated using these simulations through the theoretic relative amount of time and movement required for each technique to be able to predict the target corresponding to the user’s selection intent, called availability. The users’ experience is assessed through a user evaluation on two axes that are usability and task load. The results show that IntenSelect and the adapted KEP technique are credible alternatives to ray-casting. However, the ray-casting technique is still among the preferred ones in terms of user experience, despite being a method with a low spatial and temporal availability compared to others. / I det här arbetet tar vi upp problemet med att välja 3D-objekt baserat på användarens avsikt att interagera med dem i virtuella miljöer online, både på stationära datorer ochVR-enheter. Förutomdentraditionellaray-casting-tekniken väljer vi fyra lovande tekniker från litteraturen som använder tidsberoende volymetrisk poängsättning (IntenSelect), banaförutsägelse (KEP), Kalmanfilterförbättring (Kalman-KEP) och maskininlärning med beslutsträd (MTP). Vi förfinar och anpassar dem så att de kan genomföras på båda enheterna. Vi samlar in ett antal raycastingbaserade 3D-val i en avlägsen virtuell miljö och bildar en liten datamängd som tjänar till simuleringar och träning. Teknikernas prestanda utvärderas med hjälp av dessa simuleringar genom den teoretiska relativa mängden tid och rörelse som krävs för att varje teknik ska kunna förutsäga det mål som motsvarar användarens urvalsintention, så kallad tillgänglighet. Användarnas upplevelse bedöms genom en användarutvärdering på två axlar, nämligen användbarhet och arbetsbelastning. Resultaten visar att IntenSelect och den anpassade KEP-tekniken är trovärdiga alternativ till ray-casting. Ray-casting-tekniken är dock fortfarande bland de föredragna när det gäller användarupplevelsen, trots att det är en metod med låg rumslig och tidsmässig tillgänglighet jämfört med andra metoder.

In present day, telecommunications stakeholders have not yet fully automated hardware configurations. Network configuration and reconfiguration is a repetitive, time consuming, and error prone process. To address this problem this bachelor thesis is going to shed light on the benefits of an automated configuration and topology verification process. To this end, a proof of concept system, Enna, has been developed in a case study together with an ISP stakeholder. Enna reads the current network state, applies predetermined configurations loaded from text-files, and automatically verifies the network state. The goals of this thesis are as follows: development of Enna to illustrate the simplicity in the implementation, compare the automated network reconfiguration to a fully manual one, and finally discuss potential benefits or problems in switching to an automated network configuration. Since this thesis is carried out in collaboration with an ISP working with Cisco IOS XR devices, Enna is only tested for basic network protocols common in such environment, the conclusions drawn in this paper are therefore only applicable to such context. / I dagens läge tillämpar inte telekommunikationsintressenter automatiserade processer som standard. Nätverkskonfigurering och omkonfigurering är en repetitiv, tidskrävande och felbenägen process. För att adressera detta problem kommer denna kandidatavhandling belysa fördelarna med en automatisk nätverkskonfiguration och verifieringsprocess. För detta ändamål har ett system, Enna, framtagits som ett bevis på konceptets ändamålsenlighet. Enna läser aktuell nätverksstatus, tillämpar förutbestämda konfigurationer som laddas in från textfiler, och verifierar nätverkstatus automatiskt. Målet för detta examensarbete lyder: utveckling av Enna för att illustreara simplisteten i framtagandet, jämföra en automatisk nätverkskonfiguration med en manuell , och slutligen diskutera fördelar och problem vid byte till en automatiserad närverskonfiguration. Eftersom att detta examensarbete genomförts i samarbete med en ISP som arbetar med Cisco IOS XR-enheter, och Enna endast testats med grundläggande närverksprotokoll vanliga för dessa miljöer, kommer slutsatserna i detta dokument endast vara tillämpbara i dylikt sammanhang.

Syftet med denna studie är att utforska nyckelintressenters uppfattningar om potentialer och hinder med utökad verklighet (XR) i gymnasieundervisning, speciellt inom matematik- och fysikämnena där det finns flertalet abstrakta moment som elever har svårt för. Ett vidare syfte är att med stöd i studiens resultat utforma riktlinjer som förslag på hur XR kan användas och inte användas i skolan. Denna kvalitativa studie tar sin grund från semistrukturerade intervjuer med nyckelintressenter inom tre olika områden: programmerare med fokus på utveckling av XR, utvecklare av undervisningsmaterial och lärare inom naturvetenskapliga ämnen. Dessa tre grupper av nyckelintressenter har tillsammans en helhetsbild över just det som denna studie ämnar undersöka. Utifrån en kvalitativ ansats utförs en tematisk analys av transkriberade data. Den tematiska analysen har identifierat sju huvudteman från det insamlade materialet. Studiens pedagogiska utgångspunkt är tagen från Dewey (2004) och Lave & Wegner (1991). Dewey menar att praktiskt arbete så som laborationer är essentiellt för barns inlärning. Piaget (2008) menar att när ett barn nekas möjligheten att upptäcka på egen hand har läraren gjort barnet en björntjänst och minskat barnets möjlighet till inlärning. Lave & Wegner (1991) påstår att lärande är situerade, att elever lär sig bättre om de får utföra aktiviteter där kunskapen ska användas i verkligheten. Exempelvis om elever ska lära sig om vattenkraftverk kan det vara lönsamt att besöka ett vattenkraftverk och uppleva det i verkligheten. Resultatet från denna studie visar att XR har stor potential som digitalt hjälpmedel inom skolan. Upplevelsebaserad undervisning är en stor styrka hos XR och detta tillsammans med laborativ verksamhet har stort stöd i tidigare pedagogisk forskning som en bra undervisningsmetod. Dessutom har XR möjlighet att göra abstrakta skolmoment som luftmotstånd eller koordinatsystem mer konkreta, vilket är något som gynnar många elever. Det framkommer dock i studiens resultat att nyckelintressenterna finner en stor begränsning av appar eller program och en för stor prislapp på XR utrustning. Detta har skapat ett moment 22 för införande av XR i skolundervisningen enligt nyckelintressenterna. Enligt nyckelintressenterna kommer inte skolor köpa XR headsets när det inte finns något innehåll. Samtidigt, enligt studiens resultat kommer ingen att skapa något innehåll om det inte finns några användare som vill betala för det. Resultaten visar även att lärare är intresserade av att använda XR i skolan idag men de saknar kunskaper om det. / The purpose of this study is to explore key stakeholders' perceptions of potentials and limitations with XR in high school teaching, especially in math and physics subjects where there are several abstract elements that students have a hard time with. A further purpose is to, with support in the results of the study, formulate guidelines as suggestions on how XR can be used and not used in school This qualitative study is based on semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders in three different areas: programmers with a focus on the development of augmented reality, teaching material developers and teachers in science subjects. Together, these three groups of key stakeholders have an overall picture of what this study intends to examine. Based on a qualitative approach, a thematic analysis of transcribed data is performed. The thematic analysis identified seven main themes from the collected material. The pedagogical starting point of this study is taken from Dewey (2004) and Lave & Wegner (1991). Dewey claims that practical work such as laboratory work is essential for children's learning. Piaget (2008) believes that when a child is denied the opportunity to discover on his own, the teacher has done the child a disservice and reduced the child's opportunity for learning. Lave & Wegner (1991) claim that learning is situated, student learn better if they are to do activities where the knowledge is to be used in real life. For example, if students are going to learn about hydropower plants, it can be beneficial to visit a hydropower plant and experience it in real life. The results from this study show that augmented reality has great potential as a digital aid in schools. Experience-based teaching is a great strength of augmented reality and this together with laboratory activities have great support in previous pedagogical research as a good teaching method. Furthermore, augmented reality can make abstract school elements such as air resistance or coordinate systems more concrete, which is something that benefits many students. It also appears in the results of the study that the key stakeholders find a large limitation of content and an excessive price tag on XR equipment. this has created a catch 22 for the introduction of augmented reality in school education according to the key stakeholders. According to key stakeholders, schools will not buy XR headsets when there is no content. At the same time, according to the results of the study, no one will create any content if there are no users who want to pay for it. The results also show that teachers are interested in using XR in school today, but they lack knowledge about it.

Extended reality solutions are becoming increasingly relevant for companies to implementand use commercially. One sector that have shown great potential and can benefit from implementing this type of technology is the healthcare industry. More specifically, for solutions connected to medical devices. Meanwhile, the healthcare industry has generally been particularly slow at adopting new technologies. Digitalization has been observed to progress at a slower pace than in other sectors. This study investigated why technology is progressing at slow pace and identified critical drivers and bottlenecks that affect the implementation of extended reality within healthcare. This was done through a case study on a proof concept project where the value of a mixed reality solution in the healthcare sector was investigated. This was particularly interesting as the tested solution was the first of its kind in Sweden. The results of the study revealed several barriers within the healthcare sector, including conservatism in the industry, lack of incentives, lack of absorption as well as data protection and privacy issues. Furthermore, theresults revealed that implementation of XR solutions into Swedish healthcare is in first phase. However, underlying drivers imply that there is value in further development. Especially, since the proof of concept was considered successful and showed signs of progressing to the next stage of implementation.

<p>Immersive reality technology, such as augmented and virtual reality, has recently become quite prevalent due to innovation in hardware and software, leading to cheaper devices such as Head-mounted displays. There is significant evidence of an improved rate of skill acquisition with immersive reality training. However, the knowledge required to develop content for such immersive media is still relatively high. Subject experts often work together with programmers to create such content. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Our research goal in this thesis can be broadly classified into four distinct but mutually dependent categories. First, we explored the problem of immersive content creation with ProcessAR, an AR-based system to develop 2D/3D content that captures subject matter experts (SMEs) environment-object interactions in situ. The design space for ProcessAR was identified from formative interviews with AR programming experts and SMEs, alongside a comparative design study with SMEs and novice users. To enable smooth workflows, ProcessAR locates and identifies different tools/objects through computer vision within the workspace when the author looks at them. We explored additional features, such as embedding 2D videos with detected objects and user-adaptive triggers. A final user evaluation comparing ProcessAR and a baseline AR authoring environment showed that, according to our qualitative questionnaire, users preferred ProcessAR.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Second, we explored a unified authoring and editing environment, EditAR, that can create content for multiple media, such as AR, VR, and video instructions, based on a single demonstration. EditAR captures the user's interaction within an environment and creates a digital twin, enabling users without programming backgrounds to develop content. We conducted formative interviews with the subject and media experts to design the system. The prototype was developed and reviewed by experts. We also performed a user study comparing traditional video creation with 2D video creation from 3D recordings via a 3D editor, which uses freehand interaction for in-headset editing. Users took five times less time to record instructions and preferred EditAR, giving significantly higher usability scores.</p> <p><br></p> <p>We then explore AnnotateXR, an extended reality (XR) workflow to collect various high fidelity data and auto-annotate it in a single demonstration. AnnotateXR allows users to align virtual models over physical objects, tracked with 6DoF sensors. AnnotateXR utilizes a hand tracking capable XR HMD coupled with 6DoF information and collision detection to enable algorithmic segmentation of different actions in videos through its digital twin. The virtual-physical mapping provides a tight bounding volume to generate semantic segmentation masks for the captured image data. Alongside supporting object and action segmentation, we also support other dimensions of annotation required by modern CV, such as Human-Object, Object-Object, and rich 3D recordings, all with a single demonstration. Our user study shows AnnotateXR produced over 112,000 annotated data points in 67 minutes while maintaining the same performance quality as manual annotations.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Lastly, We conducted two elicitation studies empirically evaluated to determine design guidance for cross-modal devices capable of supporting an immersive interface in VR, allowing for simultaneous interaction with direct hand interaction while allowing for keyboard and mouse input. Recent advances in hand tracking have allowed users to interact with and experience interactions closer and similar to interactions in the physical world. However, these added benefits of natural interaction come at the cost of precision and accuracy offered by legacy input media such as a keyboard/mouse. The results and the guidelines from the two studies were used to develop a prototype called the Immersive Keyboard, which was evaluated against only traditional interface of only the keyboard and mouse. </p> <p><br></p> <p>In this thesis, we have explored a novel extended reality authoring environment that enables users without programming to author asynchronous immersive content in-situ, especially for spatial instructions.</p>

In their opinion article, “The Ethics of Realism in Virtual and Augmented Reality,” Slater et al. (2020) raised awareness on themanifold ethical issues arising fromXR developing into a ubiquitous and daily used technology. The article of Slater et al. is true in every aspect. However, there was one further aspect missing, which will likely play a very important role when XR is no longer contained in laboratories and professional applications but a daily used technology: the ubiquitousness of drugs and their influence on perception and cognition in relation to XR.

The emergence of 6G and beyond networks is set to enable a range of novel services such as personalized highly immersive experiences, holographic teleportation, and human-like intelligent robotic applications. Such applications require a set of stringent sensing, communication, control, and intelligence requirements that mandate a leap in the design, analysis, and optimization of today's wireless networks. First, from a wireless communication standpoint, future 6G applications necessitate extreme requirements in terms of bidirectional data rates, near-zero latency, synchronization, and jitter. Concurrently, such services also need a sensing functionality to track, localize, and sense their environment. Owing to its abundant bandwidth, one may naturally resort to terahertz (THz) frequency bands (0.1 − 10 THz) so as to provide significant wireless capacity gains and enable high-resolution environment sensing. Nonetheless, operating a wireless system at the THz band is constrained by a very uncertain channel which brings forth novel challenges. In essence, these channel limitations lead to unreliable intermittent links ergo the short communication range and the high susceptibility to blockage and molecular absorption. Second, given that emerging wireless services are "intelligence-centric", today's communication links must be transformed from a mere bit-pipe into a brain-like reasoning system. Towards this end, one can exploit the concept of semantic communications, a revolutionary paradigm that promises to transform radio nodes into intelligent agents that can extract the underlying meaning (semantics) or significance in a data stream. However, to date, there has been a lack in holistic, fundamental, and scalable frameworks for building next-generation semantic communication networks based on rigorous and well-defined technical foundations. Henceforth, to panoramically develop the fully-fledged theoretical foundations of future 6G applications and guarantee affluent corresponding experiences, this dissertation thoroughly investigates two thrusts. The first thrust focuses on developing the analytical foundations of THz systems with a focus on network design, performance analysis, and system optimization. First, a novel and holistic vision that articulates the unique role of THz in 6G systems is proposed. This vision exposes the solutions and milestones necessary to unleash THz's true potential in next-generation wireless systems. Then, given that extended reality (XR) will be a staple application of 6G systems, a novel risk and tail-based performance analysis is proposed to evaluate the instantaneous performance of THz bands for specific ultimate virtual reality (VR) services. Here, the results showcase that abundant bandwidth and the molecular absorption effect have only a secondary effect on the reliability compared to the availability of line-of-sight. More importantly, the results highlight that average metrics overlook extreme events and tend to provide false positive performance guarantees. To address the identified challenges of THz systems, a risk-oriented learning-based design that exploits reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) is proposed so as to optimize the instantaneous reliability. Furthermore, the analytical results are extended to investigate the uplink freshness of augmented reality (AR) services. Here, a novel ruin-based performance is conducted that scrutinizes the peak age of information (PAoI) during extreme events. Next, a novel joint sensing, communication, and artificial intelligence (AI) framework is developed to turn every THz communication link failure into a sensing opportunity, with application to digital world experiences with XR. This framework enables the use of the same waveform, spectrum, and hardware for both sensing and communication functionalities. Furthermore, this sensing input is intelligently processed via a novel joint imputation and forecasting system that is designed via non-autoregressive and transformed-based generative AI tools. This joint system enables fine-graining the sensing input to smaller time slots, predicting missing values, and fore- casting sensing and environmental information about future XR user behavior. Then, a novel joint quality of personal experience (QoPE)-centric and sensing-driven optimization is formulated and solved via deep hysteretic multi-agent reinforcement learning tools. Essentially, this dissertation establishes a solid foundation for the future deployment of THz frequencies in next-generation wireless networks through the proposal of a comprehensive set of principles that draw on the theories of tail and risk, joint sensing and communication designs, and novel AI frameworks. By adopting a multi-faceted approach, this work contributes significantly to the understanding and practical implementation of THz technology, paving the way for its integration into a wide range of applications that demand high reliability, resilience, and an immersive user experience. In the second thrust of this dissertation, the very first theoretical foundations of semantic communication and AI-native wireless networks are developed. In particular, a rigorous and holistic vision of an end-to-end semantic communication network that is founded on novel concepts from AI, causal reasoning, transfer learning, and minimum description length theory is proposed. Within this framework, the dissertation demonstrates that moving from data-driven intelligence towards reasoning-driven intelligence requires identifying association (statistical) and causal logic. Additionally, to evaluate the performance of semantic communication networks, novel key performance indicators metrics that include new "reasoning capacity" measures that could go beyond Shannon's bound to capture the imminent convergence of computing and communication resources. Then, a novel contrastive learning framework is proposed so as to disentangle learnable and memoizable patterns in source data and make the data "semantic-ready". Through the development of a rigorous end-to-end semantic communication network founded on novel concepts from communication theory and AI, along with the proposal of novel performance metrics, this dissertation lays a solid foundation for the advancement of reasoning-driven intelligence in the field of wireless communication and paves the way for a wide range of future applications. Ultimately, the various analytical foundations presented in this dissertation will provide key guidelines that guarantee seamless experiences in future 6G applications, enable a successful deployment of THz wireless systems as a versatile band for integrated communication and sensing, and build future AI-native semantic communication networks. / Doctor of Philosophy / To date, the evolution of wireless networks has been driven by a chase for data rates, i.e., higher download or upload speeds. Nonetheless, future 6G applications (the generation succeeding today's fifth generation 5G), such as the metaverse, extended reality (encompassing augmented, mixed, and virtual reality), and fully autonomous robots and vehicles, necessitate a major leap in the design and functionality of a wireless network. Firstly, wireless networks must be able to perform functionalities that go beyond communications, encompassing control, sensing, and localization. Such functionalities enable a wide range of tasks such as remotely controlling a device, or tracking a mobile equipment with high precision. Secondly, wireless networks must be able to deliver experiences (e.g. provide the user a sense of immersion in a virtual world), in contrast to a mere service. To do so, extreme requirements in terms of data rate, latency, reliability, and sensing resolution must be met. Thirdly, intelligence must be native to wireless networks, which means that they must possess cognitive and reasoning abilities that enable them to think, act, and communicate like human beings. In this dissertation, the three aforementioned key enablers of future 6G experiences are examined. Essentially, one of the focuses of this dissertation is the design, analysis, and optimization of wireless networks operating at the so-called terahertz (THz) frequency band. The THz band is a quasi-optical (close to the visible light spectrum) frequency band that can enable wireless networks to potentially provide the extreme speeds needed (in terms of communications) and the high-resolution sensing. However, such frequency bands tend to be very susceptible to obstacles, humidity, and many other weather conditions. Therefore, this dissertation investigates the potential of such bands in meeting the demands of future 6G applications. Furthermore, novel solutions, enablers, and optimization frameworks are investigated to facilitate the successful deployment of this frequency band. To provide wireless networks with their reasoning ability, this dissertation comprehensively investigates the concept of semantic communications. In contrast to today's traditional communication frameworks that convert our data to binary bits (ones and zeros), semantic communication's goal is to enable networks to communicate meaning (semantics). To successfully engineer and deploy such networks, this dissertation proposes a novel suite of communication theoretic tools and key performance indicators. Subsequently, this dissertation proposes and analyzes a set of novel artificial intelligence (AI) tools that enable wireless networks to be equipped with the aforementioned cognitive and reasoning abilities. The outcomes of this dissertation have the potential to transform the way we interact with technology by catalyzing the deployment of holographic societies, revolutionizing the healthcare via remote augmented surgery, and facilitating the deployment of autonomous vehicles for a safer and more efficient transportation system. Additionally, the advancements in wireless networks and artificial intelligence proposed in this dissertation could also have a significant impact on various other industries, such as manufacturing, education, and defense, by enabling more efficient and intelligent systems. Ultimately, the societal impact of this research is far-reaching and could contribute to creating a more connected and advanced world.

The gaming industry is changing, and new games and gaming experiences are being developed. From board games to video games, to the latest AR and VR games. Right now, developers are trying to develop experiences that combine the real and the virtual into one wholesome and believable mix. This gives new opportunities to implement technology in classical artifacts. In the context of board games there are several tangible pieces, and the dice is the chosen main character for this study. Placed in the middle, between board games and digital games, AR games comes now. Previous research of board games and digital technology gives interesting information on the activity and provides a foundation for new design. The dice is world famous, so this study aims to find out how this piece can evolve with the help of technology. By working with concept driven design, in relation with an AR game studio, the AR Dice and the AR Game DiceFold was invented. A qualitative method was used in which experts of the industry got together to discuss the new experiences of AR games and the functionality of the AR Dice which might become a new part of the gaming world in the near future. The findings of this study lead to three promising discoveries. A new gaming component, new AR game and further answers regarding research in the scopes of AR games. / Spelindustrin förändras och nya former av spel och upplevelser utvecklas. Från brädspel till datorspel till de nyaste AR och VR spelen. Just nu arbetar utvecklare med att skapa nya upplevelser där det virtuella kombineras med verkligheten till en fulländad och trovärdig mix. Detta skapar utrymme för nya möjligheter at implementera teknologi i klassiska artefakter. Inom kontexten av brädspel finner vi många fysiska spelobjekt och tärningen är vald som huvud-karaktären för den här studien. Placerad mellan brädspel och digitala spel kommer nu AR spel. Tidigare forskning inom brädspel och teknologi gav intressant information inom kontexten och agerar som riktlinjer och som grund för ny design. Tärningen är världskänd så siktar den härstudien mot att ta reda på hur det här objektet kan utvecklas med hjälp av teknologi. Genom att arbeta med konceptdriven design och i nära relation med en AR spelstudio, designades den nya AR tärningen och det nya AR spelet DiceFold. En kvalitativ metod användes där experter inom industrin diskuterade de nya möjliga upplevelser inom AR spel och funktionaliteten hos AR tärningen, som kanske kan bli en ny del inom spelvärlden i en snar framtid. Denna studie resulterar i tre olika saker, den nya spel komponenten AR tärningen, det nya AR spelet DiceFold och mer information inom forskning av AR spel.