A research report submitted to the faculty of Engineering and the built environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering. Johannesburg, August 2016 / There has been much interest in using the Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect cameras for visual servo control applications. It is a relatively cheap device with expected shortcomings. This work contributes to the practical considerations of using the Kinect for visual servo control applications. A comprehensive characterisation of the Kinect is synthesised from existing literature and results from a nonlinear calibration procedure. The Kinect reduces computational overhead on image processing stages, such as pose estimation or depth estimation. It is limited by its 0.8m to 3.5m practical depth range and quadratic depth resolution of 1.8mm to 35mm, respectively. Since the Kinect uses an infra-red (IR) projector, a class one laser, it should not be used outdoors, due to IR saturation, and objects belonging to classes of non- IR-friendly surfaces should be avoided, due to IR refraction, absorption, or specular reflection. Problems of task stability due to invalid depth measurements in Kinect depth maps and practical depth range limitations can be reduced by using depth map preprocessing and activating classical visual servoing techniques when Kinect-based approaches are near task failure. / MT2017

Submitted by Marlene Santos (marlene.bc.ufg@gmail.com) on 2016-06-17T17:13:17Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Millys Fabrielle Araújo Carvalhaes.pdf: 4151175 bytes, checksum: 37325a1481b0c779e840016337633c80 (MD5) license_rdf: 19874 bytes, checksum: 38cb62ef53e6f513db2fb7e337df6485 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-06-28T13:16:06Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Millys Fabrielle Araújo Carvalhaes.pdf: 4151175 bytes, checksum: 37325a1481b0c779e840016337633c80 (MD5) license_rdf: 19874 bytes, checksum: 38cb62ef53e6f513db2fb7e337df6485 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-28T13:16:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Millys Fabrielle Araújo Carvalhaes.pdf: 4151175 bytes, checksum: 37325a1481b0c779e840016337633c80 (MD5) license_rdf: 19874 bytes, checksum: 38cb62ef53e6f513db2fb7e337df6485 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-06-23 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Goiás - FAPEG / This study proposes a computational tool to support motor rehabilitation of the upper limbs in post stroke patients. This tool was designed to be used in combination with Virtual Environment, which is also being developed at Bioengineering and Biomechanics Laboratory. Thereby, while the virtual environment focus is the patient interaction and immersion through Kinect Xbox 360 sensor, the main goal of this study is a biomechanical analysis of the movements performed by the patients via the data generated by the Kinect during the patient’s interaction with the virtual environment. Furthermore, since Kinect Xbox 360 is not designed for clinical analysis, tests were performed to compare the precision with respect to a standard motion capture system, the Vicon system, considered the gold standard, widely used in laboratories of biomechanics for kinematic analysis of movements. In this respect, statistical tests were used to compare the results of both systems. In addition, vector analysis using the Statistical Parametric Mapping method allowed provided about information about which coordinates had greater influence at the results. / A proposta deste trabalho foi a elaboração e desenvolvimento de uma ferramenta computacional para avaliar o processo de reabilitação motora dos membros superiores de pacientes acometidos de acidente vascular encefálico (AVE) ao utilizar o ambiente virtual (AV) para Reabilitação de Membros Superiores também desenvolvido no Laboratório de Bioengenharia e Biomecânica. Neste sentido, enquanto o foco do AV desenvolvido é centrado na interação e imersão do paciente com o jogo por meio do sensor Kinect, o objetivo deste trabalho é a análise biomecânica dos movimentos executados pelo paciente por meio dos dados gerados pelo Kinect durante a sua interação com o AV. Desta forma, o foco da ferramenta é o feedback fornecido ao profissional responsável pelo acompanhamento da reabilitação. Além disso, uma vez que o Kinect Xbox 360 não foi projetado para análises clínicas, foram executados testes para comparar a sua precisão em relação a um sistema de captura de movimento, o sistema Vicon, tido como padrão ouro, sendo amplamente utilizado em laboratórios de biomecânica para análise cinemática dos movimentos. Neste sentido, foi utilizado testes estatísticos para comparação dos resultados de ambos os sistemas. Em adição, a análise vetorial utilizando o método Statistical Parametric Mapping permitiu fornecer informações acerca de qual coordenada teve maior influência nas diferenças encontradas.

This work deals with design and implementation of a game based on the XNA platform. It describes the platform and its possibilities of game development for both the PC and the Xbox 360 console. The implemented game is called NanoHeal and it is about the treatment of various health problems. The work also investigates graphic techniques such as non-photorealistic rendering, the depth of field effect and particle systems. These techniques are used to achieve the distinguished look of the game. Key features of the game were evaluated in the online questionnaire.

This thesis deals with game development on the Xbox 360 platform and implementation of a starter kit for this platform. After introduction of the Xbox 360 as a modern and very powerful gaming console, the XNA technology that makes development of games for console possible for the first time in history not only for professionals but also for amateurs, is introduced. The next part mentions existing starter kits for 3D XNA games, existing tools widely used to analyze implemented solution with focus on performance and tools commonly used for game content creation. The main part of thesis is dedicated to design, implementation and testing of a real time strategy starter kit prototype, with emphasis on efficiency, understandability and usability by XNA community members in mind.

Games in general and computer games in particular have now become a mainstream activity for young people in the industrialized nations. Sadly, people’s interaction with computer artifacts and games are mainly still limited to the visual and auditive modalities. This constrains the richness of our interaction with those artifacts, it constrains the possibilities of using those artifacts to communicate and build relations with others, and it excludes some people from using them at all. This thesis answers the questions of whether it’s possible to use haptics as a single modality for conveying information in computer games, if it’s possible to translate the standard interfaces of existing computer games into haptic interfaces, and if it can be accomplished with the technology used in the gamepads of current generation game consoles. It also contains a theoretical foundation for using haptics in game design and a new design method for analyzing the requirements of computer game interface modalities. A computer game prototype called Sightlence was developed in order to answer these questions. The prototype was developed in four iterative cycles of design, development, and evaluative play sessions. Four groups of people participated in the play sessions: graduate students, and teachers, specializing in games; people who are deafblind; people from the general population; and pupils from a national special needs school in Sweden for children with deafness or impaired hearing combined with severe learning disabilities, or congenital deafblindness. The prototypes were tested with usability techniques for measuring performance and learnability. The usability tests showed that Sightlence can be successfully learned by people from the general population while the pupils with cognitive development disorders from the special needs school would need additional support in the game in order to learn to handle the increased abstraction caused by the haptic interface. The thesis ends with discussion of the designed and developed artifact Sightlence. The discussion touches on the design process, the usability testing, and possible future research and development relevant for making haptics a fruitful tool and medium for designers and people.

The topic of this thesis is to analyze the business models currently used in the gaming industry. The aim is to provide a comprehensive overview of the current economic situation of the industry, distribution channels, used technologies and business practices from the perspective of all market participants. The theoretical part is due to less frequent topic devoted to the description of all entities of gaming industry. It analyzes not only all the actors involved in the development of video games and their subsequent sale but also the technical tools used to play games and also the players themselves. Video games are divided into two main streams (hardcore and casual) which also determine the structure and analysis. The analytical part focuses on capturing the most widely used business models and their combination for the sale of the video games. Models are then categorized into two groups (goods and services) and represent two different approaches to pricing scenarios. For each business model describes the basic principle, its pros and cons, the factors influencing the successful implementation and an example of the use of the model in practice. The analysis also includes the socio-economic profiles of two major market segments. In conclusion, based on the current developments and current trends in the field across the gambling industry the work tries to predict the future development of business models and for video games respectively. the whole industry.

This report describes my degree project. For my degree project I made a demo for a game idea that I've developed, and implemented for use with Xbox 360. The idea was about converting the feeling and gameplay of old 2D side-scrolling platform games into 3D, viewed from a first-person perspective. The Xbox 360 version of the demo was also submitted for the game competition Swedish Game Awards.  In the report, I explain this idea more extensive, what software I used to implement it, and how I implemented it. Finally, at the end I clarify the results and discuss fulfilled tasks and future improvements. I'm very pleased with my progress so far and I will continue to work on this on my own until it feels like a finished product that can be distributed. / Den här rapporten beskriver mitt examensarbete. För mitt examensarbete så gjorde jag en demoversion av en spelidé som jag utvecklat, och som implementerades för användning på Xbox 360. Idén bestod av att överföra känslan och spelmekaniken från gamla tvådimensionella sidoskrollande plattformsspel till 3D, sett ur ett förstapersonsperspektiv. Demoversionen för Xbox 360 skickades också in som ett bidrag till speltävlingen Swedish Game Awards.  I rapporten så förklarar jag idén mer utförligt, vad för mjukvara jag använde för att implementera den, och hur jag implementerade den. I slutet av rapporten så klargör jag resultaten och diskuterar mål som har uppfyllts samt idéer för att vidareutveckla spelet. Jag är nöjd med det jag åstadkommit hitintills och jag kommer att fortsätta arbeta på spelet själv tills det känns som en färdig produkt som kan distribueras.