This thesis addresses the subject of converging real and virtual environments to a combined entity that can facilitate physiologically complying interfaces for the purpose of training. Based on the mobility and physiological demands of dismounted soldiers, the base assumption is that greater immersion means better learning and potentially higher training transfer. As the user can interface with the system in a natural way, more focus and energy can be used for training rather than for control itself. Identified requirements on a simulator relating to physical and psychological user aspects are support for unobtrusive and wireless use, high field of view, high performance tracking, use of authentic tools, ability to see other trainees, unrestricted movement and physical feedback. Using only commercially available systems would be prohibitively expensive whilst not providing a solution that would be fully optimized for the target group for this simulator. For this reason, most of the systems that compose the simulator are custom made to facilitate physiological human aspects as well as to bring down costs. With the use of chroma keying, a cylindrical simulator room and parallax corrected high field of view video see-though head mounted displays, the real and virtual reality are mixed. This facilitates use of real tool as well as layering and manipulation of real and virtual objects. Furthermore, a novel omnidirectional floor and thereto interface scheme is developed to allow limitless physical walking to be used for virtual translation. A physically confined real space is thereby transformed into an infinite converged environment. The omnidirectional floor regulation algorithm can also provide physical feedback through adjustment of the velocity in order to synchronize virtual obstacles with the surrounding simulator walls. As an alternative simulator target use, an omnidirectional robotic platform has been developed that can match the user movements. This can be utilized to increase situation awareness in telepresence applications.

This dissertation is based upon the work within a number of research projects, five of which are presented in detail. The work follows the direction of research laid out by the Ubiquitous Computing and Augmented Reality research programs and concerns the broad question of where to go as we seek to take digital technology, and human interactions with this technology, beyond the traditional desktop computer. The work presented takes a design-oriented approach to Human Computer Interaction research. Five prototype systems are presented: Ambient displays for remote awareness, a navigation device providing guidance through tactile cues, a personal device for wastewater plant operators, paper cards enabling control of video playback, and a cell phone that enables you to ‘talk silent’. It is discussed how these prototypes, despite obvious differences, all reflect the same overall attitude towards the role of digital technology. It is an attitude emphasizing that integration of digital technology with everyday human activities means making computational power manifest as part of a larger patchwork of resources. Furthermore, it is an attitude promoting the design of digital technology that leaves the control and initiative with people and their earned ability to take appropriate action when faced with the particularities of the social and physical settings encountered in everyday life beyond the computer screen. In other words, this dissertation brings forward, by using five prototypes as examples, an attitude that encourages us to recognize, embrace, and take advantage of, the fact that human interaction with digital technology takes place, not in a vacuum, but in a rich and diverse world full of many resources for human action other than the digital technology we bring about. / <p>In collaboration with School of Arts and Communication, Malmö University, Sweden.</p>

This dissertation investigates the role of annotative locative media in mediating experiences of place. The overarching impetus motivating this research is the need to bring to bear the theoretical and substantive concerns of cultural landscape studies on the development of a methodological framework for interrogating the ways in which annotative locative media reconfigure experiences of urban landscapes. I take as my empirical cases i) Google Maps with its associated Street View and locational placemark interface, and ii) Layar, an augmented reality platform combining digital mapping and real-time locational augmentation. In the spirit of landscape studies’ longstanding and renewed interest in what may be termed “ordinary” residential landscapes, and reflecting the increasing imbrication of locative media technologies in everyday lives, the empirical research is based in Kenwick, a middleclass, urban residential neighborhood in Lexington, Kentucky. Overall, I present an argument about the need to consider the digital, code (i.e. software), and specifically locative media, in the intellectual context of critical geographies in general and cultural landscape studies in particular.

Perceptual, "context-aware" applications that observe their environment and interact with users via cameras and other sensors are becoming ubiquitous on personal computers, mobile phones, gaming platforms, household robots, and augmented-reality devices. This dissertation's main thesis is that perceptual applications present several new classes of security and privacy risks to both their users and the bystanders. Existing perceptual platforms are often completely inadequate for mitigating these risks. For example, we show that the augmented reality browsers, a class of popular perceptual platforms, contain numerous inherent security and privacy flaws. The key insight of this dissertation is that perceptual platforms can provide stronger security and privacy guarantees by controlling the interfaces they expose to the applications. We explore three different approaches that perceptual platforms can use to minimize the risks of perceptual computing: (i) redesigning the perceptual platform interfaces to provide a fine-grained permission system that allows least-privileged application development; (ii) leveraging existing perceptual interfaces to enforce access control on perceptual data, apply algorithmic privacy transforms to reduce the amount of sensitive content sent to the applications, and enable the users to audit/control the amount of perceptual data that reaches each application; and (iii) monitoring the applications' usage of perceptual interfaces to find anomalous high-risk cases. To demonstrate the efficacy of our approaches, first, we build a prototype perceptual platform that supports fine-grained privileges by redesigning the perceptual interfaces. We show that such a platform not only allows creation of least-privileged perceptual applications but also can improve performance by minimizing the overheads of executing multiple concurrent applications. Next, we build DARKLY, a security and privacy-aware perceptual platform that leverages existing perceptual interfaces to deploy several different security and privacy protection mechanisms: access control, algorithmic privacy transforms, and user audit. We find that DARKLY can run most existing perceptual applications with minimal changes while still providing strong security and privacy protection. Finally, We introduce peer group analysis, a new technique that detects anomalous high-risk perceptual interface usages by creating peer groups with software providing similar functionality and comparing each application's perceptual interface usages against those of its peers. We demonstrate that such peer groups can be created by leveraging information already available in software markets like textual descriptions and categories of applications, list of related applications, etc. Such automated detection of high-risk applications is essential for creating a safer perceptual ecosystem as it helps the users in identifying and installing safer applications with any desired functionality and encourages the application developers to follow the principle of least privilege. / text

The new industry revolution creates a vast transformation in the manufacturing methods. Embedded Intelligence and communication technologies facilitate the execution of the smart factory. It can provide lots of features for strong customization of products. Assembly system is a critical segment of the smart factory. However, the complexity of production planning and the variety of products being manufactured, persuade the factories to use different methods to guide the workers for unfamiliar tasks in the assembly section. Motion tracking is the process of capturing the movement of human body or objects which has been used in different industrial systems. It can be integrated to a wide range of applications such as interacting with computers, games and entertainment, industry, etc. Motion tracking can be integrated to assembly systems and it has the potential to create an improvement in this industry as well. But the integration of motion tracking in industrial processes is still not widespread. This thesis work provides a fully automatic tracking solution for future systems in manufacturing industry and other fields. In general a configurable, flexible, and scalable motion tracking system is created in this thesis work to amend the tracking process. According to our environment, we have done a research between different motion tracking methods and technologies including Kinect and Leap Motion sensor, and finally the leap motion sensor is selected as the most appropriate method, because it fulfils our demands in this project. Multiple Leap motion sensors are used in this work to cover areas with different size. Data fusion between multiple leap motion sensors can be considered as another novel contribution of this thesis work. To achieve this goal data from multiple sensors are combined. This system can improve the lack of accuracy in order to creating a practical industrial application. By fusion of several sensors in order to achieve accuracies that allow implementation in practice, a motion tracking system with higher accuracy is created.

Gamification offers methods for influencing human behaviour that are not available with other approaches to behaviour-change interventions. Its widespread and successful use in business, education, and health care notwithstanding, it has so far not been extensively used for improving sustainability, nor have its underlying psychological principles been studied in depth. This dissertation investigates gamification with a special focus on the role of perspective taking and emotion. A gamified behaviour-change app was compared with a standard app and a webpage for its effect on participants’ sustainable behaviours. During the one month period the participants engaged with the intervention, they kept diaries about their experience with sustainability and the technology. Furthermore, the influence of dramatic elements was tested through an augmented reality approach. Gamification encourages longer engagement with the intervention, thereby influencing behaviour. Specifically, gamification increases knowledge about and willingness to invest effort into sustainable behaviours. Dramatic elements, using the power of narrative persuasion and immersion, are important aspects to consider in gamification. The theory of behavioural choice can fruitfully serve as a psychological model of how gamification affects behaviour. / Graduate

Purpose – The purpose of this thesis is to understand how the two frameworks: ARKit and ARCore works in the outside environment, in terms of possibilities and constrictions. This thesis intends to answer the following research questions: -        Which possibilities and restrictions does ARKit and ARCore have for usage in the outside environment? -        Which is the lowest illuminance needed for ARKit to work? Method – The study uses a literature study to answer the first research question. For the second research question a combination of literature study and experimental study is used, in which a hypothesis and prediction is formulated. Results – The results of the study show that there’s more restrictions than possibilities for using ARKit and ARCore in the outside environment. There are a lot of factors that can affect the frameworks ability to read the surroundings and place virtual objects. Dynamic elements, such as weather and illumination, is something that needs to be kept in mind. The experimental study showed that the minimal illumination needed for an ARKit based application to be able to place an object in an environment was 10.275 lx. In comparison; this is when the sun is positioned at a -5O under the horizon or higher. For example, this means that 1st of January only has 7h and 30min of the day where there is enough daylight for ARKit to read the surrounding. This does not account for other factors that can be troublesome, such as during the wintertime there is likely snow covering the ground. Implications – The study contributes to the exploration of an area which is relatively unknown since these frameworks have barely been out for a year. The results in the study can give an insight for developers and companies that have visions to use AR technology in the outside environment. The study covers the main areas AR, ARKit and ARCore. Limitations – The experimental study was only performed using ARKit, the reason being that the only testing device available was iOS Keywords – Augmented Reality, AR, Apple, Google, ARKit, ARCore, Lux, Experiment, Literature study. / Syfte - Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur ramverken ARKit och ARCore lämpar sig för utomhusbruk i form av möjligheter och begränsningar. Denna undersökning avser att besvara följande frågeställningar:   Vilka möjligheter och begränsningar har ARKit respektive ARCore vid utomhusbruk?  Vilken är den minimala belysningsstyrka som krävs för att ARKit skall fungera?   Metod – I studien används litteraturstudie för att besvara första frågeställningen, och för andra frågeställningen är det en kombination av litteraturstudie och experimentell studie med hypotes och förutsägelse. Resultat – Resultatet visar att begränsningarna är fler än möjligheterna. Det är många faktorer i en utomhusmiljö som kan påverka ramverkens förmåga att läsa av omgivningen och placera ett virtuellt objekt. Dynamiska element som väder och ljus är något man uppenbarligen måste ha i åtanke. Den experimentella studien visade att den minimala belysningsstyrkan som krävs för att en ARKit baserad applikation skall kunna placera ut ett objekt är 10.275 lx. Detta kan jämföras med att solen befinner sig -5O under horisonten eller högre. Ett exempel är tillexempel den 1:a januari som har 7h 30min under dygnet då det är tillräckligt ljust. En annan aspekt som kan ställa till problem under vintermånaderna är eventuella snötäcken. Implikationer – Studien bidrar till att utforska ett område som är relativt okänt då dessa ramverk är knappt ett år gamla. Resultatet i studien kan ge en insikt till utvecklare eller företag som har egna visioner att nyttja AR teknologin utomhus. Studien lägger grunden för huvudområdena AR, ARKit och ARCore. Begränsningar – Den experimentella studien genomfördes endast med ARKit med anledning att den enda testenhet som fanns tillgänglig var iOS. Nyckelord – Augmented Reality, Apple, Google, ARKit, ARCore, Lux, Experiment, Litteraturstudie

Este trabalho apresenta uma ferramenta para conferência de áudio 3D (espacial) implementando conceitos de Realidade Aumentada (RA). O objetivo desta ferramenta é aprimorar a sensação de presença e melhorar a interatividade entre seus participantes remotos, por meio de benefícios proporcionados pela utilização de técnicas de áudio espacial (implementadas em avatares de áudio) pela: maior facilidade de concentração e atenção em um único participante e pelos efeitos positivos na memorização dos conteúdos pelos participantes como conseqüência da melhor inteligibilidade e compreensão. A motivação desta implementação reside em sua utilização como ferramenta de comunicação síncrona no ambiente de aprendizagem eletrônica Tidia-Ae, auxiliando na realização de atividades colaborativas e, possivelmente, nos processos de ensino e aprendizagem à distância. A ferramenta implementada foi integrada ao sistema Tidia-Ae e os resultados dos experimentos realizados demonstraram sua efetividade com relação às melhorias proporcionadas pelo processamento de áudio espacial. / This work presents a 3D (spatial) audio conference tool implementing Augmented Reality (AR) concepts. The main intent of this tool is to enhance the sense of presence and increase the interactivity among remote participants, by implementing spatial audio techniques in audio avatars. The use of such techniques facilitates focusing the attention on anyone specific participant of the conference and enables a positive effect on memory retention, resulting in a better intelligibility and comprehension. The motivation of this implementation lies on its appliance as a synchronous communication tool within the Tidia-Ae e-Learning system, thus aiding on collaborative activities realization and, possibly, on teaching and learning processes. The results of the experiments showed the effectiveness provided by the spatial audio processing when applied in such environment.

<div>With rapidly increasing mobile computing devices and high speed networks, large amounts of digital information and intelligence from the surrounding environment have been introduced into our everyday life. However, much of the context and content is in textual and in 2D. To access the digital contents spontaneously, augmented reality~(AR) has become a promising surrogate to bridge the physical with the digital world. Thanks to the vast improvement to the personal computing devices, AR technologies are emerging in realistic scenarios. Commercially available software development kits~(SDKs) and hardware platforms have started to expose AR applications to a large population. </div><div> </div><div>In a broader level, this thesis focuses on investigating suitable interactions metaphors for the evolving AR. In particular, this work leverages the spatial awareness in AR environment to enable spatially-aware interactions. This work explores (i) spatial inputs around AR devices using the local spatial relationship between the AR devices and the scene, (ii) spatial interactions within the surrounding environment exploiting the global spatial relationship among multiple users as well as between the users and the environment. In this work, I mainly study four spatially-aware AR interactions: (i) 3D tangible interactions by directly mapping input to the continuous and discrete volume around the device, (ii) 2D touch input in 3D context by projecting the screen input to the real world, (iii) location aware interactions which use the locations of the real/virtual objects in the AR scene as spatial references, and (iv) collaborative interactions referring to a commonly shared AR scene. This work further develop the enabling techniques including a magnetic sensing based 3D tracking of tangible devices relative to a handheld AR device, a projection based 3D sketching technique for in-situ AR contents creation, a localization method for spatially mapping the smart devices into the AR scene, and a registration approach for resolving the transformations between multiple SLAM AR devices. Moreover, I build systems towards allowing pervasive AR experiences. Primarily, I develop applications for increasing the flexibility of AR contents manipulation, creation and authoring, intuitively interacting with the smart environment, and spontaneously collaborating within a co-located AR scene.</div><div> </div><div>The main body of the research has contributed to multiple on-going collaborative projects. I briefly discuss the key results and visions from these projects including (i) autonomous robotic exploration and mapping of smart environment where the spatial relationship between the robot and the smart devices is resolved, and (ii) human-robot-interaction in AR where the spatial intelligence can be seamlessly exchanged between the human and the robot. Further, I suggest future research projects leveraging three critical features from AR, namely situatedness, mobility, and the capability to support spatial collaborations.</div>

<i>Double Vision: A practice- led investigation of art and differential perception</i> is a series of five interrelated practice-led research studies into artistic expression controlling perceptual experiences between audiences of varying visual acuities. Significant refinements  occurred between the first and second, and second and third studies. The last four studies were conducted with the aim of understanding vision’s influence on perception. <i>Double Vision’s</i> lead methodological approach was artistic practice. Other methods were employed according to the needs of that practice. They included iteration, collaboration, exhibition and testing. The research questions of <i>Double Vision</i> were refined in response to the results of artistic practice. That evolution resulted in two interrelated questions: <i>Can artwork be intentionally created to be experienced differently dependent on one’s visual abilities? </i>and<i> If so, can those experiences be shared?</i> A further question, <i>‘Can an analogy to colour deficient vision be created that engages both those with colour vision deficiency and the typically sighted?’, </i>concludes the investigations. Artwork was realized through printmaking, animation and multimedia formats. Its context and content derived from many forms, notably the Ishihara <i>Test for Colour Deficiency</i>, writings of William Blake, contemporary music and philosophy. Augmented reality was employed to facilitate the translation of visual perceptions between targeted audiences. A number of exhibitions were held exploring these themes.