The capability of hand-eye coordination is one of the dexterous skills owned by human beings. In order to reproduce the skillfully operational technique and demonstrate basic hand-eye coordination technique, a robotic wrist system with stereo visual feedback strategy from the viewpoint of table tennis is presented in this thesis. Based on the concept of aerodynamics and collision mechanics, the exerted forces acting on the ball are analyzed. Three stages, including the ball flying in the air, inelastic collision between a racket and the ball, and hitting strategy of humans, will be investigated. At the same time, three-dimensional information for the scene is established using images acquired by dual cameras with a calibration process. Therefore, the flying status of the ball and its position in the space can be calculated. The robotic wrist located underneath will then be controlled to hit the ball to allow it bouncing upwards. The mechanical wrist is operated by three servo motors to simulate actual movement of human wrist. The objective is to successively hit the ball with the racket to achieve intelligent hand-eye coordination control on ball bouncing.

The aim of this dissertation is to reflect on economic methodology. To reflect means to think about the relationship between researcher and the object of research. The object in mainstream economics is fixed in market realm. When the object is fixed then the focus in economic study is the method. Mainstream economics used equilibrium analysis method in order to make the research outcome be certainty. In the process of pursuing certainty the ontology of the object is neglected. The de-centering strategy we applied is deconstruction concept. My main reason for taking Derrida¡¦s deconstruction as a starting point is to de-center the fixed center which operating mechanism is the invisible hand. In this dissertation the logic of deconstruction is ¡§neither..or..¡¨ form and the steps are to undo and displace. In order to emphasize the multiples means and the relation of knowledge and power we use the term discourse. In chapter four we undo ¡§the invisible hand¡¨ metaphor that is the center of market. The direct consequence of the undo process is the finding of the ontological implication. In chapter five we displace ¡§the invisible hand¡¨ metaphor. Through rereading Adam Smith¡¦s methodology we interpret invisible hand as causal relation and find the same ontological implication. Together with these two processes above we find out the inspiration for reflection of economic methodology that is to answer the most fundamental question about what is the economic object. In chapter six we call for discussion to bringing the ontology back into economics. We believe the study of economic ontology is a prerequisite for understanding economics as a scientific discipline. It is thus intended and hoped that this reflection will help to beyond the opposite between positivism and post-positivism. For the defined goal to coordinate the opposite we introduce philosopher Quine¡¦s ontological method called ontological commitment. After the reflection we claim ¡Gthe method such as formation and econometric is important, but if we can emphasize the ontology of research object then the study will be activity. The defense of this claim is the main subject of this dissertation. Finally we just point out that if the claim is accepted, then something along this line of the attention is essential to the practice researcher. That is to take more time to think the nature of the research object when he construes a model.

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Thesis (M. Med. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-69).

Thesis (M.Sc.)--York University, 2007. Graduate Programme in Kinesiology and Health Science. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-81). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR32025

Aachen, Techn. Hochsch., Thesis (doctoral), 2000.

published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

When you want to pick up an object, it is usually a simple matter to reach out to its location, and accurately pick it up. Almost every action in such a sequence is guided and checked by vision, with eye movements usually preceding motor actions (Hayhoe & Ballard, 2005; Hayhoe, Shrivastava, Mruczek, & Pelz, 2003). However, most research in this area has been concerned about the sequence of movements in complex “everyday” tasks like making tea or tool use. Less emphasis has been placed on the object itself and where on it the eye and hand movements land, and how gaze behaviour is different when generating a perceptual response to that same object. For those studies that have, very basic geometric shapes have been used such as rectangles, crosses and triangles. In everyday life, however, there are a range of problems that must be computed that go beyond such simple objects. Objects typically have complex contours, different textures or surface properties, and variations in their centre of mass. Accordingly, the primary goals in conducting this research were three fold: (1) To provide a deeper understanding of the function of gaze in perception and action when interacting with simple and complex objects (Experiments 1a, 1b, 1c); (2) To examine how gaze and grasp behaviours are influenced when you dissociate important features of an object such as the COM and the horizontal centre of the block (Experiments 2a, 2c); and (3) To explore whether perceptual biases will influence grasp and gaze behaviours (Experiment 2b). The results from the current series of studies showed the influence of action (i.e., the potential to act) on perception in terms of where we look on an object, and vice versa, the influence of perceptual biases on action output (i.e. grasp locations). In addition, grasp locations were found to be less sensitive to COM changes than previously suggested (for example see Kleinholdermann, Brenner, Franz, & Smeets, 2007), whereas fixation locations were drawn towards the ‘visual’ COM of objects, as shown in other perceptual studies (for example see He & Kowler, 1991; Kowler & Blaser, 1995; McGowan, Kowler, Sharma, & Chubb, 1998; Melcher & Kowler, 1999; Vishwanath & Kowler, 2003, 2004; Vishwanath, Kowler, & Feldman, 2000), even when a motor response was required. The implications of these results in terms of vision for Perception and vision for Action are discussed.

Hand held device users encounter various forms of distraction in their daily lives. Distractions may prevent them from correctly using the hand held device. Usability evaluations are meant to identify issues prior to end-users experiencing them. However the laboratory environment, which usability evaluations are conducted, may not reflect the real-world conditions that devices are used. The experiment involved each participant performing tasks in both a quiet and a noisy environment. The noisy environment emulated part of a real-world experience by adding social noise in the background during the participant's tasks. The goal was to compare how much insight each participant was able to achieve from the data in each of the environments. It was found that task performance accuracy was higher in a quiet environment as opposed to the noisy environment. The mental demands and frustration of participants were found to be higher during the noisy environment evaluation.