Les interfaces haptiques permettent à un opérateur d'interagir avec un environnement virtuel ou distant via le sens du toucher.La majorité des interfaces de l'état de l'art restent au contact de l’utilisateur pendant toute la durée de la manipulation. La liaison permanente entre le robot et l’opérateur nuit à la qualité de l’interaction, notamment en réduisant la transparence en espace libre. Ce problème est d’autant plus prégnant dans le cadre des interfaces haptiques dextres.Cette thèse a pour objectif d'étudier la possibilité d'augmenter la transparence et le réalisme de l'interaction à travers le développement d’interfaces à contacts intermittents. Il s’agit de déconnecter le robot de l'utilisateur lorsqu’aucun contact avec l’environnement n’est nécessaire. Un état de l’art des performances de la manipulation humaine, des interfaces haptiques dextres ainsi que des travaux relatifs au contact intermittent, est d’abord présenté. Un effecteur plan pour le contact intermittent est ensuite conçu. Il est installé à l’extrémité distale d'une interface haptique et plusieurs solutions sont envisagées pour sa loi de commande. Les performances de dix utilisateurs sont comparées dans le cadre d'une tâche de détection de contact en utilisant d'une part l'effecteur adapté au contact intermittent, d'autre part une interface haptique classique. L'élaboration d'une interface permettant une interaction plus naturelle avec l'environnement est ensuite initiée par l'élaboration d'une méthodologie de choix des zones de contact de la main à prendre en compte dans la conception d'une interface haptique. Des perspectives sont finalement données quant à l'extension de ces résultats à une interface haptique dextre à contacts intermittents. / Haptic interfaces allow an operator to interact with a virtual environment through the sense of touch. Nowadays, most existing interfaces are mechanically connected to the user's hand throughout the simulation. Therefore he or she interacts with the virtual environment by means of a handle. Thus the interaction is neither natural nor intuitive, and the permanent connection between the robot and the operator is the source of perturbations which prevent the interaction from being perfectly transparent and realistic. The goal of this study is to increase transparency as much as possible by disconnecting the robot from the user when s/he is not in contact with the virtual environment, through the design of a dexterous haptic interface allowing for a more natural interaction than with a classical interface taking into account only one contact point. A state-of-the-art of dexterous haptic interfaces and another for intermittent contact devices are first gathered, and the human performances that should be taken into account for the design of a dexterous haptic interface are analysed. A bidirectional end-effector for intermittent contact is then devised. It is set up at the tip of a haptic interface and several solutions are tested for its control. The performances of six users are compared on the context of a contact detection task, first using the intermittent contact end-effector, then using a classical haptic device. A methodology for the choice of the hand contact areas that should be taken into account in the design of a dexterous haptic interface to enhance the naturalness of the interaction is proposed. Finally, some perspectives are given as for the extension of this study for the design of a dexterous encounter-type haptic interface.

L’objectif de cette thèse est de mieux comprendre comment les enfants déficients visuels (DV) appréhendent les images tactiles qui illustrent les livres qui leur sont destinés. Notre travail est organisé autour de deux axes de réflexion. Le premier axe se concentre sur l’enfant qui explore des images tactiles, alors que le second axe se focalise sur l’impact des propriétés de ces images sur le traitement haptique des enfants. Nos travaux ont porté sur des enfants atteints de différents degrés de handicap visuel mais sans troubles associés (en particulier, sans retard cognitif), en distinguant les enfants aveugles précoces des enfants malvoyants. Nous avons également comparé leurs performances à celles d’enfants voyants de mêmes âges. Les résultats obtenus montrent que l’expérience perceptive des enfants en fonction de leur degré de handicap visuel impacte fortement la compréhension de l’image explorée tactilement. Les capacités de conceptualisation (accès aux dimensions perceptives et sémantiques de l’image) sont différentes, tout comme les mouvements d’exploration mis en œuvre pour accéder à une bonne compréhension. Nous montrons également que les dimensions spatio-temporelles des explorations (temps, quantité d’exploration, appréhension de l’espace) sont déterminantes pour reconnaitre ce qui est représenté par l’image, et que ces dimensions varient, à nouveau, en fonction du degré de handicap visuel. D’un point de vue fondamental, nous apportons des données concernant les spécificités du système perceptif haptique des enfants DV. D’un point de vue appliqué, nos travaux permettent de proposer des consignes pratiques relatives à la conception d’albums et des conseils pédagogiques concernant l’éducation au toucher à proposer à ces enfants. / The present PhD aims at understanding how Visual Impaired (VI) children process the tactile pictures that illustrate the tactile books specially designed for them. Our work is organized around two main axes of analysis. The first axis concentrates on the child who explores the tactile images, while the second axis focuses on the impact that the properties of these images can have on children’s haptic processing. Our researches included children presenting various degrees of visual impairment but without any associated disorders (in particular, without any cognitive delay), distinguishing early blind children from children with low vision. We also compared their performance with those of sighted children of similar ages. The results showed that children’s perceptive experience, varying according to their degree of visual handicap, strongly impacted their understanding of the tactually explored pictures. Their capacities of conceptualization (access to the perceptive and semantic dimensions of the pictures) were different, just like their movements of exploration carried out to attain a good understanding of the images. We also showed that some properties of the children’s explorations (duration, quantity of exploration, space apprehension) were directly related to the way the children interpreted what was represented in the pictures. Again, these spatiotemporal features varied as a function of the degree of visual handicap. From a fundamental point of view, we provided interesting information concerning the specificities of the haptic perceptive system of the VI children. From an applied point of view, our work enabled to elaborate practical instructions relative to the design of tactile albums and educational advices concerning the education of touch to be proposed to these children.

Through its ability to create images of non-representable incidents animation expands the range and depth of what documentary can represent and how. This master thesis investigates the potential of animated documentary within social memory exemplified by the interactive animated documentary Saydnaya – Inside a Syrian Torture Prison (Forensic Architecture, 2016). By applying a feminist spatial approach, I aim to contribute to the understanding of the role of animated documentary images within social memory.Embodied and haptic spectatorship as well as haptic materiality are crucial in this case study due to the nature of the virtual screen images and interactive navigation (compared to montage) of the architectural 3D model. Testimonies and evidence presented in documentary film require a discursive establishment of truth. Indexicality is discussed in this regard and eventually a theoretical shift towards movement suggested. I demonstrate that Saydnaya extends the strategies in animated documentary that have been in focus so far, such as representing mental states and subjective experiences, by deploying methods of forensic aesthetics. This opens up novel ways to establish truth claims and persuasion in documentary filmmaking that require future research.

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<p> Skilled trades are in demand across many industries and many countries. Skilled trades refer to occupations that require training and proficiency in a specialized field, such as weld?ing, carpentry, or mechanics. The challenge is upskilling workers to become suited for these positions. One way training might be made more accessible is through low cost VR applica?tions as they can provide a ’learn by doing’ modality that is effective for learning motor skills, and also engaging for providing a holistic training experience. In this thesis, design guide?lines and a methodology for creating training programs that target hand tool based skills are laid out, tested, and refined for future usage. Working with content experts, a learning plan was developed via the backward design methodology, evaluated in a user study, and then applied to a second use case. The results of the user study showed that those who trained with VR were able to perform the prescribed task more quickly and with less mistakes. The implication of the second use case is that the established guidelines are versatile enough to be applied to other industries and simple enough to adapt industry specific knowledge to. The hope is that this work can help bridge the gap between the theoretical possibilities of VR training, effective training methodology, and real world application. </p>

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.

Ce projet s’inscrit dans l’effort développé par l’Agence Spatiale Européenne (ESA)pour robotiser les activités extravéhiculaires à bord de la Station Spatiale Internationale et lors des futures missions d’exploration planétaire. Un aspect important de ces projets concerne le retour de force et la capacité, pour la personne qui commande les mouvements du robot, à ressentir les efforts qui lui sont appliqués. Le but est d’améliorer la qualité et l’immersion de la téléopération.<p><p>L’objectif de cette thèse est la conception d’une interface haptique de type exosquelette pour le bras, pour ces missions de téléopération à retour de force. Ce système doit permettre une commande intuitive du robot téléopéré tout en reproduisant<p>le plus fidèlement possible les efforts. <p><p>Les chapitres 2 et 3 présentent les études réalisées sur un banc de test à 1 degré de liberté, destinées à comprendre le contrôle haptique ainsi qu’à évaluer différentes technologies d’actionnements et de capteurs. Les principales méthodes de contrôle sont décrites théoriquement et comparées en pratique sur le banc de test. Les<p>chapitres 4 et 5 décrivent le développement de l’exosquelette SAM destiné aux futures applications de téléopération spatiale. La conception cinématique, le choix des actionneurs et des capteurs sont décrits. Différentes méthodes de contrôle sont également comparées avec des expériences de réalité virtuelle (sans robot esclave) et de téléopération. Pour finir, le chapitre 6 présente le projet EXOSTATION, un démonstrateur de téléopération haptique spatiale, dans lequel SAM est utilisé comme interface maître. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

abstract: Daily collaborative tasks like pushing a table or a couch require haptic communication between the people doing the task. To design collaborative motion planning algorithms for such applications, it is important to understand human behavior. Collaborative tasks involve continuous adaptations and intent recognition between the people involved in the task. This thesis explores the coordination between the human-partners through a virtual setup involving continuous visual feedback. The interaction and coordination are modeled as a two-step process: 1) Collecting data for a collaborative couch-pushing task, where both the people doing the task have complete information about the goal but are unaware of each other's cost functions or intentions and 2) processing the emergent behavior from complete information and fitting a model for this behavior to validate a mathematical model of agent-behavior in multi-agent collaborative tasks. The baseline model is updated using different approaches to resemble the trajectories generated by these models to human trajectories. All these models are compared to each other. The action profiles of both the agents and the position and velocity of the manipulated object during a goal-oriented task is recorded and used as expert-demonstrations to fit models resembling human behaviors. Analysis through hypothesis teasing is also performed to identify the difference in behaviors when there are complete information and information asymmetry among agents regarding the goal position. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Electrical Engineering 2020