Human Perceptual Capabilities Research Articles

Model-Mediated Teleoperation: An Operator-Centric Perspective

Abstract Haptic teleoperation is a means of dexterously manipulating environments wherein a human operator can be situated several hundreds of kilometers away from the site of manipulation. Time delays between the local and remote sites pose problems for the user experience. Model-mediated teleoperation addresses these problems, but assumes a sufficiently representative model of the operator and of the environment. When applied to complex environments, this model becomes difficult to work with. A solution to this difficulty lies in the fact that human perceptual capabilities are limited. So too, possibly, is the amount of feedback needed in order to accomplish tasks effectively. In this work, we review information on human perception of the environmental properties involved in environmental perception (inertia, friction, roughness, compliance, and geometry). Moreover, we detail how these properties can be modeled. Finally, we propose some open questions that are relevant in understanding the link between the environment presented to the operator and their effectiveness at accomplishing tasks.

Bioinspired sensors and applications in intelligent robots: a review

PurposeVision, audition, olfactory, tactile and taste are five important senses that human uses to interact with the real world. As facing more and more complex environments, a sensing system is essential for intelligent robots with various types of sensors. To mimic human-like abilities, sensors similar to human perception capabilities are indispensable. However, most research only concentrated on analyzing literature on single-modal sensors and their robotics application.Design/methodology/approachThis study presents a systematic review of five bioinspired senses, especially considering a brief introduction of multimodal sensing applications and predicting current trends and future directions of this field, which may have continuous enlightenments.FindingsThis review shows that bioinspired sensors can enable robots to better understand the environment, and multiple sensor combinations can support the robot’s ability to behave intelligently.Originality/valueThe review starts with a brief survey of the biological sensing mechanisms of the five senses, which are followed by their bioinspired electronic counterparts. Their applications in the robots are then reviewed as another emphasis, covering the main application scopes of localization and navigation, objection identification, dexterous manipulation, compliant interaction and so on. Finally, the trends, difficulties and challenges of this research were discussed to help guide future research on intelligent robot sensors.

A perceptual sound space for auditory displays based on sung-vowel synthesis

When designing displays for the human senses, perceptual spaces are of great importance to give intuitive access to physical attributes. Similar to how perceptual spaces based on hue, saturation, and lightness were constructed for visual color, research has explored perceptual spaces for sounds of a given timbral family based on timbre, brightness, and pitch. To promote an embodied approach to the design of auditory displays, we introduce the Vowel–Type–Pitch (VTP) space, a cylindrical sound space based on human sung vowels, whose timbres can be synthesized by the composition of acoustic formants and can be categorically labeled. Vowels are arranged along the circular dimension, while voice type and pitch of the vowel correspond to the remaining two axes of the cylindrical VTP space. The decoupling and perceptual effectiveness of the three dimensions of the VTP space are tested through a vowel labeling experiment, whose results are visualized as maps on circular slices of the VTP cylinder. We discuss implications for the design of auditory and multi-sensory displays that account for human perceptual capabilities.

Investigating cognitive workload in concurrent speech-based information communication

Users are capable of noticing, listening, and comprehending concurrent information simultaneously, but in conventional speech-based interaction methods, systems communicate information sequentially to the users. This mismatch implies that the sequential approach may be under-utilising human perception capabilities and restricting users to seek information to sub-optimal levels. This paper reports on an experiment that investigates the cognitive workload experienced by the users when listening to a variety of combinations of information types in concurrent formats. Fifteen different combinations of concurrent information streams were investigated, and the subjective listening workload for each of the combination was measured using NASA-TLX. The results showed that the perceived workload index score varies in all concurrent combinations. The workload index score depends on the types and the amount of information presented to users. The perceived workload index score in concurrent listening remained the highest in Monolog with Interview (three concurrent talkers) combination, medium in Monolog with News Headlines (two talkers where one is intermittent) combination, and the lowest in Monolog with Music (one talker and a concurrent music stream) combination. Users descriptive feedback remained aligned with the NASA-TLX-based results. It is expected that the results of this experiment will contribute to helping digital content creators and interaction designers to communicate information more efficiently to users.

Voter Verification of Ballot Marking Device Ballots Is a Two-Part Question: Can They? Mostly, They Can. Do They? Mostly, They Don't

The question of whether or not voters actually verify ballots produced by ballot marking devices (BMDs) is presently the subject of some controversy. Recent studies (e.g., Bernhard et al. 2020) suggest the verification rate is low. It is unclear if this is because voters cannot do this accurately or whether it is because voters simply choose not to attempt verification in the first place. In order to answer this question, we conducted an experiment in which 108 participants participated in a mock election where the BMD displayed the voters' true choices, but then changed a subset of those choices on the printed ballot. The design of the printed ballot, its length, the number and location of changes that were made to the ballot, and the instructions provided to the voters were manipulated as part of the experiment. Results indicated that of those voters who chose to examine the printed ballot, 76% detected anomalies, indicating that voters can reliably detect errors on their ballot if they simply review it. This suggests that administrative remedies, rather than attempts to alter fundamental human perceptual capabilities, could be employed to encourage voters to check their ballots, which could prove as an effective countermeasure.

Evaluation of Information Comprehension in Concurrent Speech-based Designs

In human-computer interaction, particularly in multimedia delivery, information is communicated to users sequentially, whereas users are capable of receiving information from multiple sources concurrently. This mismatch indicates that a sequential mode of communication does not utilise human perception capabilities as efficiently as possible. This article reports an experiment that investigated various speech-based (audio) concurrent designs and evaluated the comprehension depth of information by comparing comprehension performance across several different formats of questions (main/detailed, implied/stated). The results showed that users, besides answering the main questions, were also successful in answering the implied questions, as well as the questions that required detailed information, and that the pattern of comprehension depth remained similar to that seen to a baseline condition, where only one speech source was presented. However, the participants answered more questions correctly that were drawn from the main information, and performance remained low where the questions were drawn from detailed information. The results are encouraging to explore the concurrent methods further for communicating multiple information streams efficiently in human-computer interaction, including multimedia.

Hardness Perception Based on Dynamic Stiffness in Tapping.

A human can judge the hardness of an object based on the damped natural vibration caused by tapping the surface of the object using a fingertip. In this study, we investigated the influence of the dynamic characteristics of vibrations on the hardness perceived by tapping. Subjectively reported hardness values were related to the dynamic stiffness of several objects. The dynamic stiffness, which characterizes the impulsive response of an object, was acquired across the 40–1,000 Hz frequency range for cuboids of 14 types of materials by administering a hammering test. We performed two psychophysical experiments—a ranking task and a magnitude-estimation tasks—wherein participants rated the perceived hardness of each block by tapping it with a finger. We found that the perceptual effect of dynamic stiffness depends on the frequency. Its effect displayed a peak around 300 Hz and decreased or disappeared at higher frequencies, at which human perceptual capabilities are limited. The acquired results help design hardness experienced by products.

From 8-bit to 4K: A Leading Computational Image Formation Architecture for Digital Printing Technology

As printing technology continues to evolve, the next technical challenges will most likely arise from fully automated digital print production and high-precision digital fabrication, where the printing press needs to detect faults in the printing process, automatically recover without human intervention, and construct images and/or three-dimensional objects beyond the capability of human perception. In this paper, we introduce a computational image formation algorithm of which tonal resolution at each pixel is elevated from the current technology standard of 8-bit to a class-leading 12-bit, i.e., 4K tonal resolution. Combined with a 1200-dpi high spatial resolution adaptive LED printhead, we will demonstrate that the proposed image formation algorithm can effectively address technological challenges for the future of image formation and digital fabrication technologies.

Revisiting Far/Near Infrared Pyramid-Based Fusion Types for Night Vision Using Matlab

The night vision imaging mechanisms are developed to increase the visibility beyond normal human perception capabilities. So far, night vision methods reported in literature, such as, Morphological, Low Pass Pyramid, Contrast Pyramid, Filter Subtract Decimate and Shift Invariant methods, the Laplacian fusion method has been rated, the best method [1][2]. In this research paper four different methods of fusion of images, Gradient, Wavelet, Quincuns Lifting, including Laplacian are processed using Matlab toolbox called Matifus for night vision. For comparing the results of processed images using above methods, Mean Opinion Score (MOS) is used. MOS result of Laplacian, wavelet, gradient and quincunx methods are compared. The MOS results on the scale of 1-5 indicate a score of 4.15 for Laplacian, that means the quality of image perceived by the scorers is rated between good and excellent. By using MOS and perceptually proving that Laplacian technique is better than all others for night vision systems. However Gradient scored 3.56, Wavelet scored 3.15 and lastly 2.22 was scored by Quincunx Lifting method.

Design in Motion: Introducing Science/Animation

As the joined yet distinct terms in our title indicate, this special issue seeks to foster dialogue across boundaries that often keep the fields, disciplines, and practices of science and animation separate. walls that separate scholars from makers and theorists from practitioners, that divide work in fields such as film studies and science studies from each other, and that isolate the sciences from the humanities are not respected in the messiness of real life and actual work. While collaboration often goes unrecognized within formal disciplinary or industrial practices, people in these areas depend on the work being done in the others, whether that work serves as the object of research, suggests new ways of imagining (and imaging) the future, or supplies new tools to bring those imaginings into being. We think it is time to create new avenues for revealing and translating the work that is done in these divided but not separate spheres.And we are not alone in recognizing this crossover. Discussions of visualization in news media and science journals regularly depict the scientist and the artist joined in a common task. Take, for example, a recent guide to visualization techniques published in the journal Nature. Its authors write that The spectrum of techniques that we briefly survey represents a broad and deep continuum in which scientific and artistic minds can unite to better engage audiences ranging from peers to students and from grant reviewers to the general public.1 But the crossover is also indicated in such trends as maker culture, whereby art/science projects regularly traverse multiple spheres, and film festivals, such as New York City's one-week Imagine Science Film Festival, now in its seventh year.2 Scientific visualizations are ubiquitous throughout our entertainment media landscape as well. Television programs ranging from House M.D. to specials on the National Geographic Channel regularly feature 3-D in which the camera penetrates into the body and moves through its interior spaces. Blockbuster films such as Ridley Scott's Prometheus (2012) show bodies disintegrating to their molecular components, and video games such as Nano Assault propel the player through the body's veins in a chase to eradicate a killer virus.3 Filled with compositions created using digital paintbrushes, these visualizations approximate what a microscope capable of illuminating the 3-D structures and movement of microcellular components might reveal, if only such a machine existed.4 Such visualizations are not confined to the entertainment industries; they are also used for educational purposes, on pharmaceutical companies' websites to explain how drugs work, in medical apps for tablet computers, and in biology courses to convey understandings of cellular processes.5 Databases of such are easily accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.6Within newer digital forms of media, scientific get sutured seamlessly into live-action imaging, blurring the distinction between what the camera records and what a computer generates. integration of computer-generated animation techniques into most other forms of media, coupled with many scientists' reliance on computer modeling as a means of conducting research, has led to an increased blurring of the visual cultures of science and popular media. With the rise of big data as a mechanism for characterizing phenomena whose dimensions exceed human perceptual capabilities, animation has become even more integral to the practice of scientific visualization in the twenty-first century. Many of the resulting animations are not perceived as such in any traditional sense; instead, they are part of a complex media ecosystem where distinct separations between photographic, animated, and computational modes of representation cease to exist. These changes provoke questions that have not yet been sufficiently answered: How are computer-generated reshaping the practice of scientific research in the digital era? …

Analytical and Psychophysical Comparison of Bilateral Teleoperators for Enhanced Perceptual Performance

This paper focuses on the human perception capabilities for haptic interaction with remote environments. The perception capabilities are compared for two well-known control methods with two kinds of haptic cues. Analytical and psychophysical methods are used to analyze the performance. The first control method aims at maximizing the transparency of the remote interactions (i.e., transparency-based method), whereas the second one aims at maximizing the detection and discrimination abilities of the human operator (i.e., perception-based method). For each of these two control methods, two kinds of haptic cues are studied, which use position and force cues from remote environments. Hybrid matrix formulation is employed, and it is analyzed in the frequency domain for these studies. Psychophysical experiments are then conducted for human-centered evaluation and comparison of the control methods. Analytical and experimental results clearly show that the perception-based method, when compared with the transparency-based method, enhances the human operator's perceptual capabilities of remote environments irrespective of force cues. For each of the two control methods, the force cues always contribute more to the increase in perceptual sensitivity when compared with the case of position cues.

A review of dashboards in performance management: Implications for design and research

Dashboards are expected to improve decision making by amplifying cognition and capitalizing on human perceptual capabilities. Hence, interest in dashboards has increased recently, which is also evident from the proliferation of dashboard solution providers in the market. Despite dashboards' popularity, little is known about the extent of their effectiveness, i.e. what types of dashboards work best for different users or tasks. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive multidisciplinary literature review with an aim to identify the critical issues organizations might need to consider when implementing dashboards. Dashboards are likely to succeed and solve the problems of presentation format and information load when certain visualization principles and features are present (e.g. high data-ink ratio and drill down features). We recommend that dashboards come with some level of flexibility, i.e. allowing users to switch between alternative presentation formats. Also some theory driven guidance through pop-ups and warnings can help users to select an appropriate presentation format. Given the dearth of research on dashboards, we conclude the paper with a research agenda that could guide future studies in this area.

Temporality and string theory in Imitating the Dog's Kellerman

ABSTRACTIn this article I will address issues of temporality in intermedial theatre, with reference to Kellerman (2009), a recent intermedial piece by the UK-based company Imitating the Dog and Pete Brooks, which was inspired by string theory. I will take a rather experimental approach to theorizing temporality in performance and address it from the perspective of science philosophy, namely string theory. Through this theoretical frame I will negotiate how Kellerman's intermedial scenography attempts to engage with and respond to concepts of time and space that defy the possibilities of representation, live embodiment and human perceptual capabilities. I will also try to offer some critical perspectives on the use of science philosophy as a theoretical model for analysing performance. Finally I will address some of the ethical considerations of string theory, with reference to how Kellerman negotiates the limits of ‘human’ experiences within the wider ramifications of the western, technologically progressive civilization.

Understanding Perceptual Boundaries in Laparoscopic Surgery

Human perceptual capabilities related to the laparoscopic interaction paradigm are not well known. Its study is important for the design of virtual reality simulators, and for the specification of augmented reality applications that overcome current limitations and provide a supersensing to the surgeon. As part of this work, this article addresses the study of laparoscopic pulling forces. Two definitions are proposed to focalize the problem: the perceptual fidelity boundary, limit of human perceptual capabilities, and the Utile fidelity boundary, that encapsulates the perceived aspects actually used by surgeons to guide an operation. The study is then aimed to define the perceptual fidelity boundary of laparoscopic pulling forces. This is approached with an experimental design in which surgeons assess the resistance against pulling of four different tissues, which are characterized with both in vivo interaction forces and ex vivo tissue biomechanical properties. A logarithmic law of tissue consistency perception is found comparing subjective valorizations with objective parameters. A model of this perception is developed identifying what the main parameters are: the grade of fixation of the organ, the tissue stiffness, the amount of tissue bitten, and the organ mass being pulled. These results are a clear requirement analysis for the force feedback algorithm of a virtual reality laparoscopic simulator. Finally, some discussion is raised about the suitability of augmented reality applications around this surgical gesture.

Human-Oriented Interaction With an Anthropomorphic Robot

A very important aspect in developing robots capable of human-robot interaction (HRI) is the research in natural, human-like communication, and subsequently, the development of a research platform with multiple HRI capabilities for evaluation. Besides a flexible dialog system and speech understanding, an anthropomorphic appearance has the potential to support intuitive usage and understanding of a robot, e.g., human-like facial expressions and deictic gestures can as well be produced and also understood by the robot. As a consequence of our effort in creating an anthropomorphic appearance and to come close to a human- human interaction model for a robot, we decided to use human-like sensors, i.e., two cameras and two microphones only, in analogy to human perceptual capabilities too. Despite the challenges resulting from these limits with respect to perception, a robust attention system for tracking and interacting with multiple persons simultaneously in real time is presented. The tracking approach is sufficiently generic to work on robots with varying hardware, as long as stereo audio data and images of a video camera are available. To easily implement different interaction capabilities like deictic gestures, natural adaptive dialogs, and emotion awareness on the robot, we apply a modular integration approach utilizing XML-based data exchange. The paper focuses on our efforts to bring together different interaction concepts and perception capabilities integrated on a humanoid robot to achieve comprehending human-oriented interaction.

A System for Visualizing and Analyzing Near-Optimal Protein Sequence Alignments

System modeling and analysis is an imperfect art and as a consequence there are problems where alternative solutions may exist. Information visualization is often used to enhance system modeling and analysis efforts by taking advantage of human perceptual capabilities. Our research uses visual representations of alternative solutions as a way to aid understanding and foster insight into problems, their solutions, and the underlying algorithms. Specifically, our system visualizes large sets of near-optimal protein sequence alignments. Prior efforts focused on the visualization of near-optimal alignments, using an animation metaphor for providing context to detailed displays. This paper discusses novel extensions: (1) a new overview display, the enhanced path graph; (2) the integration of the detail-oriented (animation) and overview-oriented (path graph) displays; and (3) additional human-computer interaction capabilities for filtering, highlighting, and mixed-initiative interaction that allow researchers to combine their expertise with algorithmic output to gain insight into the sequence alignment algorithms and the problem domain. Two case studies illustrate the effectiveness of this system.

Multidimensional visualization of project control data

The construction industry produces voluminous quantitative data. Much of this data is created during the controls phase of projects and relates to cost, schedule, and administrative information. Recent storage and processing advances in computers as well as display capabilities afforded by computer graphics increase the opportunity to monitor projects fundamentally different from existing project control systems. However, changes in project control methods have been slow to evolve. The lack of a fundamental model of project control data representation contributes to the inadequate application and implementation of visual tools in project control methods. Difficulties associated with the graphical representation of data can be traced to the diversity of skills required in creating visual information displays. Owing to the reality that not all engineers/constructors possess these attributes in great strength, streamlining the process of how to best visualize data is important. Visual representations of data hold great potential for reducing communication difficulties fostered by industry fragmentation. However, without information structure, organization, and visual explanations, the massive amount of data available to project managers results in information overload. Therefore, improved information displays are needed to overcome the possibility of information overload with the capability of human perception. This paper discusses research to create a framework for visual representation of construction project data. Underlying visualization theory, the visual framework, and a detailed implementation are provided.

Development of a three-dimensional auditory display system

We propose that the most powerful method of auditory cueing takes direct advantage of human perceptual capabilities, providing a dynamic, multidimensional pattern of events which conveys meaning about objects in the spatial world. Applications of such a three-dimensional auditory display involve any context in which the user's situational awareness is critical, particularly when visual cues are limited or absent. Examples include air traffic control displays, advanced teleconferencing environments, and monitoring telerobotic activities in hazardous situations.