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Wow, You Are Terrible at This!: An Intercultural Study on Virtual Agents Giving Mixed Feedback
(2020)
While the effects of virtual agents in terms of likeability, uncanniness, etc. are well explored, it is unclear how their appearance and the feedback they give affects people's reactions. Is critical feedback from an agent embodied as a mouse or a robot taken less serious than from a human agent? In an intercultural study with 120 participants from Germany and the US, participants had to find hidden objects in a game and received feedback on their performance by virtual agents with different appearances. As some levels were designed to be unsolvable, critical feedback was unavoidable. We hypothesized that feedback would be taken more serious, the more human the agent looked. Also, we expected the subjects from the US to react more sensitively to criticism. Surprisingly, our results showed that the agents' appearance did not significantly change the participants' perception. Also, while we found highly significant differences in inspirational and motivational effects as well as in perceived task load between the two cultures, the reactions to criticism were contrary to expectations based on established cultural models. This work improves our understanding on how affective virtual agents are to be designed, both with respect to culture and to dialogue strategies.
This paper describes a comparative study of two tactile systems supporting navigation for persons with little or no visual and auditory perception. The efficacy of a tactile head-mounted device (HMD) was compared to that of a wearable device, a tactile belt. A study with twenty participants showed that the participants took significantly less time to complete a course when navigating with the HMD, as compared to the belt.
Tactile Navigation with Checkpoints as Progress Indicators?: Only when Walking Longer Straight Paths
(2020)
Persons with both vision and hearing impairments have to rely primarily on tactile feedback, which is frequently used in assistive devices. We explore the use of checkpoints as a way to give them feedback during navigation tasks. Particularly, we investigate how checkpoints can impact performance and user experience. We hypothesized that individuals receiving checkpoint feedback would take less time and perceive the navigation experience as superior to those who did not receive such feedback. Our contribution is two-fold: a detailed report on the implementation of a smart wearable with tactile feedback (1), and a user study analyzing its effects (2). The results show that in contrast to our assumptions, individuals took considerably more time to complete routes with checkpoints. Also, they perceived navigating with checkpoints as inferior to navigating without checkpoints. While the quantitative data leave little room for doubt, the qualitative data open new aspects: when walking straight and not being "overwhelmed" by various forms of feedback in succession, several participants actually appreciated the checkpoint feedback.
Deafblindness, also known as dual sensory loss, is the combination of sight and hearing impairments of such extent that it becomes difficult for one sense to compensate for the other. Communication issues are a key concern for the Deafblind community. We present the design and technical implementation of the Tactile Board: a mobile Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) device for individuals with deafblindness. The Tactile Board allows text and speech to be translated into vibrotactile signs that are displayed real-time to the user via a haptic wearable. Our aim is to facilitate communication for the deafblind community, creating opportunities for these individuals to initiate and engage in social interactions with other people without the direct need of an intervener.
Sollen soziale Roboter Teil unserer Gesellschaft werden?
Eingebettet in eine spannende Kriminalgeschichte vermittelt der Wissenschaftscomic von Oliver Korn und Jonas Grund den aktuellen Stand und Ausblick der Wissenschaft auf Social Robots.
Die Geschichte spielt in der nahen Zukunft: In einem internationalen Projekt erforschen Wissenschaftler die Anforderungen an soziale Roboter für den Gesundheitsbereich. Kurz bevor der Prototyp eines Pflegeroboters in einer Feldstudie zum Einsatz kommt, verschwindet er spurlos. In ihrem ersten großen Fall begibt sich die junge Kommissarin Kira auf eine Reise in die Welt der Wissenschaft. Dabei lernt sie viel über soziale Roboter, KI und die Welt internationaler wissenschaftlicher Kooperationen. Immer wieder kommen kritische Stimmen zu Wort: Anti-Roboter-Aktivisten protestieren gegen Automatisierung und ein Schwinden von Menschlichkeit und Empathie. Selbst in der Familie der Kommissarin wird die mögliche Pflege älterer Menschen durch Roboter kontrovers diskutiert.
Übergreifendes Ziel ist es, über alle Altersstufen hinweg Wissen aufzubauen, damit die Vor- und Nachteile dieser neuen Technologien kontrovers, aber kenntnisreich diskutiert werden können. „Soziale Roboter – ein Science Comic“ ist ein Beitrag zu einer informierten Diskussion in den Feldern Robotik, künstliche Intelligenz, Ethik und Politik und damit auch als Lehr- und Lernmittel geeignet.
Der Comic wurde für Jugendliche und Erwachsene konzipiert und gestaltet. Insbesondere aber für jene, die bisher kaum in Berührung mit sozialen Robotern und künstlicher Intelligenz gekommen sind. Eine weitere Zielgruppe sind im Gesundheitswesen tätige Personen, denn die Betreuung und Pflege älterer Menschen gelten als einer der zukünftig wichtigsten Anwendungsbereiche für soziale Roboter.
DINA4 Hochformat, Hardcover Fadenheftung, erschienen in Deutsch und Englisch. Herausgegeben im Selbstverlag Affective & Cognitive Institute (ACI), Hochschule Offenburg
Should social robots become part of our society?
Embedded in an exciting crime story, the science comic by Oliver Korn and Jonas Grund conveys the current state and outlook of science on social robots.
The story takes place in the near future: In an international project, scientists are researching the requirements for social robots for the health sector. Shortly before the prototype of a nursing robot is used in a field study, it disappears without a trace. In her first major case, the young inspector Kira embarks on a journey into the world of science. In the process, she learns a lot about social robots, AI and the world of international scientific cooperation. Again and again, critical voices are heard: anti-robot activists protest against automation and a dwindling of humanity and empathy. Even in the Commissioner's family, the possible care of elderly people by robots is controversially discussed.
The overarching goal is to build knowledge across all age groups so that the advantages and disadvantages of these new technologies can be discussed controversially but knowledgeably. "Social Robots - a Science Comic" is a contribution to an informed discussion in the fields of robotics, artificial intelligence, ethics and politics and is thus also suitable as a teaching and learning tool.
The comic was conceived and designed for young people and adults. In particular, however, for those who have hardly come into contact with social robots and artificial intelligence so far. Another target group are people working in the health care sector, because the care and nursing of elderly people are considered to be one of the most important areas of application for social robots in the future.
DINA4 portrait format, hardcover thread stitching, published in German and English. Self-published by the Affective & Cognitive Institute (ACI), Offenburg University.
Interaction and capturing information from the surrounding is dominated by vision and hearing. Haptics on the other side, widens the bandwidth and could also replace senses (sense switching) for impaired. Haptic technologies are often limited to point-wise actuation. Here, we show that actuation in two-dimensional matrices instead creates a richer input. We describe the construction of a full-body garment for haptic communication with a distributed actuating network. The garment is divided into attachable-detachable panels or add-ons that each can carry a two dimensional matrix of actuating haptic elements. Each panel adds to an enhanced sensoric capability of the human- garment system so that together a 720° system is formed. The spatial separation of the panels on different body locations supports semantic and theme-wise separation of conversations conveyed by haptics. It also achieves directional faithfulness, which is maintaining any directional information about a distal stimulus in the haptic input.
Deafblindness, a form of dual sensory impairment, signifcantly impacts communication, access to information and mobility. Inde- pendent navigation and wayfnding are main challenges faced by individuals living with combined hearing and visual impairments. We developed a haptic wearable that provides sensory substitution and navigational cues for users with deafblindness by conveying vibrotactile signals onto the body. Vibrotactile signals on the waist area convey directional and proximity information collected via a fisheye camera attached to the garment, while semantic informa- tion is provided with a tapping system on the shoulders. A playful scenario called “Keep Your Distance” was designed to test the navigation system: individuals with deafblindness were “secret agents” that needed to follow a “suspect”, but they should keep an opti- mal distance of 1.5 meters from the other person to win the game. Preliminary fndings suggest that individuals with deafblindness enjoyed the experience and were generally able to follow the directional cues.
Nowadays, the wide majority of Europeans uses smartphones. However, touch displays are still not accessible by everyone. Individuals with deafblindness, for example, often face difculties in accessing vision-based touchscreens. Moreover, they typically have few fnancial resources which increases the need for customizable, low-cost assistive devices. In this work-in-progress, we present four prototypes made from low-cost, every-day materials, that make modern pattern lock mechanisms more accessible to individuals with vision impairments or even with deafblindness. Two out of four prototypes turned out to be functional tactile overlays for accessing digital 4-by-4 grids that are regularly used to encode dynamic dot patterns. In future work, we will conduct a user study investigating whether these two prototypes can make dot-based pattern lock mechanisms more accessible for individuals with visual impairments or deafblindness.
Co-Designing Assistive Tools to Support Social Interactions by Individuals Living with Deafblindness
(2020)
Deafblindness is a dual sensory impairment that affects many aspects of life, including mobility, access to information, communication, and social interactions. Furthermore, individuals living with deafblindness are under a high risk of social isolation. Therefore, we identified opportunities for applying assistive tools to support social interactions through co-ideation activities with members of the deafblind community. This work presents our co-design approach, lessons learned and directions for designing meaningful assistive tools for dual sensory loss.