Articles – Page 9 – Jun HU

Posted on August 18, 2011December 18, 2011 by hj

Semantic Resources: A Study on a Tangible Interaction Approach to Managing Wireless Connections in a Smart Home Environment

By Jeroen Peters [M12 Report, PDF, 200K]

Technological advances in computational, networking and sensing abilities are leading towards a future in which our daily lives are immersed with interactive devices that are networked and interoperable.

It is imperative that users are able to understand such complex intelligent and interactive environments. Design has an important role in facilitating users in making sense of the many connections between devices in a networked environment.

Two design solutions based on tangible interaction have been developed that allow users to manage wireless connections between devices in a smart living room context.

Continue reading Semantic Resources: A Study on a Tangible Interaction Approach to Managing Wireless Connections in a Smart Home Environment

Posted on August 16, 2011January 4, 2012 by hj

Enriching the reading experience with dramatic soundtracks

by Kacper Holenderski. [PDF, 2.5M]

The goal of this research was to analyze to what extent applying dramatic soundtracks to a short story enrich the reading experience on an E-reader. This is an opportunity to give reading a new face allowed by the capabilities of the digital nature of eBooks and E-readers. The set up tested for imagery, transportation and attention through a questionnaire. Additionally arousal was measured with the help of GSR sensors. The results did not show a clear enrichment of the experience. The soundtracks were distracting at some points and complementing at others. The opportunity of dramatic soundtracks in eBooks is still a valid proposition which rests on the proper implementation.

K. Holenderski, Enriching the reading experience with dramatic soundtracks, M11 Report, Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, 2011.
FULLTEXT: PDF

Posted on August 10, 2011January 18, 2012 by hj

Semantic Resources: A practice oriented approach: Sustainable services for television

M11 Master Project by Nick Sturkenboom. [PDF, 1.5M]

https://www.drhu.eu/reports/2011-NickSturkenboom-SemanticResources.pdf — Semantic Resources

In the EU, policy makers have been debating over carbon reduction for many years. One of the methods that pursue to reduce our carbon footprints is to raise energy awareness and stimulate energy efficiency through behavioral and attitude change. However, these same policy makers currently overlook the reasons why people consume resources, how these ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ establish themselves and evolve over time in our everyday lives, also known as ‘practices. (E.g.) (Shove E. , 2003) (Hargreaves, 2011) (Chetty, 2008) (Stern, 2000) (Hertwich, 2005)

Continue reading Semantic Resources: A practice oriented approach: Sustainable services for television

Posted on July 18, 2011December 18, 2011 by hj

Blurring the boundaries

By Matthijs Jansen [B32 Graduation Project, PDF, 3.5M]

This report covers the work of the final bachelor project of Industrial Design student Matthijs Jansen. It shows the design process of an adaptive photo mirror. With this mirror, a host can show his hospitality and care for his visitor through common photos of him and his guest inside the mirror, creating a fun and surprising experience when receiving guests in the hallway.

M. Jansen, Blurring the boundaries, B32 Report, Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, 2011.
FULLTEXT: PDF

Posted on June 12, 2011January 16, 2012 by hj

Internship at Promea Industrial Design, by Remco Nagtzaam

Foreword of the report [PDF, 500K]. “This report will describe my internship at Promea Industrial Design, both my activities, reflections and growth will be described. The department of Industrial Design from the University of Technology Eindhoven offers students to do an internship in the final year of their bachelor education. This opportunity is a welcome change in working environment from my point of view, it allows me to place my education in a better context with regards to the professional work environment.”

Posted on May 11, 2011 by hj

ROILA: RObot Interaction LAnguage

Omar Mubin, one of our PhD candidates, printed his book “ROILA: RObot Interaction LAnguage” last week. “… The mismatch between humans’ expectations and the abilities of interactive robots often results in frustration for the user. Palm Inc. faced a similar problem with handwriting recognition for their handheld computers. They invented Graffiti, an artificial alphabet, that was easy to learn and easy for the computer to recognize. Our Robot Interaction Language (ROILA) takes a similar approach by offering a speech recognition friendly artificial language that is easy to learn for humans and easy to understand for robots with an ultimate goal of outperforming natural language in terms of speech recognition accuracy…”.

To read more about his work, download the book [PDF, 3M].

Posted on April 6, 2011April 13, 2011 by hj

Sense Your Heart

By using a PPG system (photoplethysmograph), data from the heart beat can easily be obtained. Although the device is relatively simple, the design opportunities that are created are fast and as complex as the designer’s wishes. In the module “sense your heart”, master students created several very interesting ideas and prototypes. The goal of this module was to get a good understanding of the workings of the human heart and how this working can be monitored. Secondly a learning objective was to implement these measurements in a concept using a self-built Photoplethysmography sensor and corresponding software. This technology can be used for measuring the heart rate, which in our case was used to determine the heart-rate variability which can be an indicator for relaxation or arousal.

Continue reading Sense Your Heart

Posted on February 2, 2011March 18, 2011 by hj

Spotlight Navigation: “interactive controllers for the ubiquitous, invisible technological networks”

Erik Kogler, one of our bachelor students, designed a handheld projector based user interface for environments that are full of smart objects. “Spotlight Navigation at the TU/e can thus be said to arise from SOFIA’s need for interactive controllers for the ubiquitous, invisible technological networks that will surround the user (in this case in the home). When dealing with pervasive technology it is normally assumed that all manner of products will be able to share and collect information, even though they lack an interface capable of creating the connections to make this useful. … Spotlight Navigation device seems an ideal solution to this lack of interface as it can use any surface to create a vast and entirely flexible user-interface.”

Download the final report [PDF, 800+K]

Posted on February 1, 2011March 18, 2011 by hj

Semantic Resources: A tree to create awareness about domestic resource consumption.

Willem Willemsen, one of our master students, designed a decorative toy tree to create awareness about domestic resource consumption. “I chose this metaphor because trees are associated with the environment and the better you do the better your tree (representing the environment) gets. The size of the tree doesn’t only represent the environment, but also the user’s personal effort on reducing resource consumption. Plants are also something that people use a decorative objects in their houses, so the object wouldn’t be an alien object in-between the rest of the objects in the house. The way it works is that the user can build the tree with building blocks. These blocks have a light source inside them that will light up when a level is gained. Each time a level is gained the next block turns on until all blocks are turned on. When this happens the user can add a piece to the tree, and the level starts over again. This means that the system has no levelling limits and can keep growing indefinitely with enough pieces.”

Download the PDF [2M] for more details.

Posted on January 11, 2011December 10, 2011 by hj

A New Encounter with Alice

Three of our first year students, Jesse Meijers, Marjolein Schets and Jim Steenbakker, did a nice project in the context of cultural computing. “The goal of the project was to create a new form of presence and user experience by turning the visitors sense of reality upside down through the use of modern technology. The rooms built for this project were based on scenes from the book `Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’. We decided to build a new room. Our room is based on the scene where the tarts of the Queen of Hearts2 get stolen. The visitor will accidentally perform the theft. The rooms purpose is evoking a feeling of confusion. The room is an infinity mirror room which contradicts the visitor’s sense of reality, proportion and boundaries.”

[The final project report: “A New Encounter with Alice” 1.3M, PDF]