Browsing by Author "Xin, Min"
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- ItemOpen Access3d sketching and collaborative design with napkin sketch(2011) Xin, Min; Sharlin, Ehud; Costa Sousa, Mário
- ItemOpen Access3D Sketching and Collaborative Design with Napkin Sketch-The Video(2011-04-19T16:37:51Z) Xin, Min; Sharlin, Ehud; Costa Sousa, MarioThis is a video presentation of our work on Napkin Sketch, a new 3D Sketching and Collaborative Design tool. The video presentation is based on Min Xin's M.Sc. defense talk. Computer-supported 3D design tools have become increasingly popular and abundant because they offer easy editing, efficient content management, extensive sharing, and rich rendering capabilities. However, many of these tools are focused on generating high quality, visually appealing, and detailed models of baked ideas but often seem to fail in effectively supporting the intricate process and environment which help to create and nurture these ideas in the early design stages. Inspired by the simple yet rich interactions afforded by traditional design tools such as pencil, paper, or napkin in supporting the creative process of the early design stages, this thesis attempts to capture their essential qualities like portability, flexibility, fluidity, expressiveness, ambiguity, and sociability in Napkin Sketch, a computer supported tool which enables 3D sketching and collaborative design. Concepts such as tangible interaction and freeform interaction are explored and applied to create a sketching experience which leverages users' innate ability to physically interact with tools, media, and collaborators and provides freedom to suggest ideas and invite changes without having to commit prematurely. The contributions of the thesis are centered around Napkin Sketch which include a hardware platform that enables users to tangibly explore the 3D design space and manipulate the sketching media, a complementary software platform that facilitates the creation of 3D sketches while maintaining the familiar paradigm of sketching on a flat physical surface, a collaborative sketching environment that supports ad hoc co-located collaboration via multiple instances of the system, and three design critiques that provide preliminary assessment of the potential effectiveness of Napkin Sketch as a useful tool for supporting creativity in the early design stages. This video report highlights the main points of the our project.
- ItemOpen AccessLet's Get Physical: How Physical Control Methods Make Games Fun(2007-01-19) Xin, Min; Watts, Cody; Sharlin, EhudDespite their widespread acceptance, traditional computer gaming interfaces such as the monitor and keyboard fundamentally serve to separate players from their games. In this paper, we examine how physically-based control methods which leverage the physical movement of their players as a method for playing games can be used to foster player immersion, creating games which are intuitive, accessible and fun. An examination of how a mixed reality interfaces support (and even encourage) physical controls follows, where we discuss two of our mixed reality game implementations Save Em and Napkin Chess.
- ItemOpen AccessNapkin Sketch(2008-05-27T20:53:36Z) Sharlin, Ehud; Xin, Min; Costa Sousa, MarioThis paper describes, Napkin Sketch, a novel 3D sketching interface which attempts to mimic the qualities of conventional sketching medium and tools both in terms of physical properties and interaction experience. A portable tablet PC is used as the sketching platform, and mixed reality techniques are employed to allow 3D sketches to be created on top of a physical napkin. Intuitive manipulation and navigation within the 3D design space is achieved by visually tracking the tablet PC with a camera and mixed reality markers. For sketch input, we improve upon the projective 3D sketching approach with a one stroke plane creation technique. This coupled with the hardware interface produces a fluid and freeform sketching experience. Sketch recognition is also integrated as an alternative method for 3D sketch input, providing users the ability to quickly instance existing 3D models.
- ItemOpen AccessNapkin Sketch(2008-06-17) Xin, Min; Sharlin, Ehud; Costa Sousa, MarioThis paper describes, Napkin Sketch, a novel 3D sketching interface which attempts to mimic the qualities of conventional sketching medium and tools both in terms of physical properties and interaction experience. A portable tablet PC is used as the sketching platform, and mixed reality techniques are employed to allow 3D sketches to be created on top of a physical napkin. Intuitive manipulation and navigation within the 3D design space is achieved by visually tracking the tablet PC with a camera and mixed reality markers. For sketch input, we improve upon the projective 3D sketching approach with a one stroke plane creation technique. This coupled with the hardware interface produces a fluid and freeform sketching experience. Sketch recognition is also integrated as an alternative method for 3D sketch input, providing users the ability to quickly instance existing 3D models.
- ItemOpen AccessNapkin Sketch(2008-05-27) Sharlin, Ehud; Xin, Min; Costa Sousa, MarioThis paper describes, Napkin Sketch, a novel 3D sketching interface which attempts to mimic the qualities of conventional sketching medium and tools both in terms of physical properties and interaction experience. A portable tablet PC is used as the sketching platform, and mixed reality techniques are employed to allow 3D sketches to be created on top of a physical napkin. Intuitive manipulation and navigation within the 3D design space is achieved by visually tracking the tablet PC with a camera and mixed reality markers. For sketch input, we improve upon the projective 3D sketching approach with a one stroke plane creation technique. This coupled with the hardware interface produces a fluid and freeform sketching experience. Sketch recognition is also integrated as an alternative method for 3D sketch input, providing users the ability to quickly instance existing 3D models.
- ItemOpen AccessProbing Social Aspects of Human-robot Group Interaction in a Collaborative Game(2008-09-25T15:43:09Z) Xin, Min; Sharlin, EhudWe present an experimental testbed for probing social aspects of human-robot group interaction using a collaborative game. Our testbed, Sheep and Wolves, allows a human user to play as a game piece, with a group of robots as peers, all engaged in collaborative gameplay on a large physical game board, using mixed reality and cartoon art- based techniques to communicate and discuss moves. The paper argues the importance of controlled experimental testbeds in the development of future social human-robot interfaces, and motivates the research goal of understanding group effects within a collaborative group composed of humans and robots. The paper then discusses the design and implementation of the second iteration our testbed, Sheep and Wolves, and its successful use in an extensive user study. The paper concludes with the current preliminary analysis of our experimental results, and our planned future work on Sheep and Wolves.
- ItemOpen AccessPurple Crayon From Sketches to Interactive Environment(2007-03-01) Xin, Min; Sharlin, Ehud; Costa Sousa, Mario; Greenberg, Saul; Samavati, FaramarzAbstract controls often required for gameplay hinder the potential for social interaction, especially in domestic settings. Purple Crayon, an interactive electronic entertainment environment for children, attempts to reclaim the sociable qualities of traditional entertainment occurring in the physical world by replacing abstract controls with intuitive interaction. Purple Crayon allows children to sketch virtual entities and interact with them in a physical manner. The sketched entities become animated and playful, and afford interaction within their physical locality or between several localities. Various techniques for physical interaction are explored, demonstrating the feasibility and promise of the approach.
- ItemOpen AccessRobot Expressionism Through Cartooning(2006-10-31) Young, James E.; Xin, Min; Sharlin, EhudWe present a new technique for human-robot interaction called robot expressionism through cartooning. We suggest that robots utilise cartoon-art techniques such as simplified and exaggerated facial expressions, stylised text, and icons for intuitive social interaction with humans. We discuss practical mixed reality solutions that allow robots to augment themselves or their surroundings with cartoon art content. Our effort is part of what we call robot expressionism, a conceptual approach to the design and analysis of robotic interfaces that focuses on providing intuitive insight into a robotic state as well as artistic quality of interaction. Our paper discusses a variety of ways that allow robots to express cartoon art, and details a test bed design, implementation, and preliminary evaluation. We describe our test bed, Jeeves, which uses a Roomba, an iRobot vacuum cleaner robot, and a mixed-reality system as a platform for rapid prototyping of cartoon-art interfaces. Finally, we present a set of interaction content scenarios which use the Jeeves prototype: trash roomba, the recycle police, and clean tracks, as well as initial user evaluation of our approach.
- ItemOpen AccessSheep and Wolves Testbed for Interaction and Collaboration between Humans and Robots(2005-09-21) Xin, Min; Sharlin, EhudThis paper presents the first prototype of Sheep and Wolves, a system for testing interaction and collaboration paradigms between humans and robots. The paper contributions are twofold: a mixed reality interface for human-robot interaction, and a practical experimental tool for assessing how different robotic behavioral patterns affect interaction and collaboration with users. Sheep and Wolves places humans, robots and virtual entities in a game environment where they have to collaborate and compete. The system is designed around the classic Sheep and Wolves board game, played on a large physical checkerboard. In the prototype presented here the user is playing a single wolf in a pack of four autonomous robotic wolves trying to hunt a single virtual sheep. The human interacts with the rest of the wolf pack using a mixed reality video stream, a graphical interface and a text chat tool that enables discussion and planning of future moves within the pack. In preliminary testing Sheep and wolves was sensitive to differences in the robots behavioral patterns and suggested that robotic assertiveness (or robotic chutzpah) might enhance the quality and trustfulness of the interaction.
- ItemOpen AccessSheep and Wolves Test Bed for Human-Robot Interaction(2006-02-15) Xin, Min; Sharlin, EhudThis paper presents a dynamic experimental test bed for exploring and evaluating human-robot interaction (HRI). Our system is designed around the concept of playing board games involving collaboration between humans and robots in a shared physical environment. Unlike the classic human-versus-machine situation often established in computer-based board games, our test bed takes advantage of the rich interaction opportunities that arise when humans and robots play collaboratively as a team. To facilitate interaction within a shared physical environment, our game is played on a large checkerboard where human and robotic players can be situated and play as game pieces within the game. With meaningful interaction occurring within our confined setup, various aspects of human-robot interaction can be easily explored and evaluated such as interface methods. We also present the results of a user evaluation which shows the sensitivity of our system in assessing robotic behaviours.
- ItemOpen AccessWallet Games(2006-10-31) Xin, Min; Sharlin, EhudMobile games have become increasingly popular with the advancement of cell phones, portable computing devices and mobile gaming consoles such as the Nintendo DS and the Sony PlayStation Portable. However, one of the principal bottlenecks in mobile game design is the lack of display space and interface real estate. Navigating a rich and vast game environment on a limited display window often requires zooming and scrolling which can be cumbersome especially if the interface that supports them is unintuitive. Graphically-simple games with static overviews for the game environment can avoid these technical challenges but often at the cost of less immersive game play. Therefore, if the limitations of the small display area can be overcome with an intuitive navigation interface without sacrificing portability, immersive games involving rich and vast game environments can be more readily transferred onto mobile gaming platforms.