Cecil Lozano

The impact on musculoskeletal system during multitouch tablet interactions

HCI researchers and technologists have heralded multitouch interaction as the technology to drive computing systems into the future. However, as we move towards a world where interaction is based on human body movements that are not well documented or studied, we face a serious and a grave risk of creating technology and systems that may lead to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Designers need to be empowered with objective data on the impact of multitouch interactions on the musculoskeletal system to make informed choices in interaction design. In this paper we present an experiment that documents kinematic (movement) and kinetic measures (EMG) when interacting with a multitouch tablet. Results show that multitouch interaction can induce significant stress that may lead to MSDs and care must be taken when designing multitouch interaction.

Electrotactile stimulation on the tongue: Intensity perception, discrimination, and cross-modality estimation.

Due to its high sensitivity and conductivity, electrotactile stimulation (ETS) on the tongue has proven to be a useful and technically convenient tool to substitute and/or augment sensory capabilities. However, most of its applications have only provided spatial attributes and little is known about (a) the ability of the tongues sensory system to process electrical stimuli of varying magnitudes and (b) how modulation of ETS intensity affects subjects’ ability to decode stimulus intensity. We addressed these questions by quantifying: (1) the magnitude of the dynamic range (DR; maximal comfortable intensity/perception threshold) and its sensitivity to prolonged exposure; (2) subjects’ ability to perceive intensity changes; and (3) subjects’ ability to associate intensity with angular excursions of a protractors handle. We found that the average DR (17 dB) was generally large in comparison with other tactile loci and of a relatively constant magnitude among subjects, even after prolonged exposure, despite a slight but significant upward drift (p < 0.001). Additionally, our results showed that as stimulus intensity increased, subjects’ ability to discriminate ETS stimuli of different intensities improved (p < 0.05) while estimation accuracy, in general, slightly decreased (increasing underestimation). These results suggest that higher ETS intensity may increase recruitment of rapidly adapting mechanoreceptor fibers, as these are specialized for coding stimulus differences rather than absolute intensities. Furthermore, our study revealed that the tongues sensory system can effectively convey electrical stimuli despite minimal practice and when information transfer is limited by memory and DR drift.

Lessons Learned from In-School Use of rTAG: A Robo-Tangible Learning Environment

As technology is increasingly integrated into the classroom, understanding the facilitators and barriers for deployment becomes an important part of the process. While systems that employ traditional WIMP-based interfaces have a well-established body of work describing their integration into classroom environments, more novel technologies generally lack such a foundation to guide their advancement. In this paper we present Robo-Tangible Activities for Geometry (rTAG), a tangible learning environment that utilizes a teachable agent framing, together with a physical robotic agent. We describe its deployment in a school environment, qualitatively analyzing how teachers chose to orchestrate its use, the value they saw in it, and the barriers they faced while organizing the sessions with their students. Based on this analysis, we extract four recommendations that aid in designing and deploying systems that make use of affordances that are similar to those of the rTAG system.

Repairing deactivating negative emotions with student progress pages

We report on two studies that suggest that showing reports of student progress at key moments of deactivating negative emotions (boredom or lack of excitement) can help improve students’ affective state and learning behavior while using an adaptive math tutoring system. The studies involved 160 middle-school students in public schools in Arizona and California who reported higher levels of interest and excitement and also demonstrated more positive engagement behavior when using the intervention progress pages.

Latino/Hispanic Alzheimer's caregivers experiencing dementia-related dressing issues: corroboration of the Preservation of Self model and reactions to a "smart dresser" computer-based dressing aid.

Objective To gain an understanding of Latino/Hispanic caregivers’ dementia-related dressing issues, their impressions of using a “smart” context-aware dresser to coach dressing, and recommendations to improve its acceptability. Method The same Latina moderator conducted all the caregiver focus groups. She followed a semi-structured interview guide that was previously used with White and African American family caregivers who experienced Alzheimer’s disease related dressing challenges. From that study, the Preservation of Self model emerged. Using a deductive qualitative analytic approach, we applied the thematic domains from the Preservation of Self model to ascertain relevance to Latino/Hispanic caregivers. Results Twenty Latino/Hispanic experienced caregivers were recruited, enrolled, and participated in one of three focus groups. The majority were female (75%) and either the spouse (25%) or adult child (35%). Striking similarities occurred with the dressing challenges and alignment with the Preservation of Self model. Ethnic differences arose in concerns over assimilation weakening the Latino culture of family caregiving. Regional clothing preferences were noted. Technology improvement recommendations for our system, called DRESS, included developing bilingual prompting dialogs and video modules using the local vernacular to improve cultural sensitivity. Caregivers identified the potential for the technology to enable user privacy, empowerment, and exercise as well as offering respite time for themselves. Conclusion Findings suggest dementia-related dressing issues were shared in common by different racial/ethnic groups but the response to them was influenced by cultural dynamics. For the first time Latino/Hispanic voices are heard to reflect their positive technology impressions, concerns, and recommendations in order to begin to address the cultural digital disparities divide.

An Assistive Technology System that Provides Personalized Dressing Support for People Living with Dementia: Capability Study

Background Individuals living with advancing stages of dementia (persons with dementia, PWDs) or other cognitive disorders do not have the luxury of remembering how to perform basic day-to-day activities, which in turn makes them increasingly dependent on the assistance of caregivers. Dressing is one of the most common and stressful activities provided by caregivers because of its complexity and privacy challenges posed during the process. Objective In preparation for in-home trials with PWDs, the aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a prototype intelligent system, the DRESS prototype, to assess its ability to provide automated assistance with dressing that can afford independence and privacy to individual PWDs and potentially provide additional freedom to their caregivers (family members and professionals). Methods This laboratory study evaluated the DRESS prototype’s capacity to detect dressing events. These events were engaged in by 11 healthy participants simulating common correct and incorrect dressing scenarios. The events ranged from donning a shirt and pants inside out or backwards to partial dressing—typical issues that challenge a PWD and their caregivers. Results A set of expected detections for correct dressing was prepared via video analysis of all participants’ dressing behaviors. In the initial phases of donning either shirts or pants, the DRESS prototype missed only 4 out of 388 expected detections. The prototype’s ability to recognize other missing detections varied across conditions. There were also some unexpected detections such as detection of the inside of a shirt as it was being put on. Throughout the study, detection of dressing events was adversely affected by the relatively smaller effective size of the markers at greater distances. Although the DRESS prototype incorrectly identified 10 of 22 cases for shirts, the prototype preformed significantly better for pants, incorrectly identifying only 5 of 22 cases. Further analyses identified opportunities to improve the DRESS prototype’s reliability, including increasing the size of markers, minimizing garment folding or occlusions, and optimal positioning of participants with respect to the DRESS prototype. Conclusions This study demonstrates the ability to detect clothing orientation and position and infer current state of dressing using a combination of sensors, intelligent software, and barcode tracking. With improvements identified by this study, the DRESS prototype has the potential to provide a viable option to provide automated dressing support to assist PWDs in maintaining their independence and privacy, while potentially providing their caregivers with the much-needed respite.

A Tool for Integrating Log and Video Data for Exploratory Analysis and Model Generation

Analysis of students’ log data to understand their process as they solve problems is an essential part of educational technology research. Models of correct and buggy student behavior can be generated from this log data and used as a basis for intelligent feedback. Another important technique for understanding problem-solving process is video protocol analysis, but historically, this has not been well integrated with log data. In this paper, we describe a tool to 1) facilitate the annotation of log data with information from video data, and 2) automatically generate models of student problem-solving process that include both video and log data. We demonstrate the utility of the tool with analysis of student use of a teachable robot system for geometry.