Florian Klompmaker

dSensingNI: a framework for advanced tangible interaction using a depth camera

This work presents an approach to overcome the disadvantages of existing interaction frameworks and technologies for touch detection and object interaction. The robust and easy to use framework dSensingNI (Depth Sensing Natural Interaction) is described, which supports multitouch and tangible interaction with arbitrary objects. It uses images from a depth-sensing camera and provides tracking of users fingers of palm of hands and combines this with object interaction, such as grasping, grouping and stacking, which can be used for advanced interaction techniques.

Exploiting new interaction techniques for disaster control management using multitouch-, tangible- and pen-based-interaction

This paper shows the proceedings and results of an user centered design process that has been applied in order to analyze how processes of management in disaster control can be optimized while using new interaction techniques like multitouch, tangible and pen-based interaction. The study took part in cooperation with the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief. Its statutory tasks include the provision of technical assistance at home and humanitarian aid abroad. Major focus of this work is the IT-support for coordination and management tasks. As result we introduce our prototype application, the software- and hardware requirements towards it as well as the interaction design that was influenced by the outcome of the user centered design process.

An investigation on requirements for co-located group-work using multitouch-, pen-based- and tangible-interaction

Cooperation and coordination is crucial to solve many of our everyday tasks. Even though many computerized tools exist, there is still a lack of effective tools that support co-located group work. There are promising technologies that can add to this, such as tabletop systems, multitouch, tangible and pen-based interaction. There also exist general requirements and principles that aim to support this kind of work. However these requirements are relatively vague and are not focused on concrete usage scenarios. In this study a user centered approach has been applied in order to develop a co-located group work system based on those general requirements but also on a real use case. The requirements are transformed into concepts and a running prototype that was evaluated with users. As a result not only the usability of the system has been proven but also a catalogue of even more specific requirements for co-located group work systems could be derived.

Designing context aware user interfaces for online exercise training supervision

We present the design of context aware user interfaces for a tele-medical application. The system that is going to be developed within an European research project addresses patients with cardiac diseases who had undergone rehabilitation phase II. It enables them to exercise at home or to exercise mobile while being supervised by a doctor either live or during a post-processing. Therefore we analyzed the needs and requirements of supervisors with the goal to create minimal-attention user interfaces that provide a good usability. The process of the analysis, the most important results and the design approaches for the system are presented in this paper.

A holistic model for integrating usability engineering and software engineering enriched with marketing activities

To support the integration of usability engineering and software engineering this paper analyses corresponding international standards and introduces a model that consists of activities and artifacts highlighting dependencies, similarities and possible points for integration. In addition the model presents activities that serve as potential integration points for the third discipline of marketing. By using this model processes can be aligned easier on a common information base (e.g. activities, artifacts). Innovative thinking will be forced by considering the business perspective of marketing activities likewise.

Towards Multimodal 3D Tabletop Interaction Using Sensor Equipped Mobile Devices

Interactive tabletops have been proven to be very suitable setups for collaborative work especially in combination with mobile devices. Further on, many application scenarios require the visualization of 3D data. Therefore we present multimodal 3D interaction techniques for tabletops that allow simultaneous control of six degrees of freedom using sensor equipped mobile devices. In two early user studies we compared multitouch, tangible interaction and sensor equipped smartphones in order to start a User Centered Design process. We got important results regarding effectiveness, intuitiveness and user experience. Most notably we figured out that mobile devices equipped with acceleration sensors are very suitable for 3D rotation tasks.

INDiE: a framework for human computer Interaction in Distributed Environments

This paper presents INDiE (Interaction in Distributed Environments): A network protocol, device abstraction approach and software development kit for transmitting input and output data between mobile interaction devices and ambient applications in distributed interactive systems. Interaction devices may be classical input hardware, controllers, sensor equipped smart-phones or even single sensor units. The network protocol defines different messages for device registration, data delivery and error handling. The device abstraction approach enables rapid prototyping of multimodal interaction techniques using arbitrary input devices. Further on we present some highly interactive desktop and virtual reality applications that were built using the software development kit.

A Taxonomy-Based Approach towards NUI Interaction Design

The rapid development in the domain of Natural User Interfaces NUIs and the proliferation of the hardware required to implement them places an increasing burden on interaction designers. Designers should be aware of research results relevant to their interaction problem but the increasing volume of NUI related research makes it difficult and thus hinders the development of usable real-world products. To address this problem, we have developed a decision-making tool that uses an interaction taxonomy in combination with definable application requirements. Using our tool, designers as well as HCI researchers can search for existing guidelines for a specific interaction problem fast and easily. In this paper we present the structure of the taxonomy, the decision-making process and tool as well as an evaluation and discussion of the overall approach.

Automatische Emotionserkennung – Technologien, Deutung und Anwendungen

ZusammenfassungMenschen kommunizieren nicht nur durch Sprache miteinander, sondern geben unbewusst auch eine Menge Informationen durch Emotionen preis. Da die herkömmliche Kommunikation zwischen Mensch und Computer oft nicht sehr intuitiv ist, soll sie durch die Entwicklungen im Forschungsbereich Affective Computing verbessert werden. Hierfür muss der Computer in der Lage sein, die Gefühle seines Gegenübers richtig zu deuten.In diesem Artikel werden die Technologien und Verfahren zur Erkennung menschlicher Emotionen von Computersystemen vorgestellt, die Deutung der Daten zu Emotionen beschrieben und Anwendungsbeispiele gezeigt. Der Schwerpunkt liegt bei den technischen Komponenten der Emotionserkennung. Hierbei steht die Deutung von Gesichtszügen, Aussprache und Vitaldaten (Puls, Blutdruck etc.) im Vordergrund. Andere Hinweise wie Gestik und Körperhaltung sind sehr schwer durch Sensorik zu messen bzw. kaum zu interpretieren. Die zuverlässigsten Ergebnisse liefern stets multimodale Verfahren, bei denen mehrere Sensoren als Quellen verwendet werden, um eine besser Zuordnung zu einem emotionalen Zustand zu ermöglichen. Dies spiegelt auch die menschliche Wahrnehmung wider, da wir Emotionen über eine Vielzahl von Sinnesorganen wahrnehmen.

Evaluation of Whole-Body Navigation and Selection Techniques in Immersive 3D Environments

Since 2010 when the Microsoft Kinect with its integrated depth-sensing camera appeared on the market, completely new kinds of interaction techniques have been integrated into console games. They don’t require any instrumentalization and no complicated calibration or time-consuming setup anymore. But even having these benefits, some drawbacks exist. Most games only enable the user to fulfill very simple gestures like waving, jumping or stooping, which is not the natural behavior of a user. In addition the depth-sensing technology lacks of haptic feedback. Of course we cannot solve the lack of haptic feedback, but we want to improve the whole-body interaction. Our goal is to develop 3D interaction techniques that give a maximum of freedom to the user and enable her to perform precise and immersive interactions.This work focuses on whole-body interaction in immersive virtual environments. We present 3D interaction techniques that provide the user with a maximum of freedom and enables her to operate precisely and immersive in virtual environments. Furthermore we present a user study, in which we analyzed how Navigation and Manipulation techniques can be performed by users’ body-interaction using a depth-sensing camera and a huge projection screen. Therefore three alternative approaches have been developed and tested: classical gamepad interaction, an indirect pointer-based interaction and a more direct whole-body interaction technique. We compared their effectiveness and preciseness. It turned out that users act faster, while using the gamepad, but generate significantly more errors at the same time. Using depth-sensing based whole-body interaction techniques it became apparent, that the interaction is much more immersive, natural and intuitive, even if slower. We will show the advantages of our approach and how it can be used in various domains, more effectively and efficiently for their users.Copyright