Geetika Sharma

Remote retail monitoring and stock assessment using mobile robots

This paper describes a Virtual Reality (VR) based system for automating data collection and surveying in a retail store using mobile robots. The manpower cost for surveying and monitoring the shelves in retail stores are high, because of which these activities are not repeated frequently causing reduced customer satisfaction and loss of revenue. Further, the accuracy of data collected may be improved by avoiding human related factors. We use a mobile robot platform with on-board cameras to monitor the shelves either autonomously or through tele-operation. A remote operator can control the robot from a console which shows a 3D of view of the store as well as, capture real images and videos of the store. The robot is designed to facilitate automatic detection of Out-of-Stock (OOS) situations. It would be possible for a single operator to control multiple robots placed at different stores thus optimizing the available resources. As the deployment of the proposed system does not require modifying existing infrastructure of the store, the cost of the entire solution is cheaper with shorter return-on-investment (ROI) period.

An AR Inspection Framework: Feasibility Study with Multiple AR Devices

We present an Augmented Reality (AR) based re-configurable framework for inspection that can be utilized in cross-domain applications such as maintenance and repair assistance in industrial inspection, health sector to record vitals, and automotive/avionics domain inspection, amongst others. The novelty of the inspection framework as compared to the existing counterparts are three fold. Firstly, the inspection check-list can be prioritized by detecting the parts viewed in inspectors field using deep learning principles. Second, the backend of the framework is easily configurable for different applications where instructions and assistance manuals can be directly imported and visually integrated with inspection type. Third, we conduct a feasibility study on inspection modes such as Google Glass, Google Cardboard, Paper based and Tablet for inspection turnaround time, ease, and usefulness by taking a 3D printer inspection use-case.

A study of virtual environments for enterprise collaboration

Globally distributed workforces in enterprises are commonplace these days due to the increasing popularity of the off-shore business model. One of the challenges faced by these enterprises is enabling effective collaboration between geographically separated teams while keeping operational costs to a minimum. Although a number of tools have been developed for collaboration, online virtual environments (VEs) open up huge possibilities. In this paper, we present the results of a pilot study we conducted on the usability and acceptability of some popular virtual environments for collaboration within an enterprise. Based on our evaluation, we analyse where the current class of VEs lack and prescribe some good practices for their use.

The Role of Semantics in Next-Generation Online Virtual World-Based Retail Store

Online virtual environments are increasingly becoming popular for entrepreneurship. While interactions are primarily between avatars, some interactions could occur through intelligent chatbots. Such interactions require connecting to backend business applications to obtain information, carry out real-world transactions etc. In this paper, we focus on integrating business application systems with virtual worlds. We discuss the probable features of a next-generation online virtual world-based retail store and the technologies involved in realizing the features of such a store. In particular, we examine the role of semantics in integrating popular virtual worlds with business applications to provide natural language based interactions.

Mixing real and virtual conferencing: lessons learned

This paper describes a conference which linked several remote location sites via a virtual environment so that the virtual audience could follow the presentations and interact with real presenters. The aim was to assess the feasibility of linking distributed virtual audiences to an ongoing conference event. The conference consisted of an annual gathering of researchers and developers of a global information technology consultancy firm based in India. This firm developed a virtual environment specifically for distributed collaboration across sites. During the conference, researchers gathered various types of data, including participant observations, interviews, capture of the virtual environment and a survey of the audience. These data are analysed in the paper. The main finding is that a number of ‘low tech’ improvements could be made to the operation of the system that could greatly enhance this type of virtual conferencing. A related finding is that the visual fidelity of the environment and of the avatars plays a lesser role than other factors such as audio quality. Given the paucity of research on how virtual conferencing can substitute for travel, plus the urgency of this topic for environmental reasons, a number of suggestions are made for the implementation of remote virtual conference participation.

Enhancing Enterprise Virtual Worlds with Real-World Event Information

In this paper, we present a novel system for enhancing enterprise virtual worlds by supplying information about real-world events and activities at near real-time. With more enterprises realizing the commercial benefits of virtual worlds, the requirement for spontaneous replication of the real-world has become essential. In the proposed system, we detect and classify different real-life human activities using a visual surveillance system and then send corresponding relevant information as inputs to a virtual world server. The virtual world server uses this information to reproduce these activities in the virtual environment. We have used the office model of our lab and recreated human activities and movements with near real spontaneity.

A complex network analysis of ethnic conflicts and human rights violations

News reports in media contain records of a wide range of socio-economic and political events in time. Using a publicly available, large digital database of news records, and aggregating them over time, we study the network of ethnic conflicts and human rights violations. Complex network analyses of the events and the involved actors provide important insights on the engaging actors, groups, establishments and sometimes nations, pointing at their long range effect over space and time. We find power law decays in distributions of actor mentions, co-actor mentions and degrees and dominance of influential actors and groups. Most influential actors or groups form a giant connected component which grows in time, and is expected to encompass all actors globally in the long run. We demonstrate how targeted removal of actors may help stop spreading unruly events. We study the cause-effect relation between types of events, and our quantitative analysis confirm that ethnic conflicts lead to human rights violations, while it does not support the converse.

An art-based approach to visual analytics

In this paper, we propose an art-based approach to visual analytics. We argue that while artistic data visualizations have mainly been designed to communicate the artists message, certain artistic styles can be very effective in exploratory data analysis as well and data visualizations can benefit from more than just the aesthetics inspired by art. We use the ancient Warli style of tribal paintings, found in western India to demonstrate the use of artistic styles for visual analytics over open data provided by the Indian government.

Interactive Visual Analysis of Temporal Text Data

This paper presents a novel interactive visualization technique that helps in gathering insights from large volumes of text generated through dyadic communications. The emphasis is specifically on showing content evolution and modification with passage of time. The challenge lies in presenting not only the content as a stand-alone but also understand how the present is related to the past. For example analyzing large volumes of emails can show how communication among a set of people have progressed or evolved over time, may be along with the roles of the communicators. It can also show how the content has changed or evolved. In order to depict the changes, the email repositories are first clustered using a novel algorithm. The clusters are further time-stamped and correlated. User-insights are provided through visualization of these clusters. Results of implementation over two different datasets are presented.