Romuald Deshayes

ProMoBox: A Framework for Generating Domain-Specific Property Languages

Specifying and verifying properties of the modelled system has been mostly neglected by domain-specific modelling (DSM) approaches. At best, this is only partially supported by translating models to formal representations on which properties are specified and evaluated based on logic-based formalisms, such as linear temporal logic. This contradicts the DSM philosophy as domain experts are usually not familiar with the logics space. To overcome this shortcoming, we propose to shift property specification and verification tasks up to the domain-specific level. The ProMoBox framework consists of (i) generic languages for modelling properties and representing verification results, (ii) a fully automated method to specialize and integrate these generic languages to a given DSM language, and (iii) a verification backbone based model checking directly plug-able to DSM environments. In its current state, ProMoBox offers the designer modelling support for defining temporal properties, and for visualizing verification results, all based on a given DSM language. We report results of applying ProMoBox to a case study of an elevator controller.

SECONDA: Software Ecosystem Analysis Dashboard

Software ecosystems are coherent collections of software projects that evolve together and are maintained by the same developer community. Tools for analysing and visualising the evolution of software ecosystems must not only take into account the software product, but the development community as well. SECONDA is a software ecosystem visualization and analysis dashboard that offers both individual and grouped analysis of the evolution of projects and developers belonging to the software ecosystem, at coarse-grained and fine-grained level. In its current incarnation, SECONDA is used to study the GNOME ecosystem and developer community.

A generic framework for executable gestural interaction models

Integrating new input devices and their associated interaction techniques into interactive applications has always been challenging and time-consuming, due to the learning curve and technical complexity involved. Modeling devices, interactions and applications helps reducing the accidental complexity. Visual modeling languages can hide an important part of the technical aspects involved in the development process, thus allowing a faster and less error-prone development process. However, even with the help of modeling, a gap remains to be bridged in order to go from models to the actual implementation of the interactive application. In this paper we use ICO, a visual formalism based on high-level Petri nets, to develop a generic layered framework for specifying executable models of interaction using gestural input devices. By way of the CASE tool Petshop we demonstrate the frameworks feasibility to handle the Kinect and gesture-based interaction techniques. We validate the approach through two case studies that illustrate how to use executable, reusable and extensible ICO models to develop gesture-based applications.

A domain-specific modeling approach for gestural interaction

Natural interaction is gaining widespread use, but more tools and techniques are required to fully support the takeup of gestural interaction. This research focus on providing an expressive an extensible framework and an executable domain-specific modeling language for specifying gestural interaction with real or virtual objects. The main targeted domains are virtual reality for gaming applications and home automation.

PetriNect: A tool for executable modeling of gestural interaction

In this showpiece we demonstrate PetriNect, an instance of a generic layered framework that we have developed for the specification and use of executable models of gestural interaction with virtual objects. The framework is built on top of Petshop and uses ICO models, a variant of high-level Petri nets. PetriNect uses the Kinect as input device for allowing the user to interact gesturally with virtual objects. We present two simple proof-of-concept prototype applications that have been developed for the purpose of this showpiece: a simple Pong game, and the interaction with a virtual bookshelf.

KinectBalls: An Interactive Tool for Ball Throwing Games

We present a tool that was developed in the context of the first author’s masters project. The tool implements an interactive computer game combining the real and the virtual world in a seamless way. The player interacts with the game by throwing balls towards a wall on which a virtual 3D scene is projected. Using the Kinect 3D sensor, we compute and predict the trajectory, speed and position of the ball. Upon impact with the screen, a virtual ball continues its trajectory in the virtual scene, and interacts with the objects around it using a physical and a graphical 3D engine Bullet, and Ogre3D. The prototype game has been successfully tested on a large number of people of varying ages.