Segmentation and Alignment of Speech and Sketching in a Design Environment

Sketches are commonly used in the early stages of design. Our previous system allows users to sketch mechanical systems that the computer interprets. However, some parts of the mechanical system might be too hard or too complicated to express in the sketch. Adding speech recognition to create a multimodal system would move us toward our goal of creating a more natural user interface. This thesis examines the relationship between the verbal and sketch input, particularly how to segment and align the two inputs. Toward this end, subjects were recorded while they sketched and talked. These recordings were transcribed, and a set of rules to perform segmentation and alignment was created. These rules represent the knowledge that the computer needs to perform segmentation and alignment. The rules successfully interpreted the 24 data sets that they were given.

Assembly Design and Evaluation in an Augmented Reality Environment

The technologies and methodologies of assembly design and evaluation in the early design stage are highly significant to product development. This paper looks at a promising technology to mix real components (e.g. physical prototypes, assembly tools, machines, etc.) with virtual components to create an Augmented Reality (AR) interface for assembly process evaluation. The goal of this paper is to clarify the methodologies and enabling technologies of how to establish an AR assembly simulation and evaluation environment. The architecture of an AR assembly system is proposed and the important functional modules including AR environment set-up, design for assembly (DFA) analysis and AR assembly sequence planning in an AR environment are discussed in detail.

Facilitating Mechanical Design with Augmented Reality

By enhancing a real scene with computer generated objects, Augmented Reality (AR), has proven itself as a valuable Human-Computer Interface (HCI) in numerous application areas such as medical, military, entertainment and manufacturing. It enables higher performance of on-site tasks with seamless presentation of up-to-date, task-related information to the users during the operation. AR has potentials in design because the current interface provided by Computer-aided Design (CAD) packages is less intuitive and reports show that the presence of physical objects help design thinking and communication. This research explores the use of AR to improve the efficiency of a design process, specifically in mechanical design.

Evolution of the eye-end design of a composite leaf spring for heavy axle loads

This paper presents the design evolution process of a composite leaf spring for freight rail applications. Three designs of eye-end attachment for composite leaf springs are described. The material used is glass fibre reinforced polyester. Static testing and finite element analysis have been carried out to obtain the characteristics of the spring. Load-deflection curves and strain measurement as a function of load for the three designs tested have been plotted for comparison with FEA predicted values. The main concern associated with the first design is the delamination failure at the interface of the fibres that have passed around the eye and the spring body, even though the design can withstand 150 kN static proof load and one million cycles fatigue load. FEA results confirmed that there is a high interlaminar shear stress concentration in that region. The second design feature is an additional transverse bandage around the region prone to delamination. Delamination was contained but not completely prevented. The third design overcomes the problem by ending the fibres at the end of the eye section.

Finite element aided design evolution of composite leaf spring

This paper shows the process of the virtual production development of the mechanical connection between the top leaf of a dual composite leaf spring system to a shackle using finite element methods. The commercial FEA package MSC/MARC has been used for the analysis. In the original design the joint was based on a closed eye-end. Full scale testing results showed that this configuration achieved the vertical proof load of 150 kN and 1 million cycles of fatigue load. However, a problem with delamination occurred at the interface between the fibres going around the eye and the main leaf body. To overcome this problem, a second design was tried using transverse bandages of woven glass fibre reinforced tape to wrap the section that is prone to delaminate. In this case, the maximum interlaminar shear stress was reduced by a certain amount but it was still higher than the material’s shear strength. Based on the fact that, even with delamination, the top leaf spring still sustained the maximum static and fatigue loads required, the third design was proposed with an open eye-end, eliminating altogether the interface where the maximum shear stress occurs. The maximum shear stress predicted by FEA is reduced significantly and a safety factor of around 2 has been obtained. Thus, a successful and safe design has been achieved.

Design of highly parallel architecture with Alpha and Handel

We propose a bridge between two important parallel programming paradigms: data parallelism and communicating sequential processes (CSP). Data parallel pipelined architectures obtained with the Alpha language can be embedded in a control intensive application expressed in CSP-based Handel formalism. The interface is formally defined from the semantics of the languages Alpha and Handel. This work will ease the design of compute intensive applications on FPGAs.

Clinical potential and design of programmable mechanical impedances for orthotic applications

A person with a moderate or severe motor disability will often use specialised or adapted tools to assist their interaction with a general environment. Such tools can assist with the movement of a person's arms so as to facilitate manipulation, can provide postural supports, or interface to computers, wheelchairs or similar assistive technologies. Designing such devices with programmable stiffness and damping may offer a better means for the person to have effective control of their surroundings. This paper addresses the possibility of designing some assistive technologies using impedance elements that can adapt to the user and the circumstances. Two impedance elements are proposed. The first, based on magnetic particle brakes, allows control of the damping coefficient in a passive element. The second, based on detuning the P-D controller in a servo-motor mechanism, allows control of both stiffness and damping. Such a mechanical impedance can be modulated to the conditions imposed by the task in hand. The limits of linear theory are explored and possible uses of programmable impedance elements are proposed.

Mechatronic design of a high frequency probe for haptic interaction

Current force feedback, haptic interface devices are generally limited to the display of low frequency, high amplitude spatial data. A typical device consists of a low impedance framework of one or more degrees-of-freedom (dof), allowing a user to explore a pre-defined workspace via an end effector such as a handle, thimble, probe or stylus. The movement of the device is then constrained using high gain positional feedback, thus reducing the apparent dof of the device and conveying the illusion of hard contact to the user. Such devices are, however, limited to a narrow bandwidth of frequencies, typically below 30Hz, and are not well suited to the display of surface properties, such as object texture. This paper details a device to augment an existing force feedback haptic display with a vibrotactile display, thus providing a means of conveying low amplitude, high frequency spatial information of object surface properties. 1. Haptics and Haptic Interfaces Haptics is the study of human touch and interaction with the external environment via touch. Information from the human sense of touch can be classified in to two categories, cutaneous and kinesthetic. Cutaneous information is provided via the mechanoreceptive nerve endings in the glabrous skin of the human hand. It is primarily a means of relaying information regarding small-scale details in the form of skin stretch, compression and vibration.

Design of a forecasting system for ECMWF

As laid out in its convention there are 8 different objectives for ECMWF. One of the major objectives will consist of the preparation, on a regular basis, of the data necessary for the preparation of medium-range weather forecasts. The interpretation of this item is that the Centre will make forecasts once a day for a prediction period of up to 10 days. It is also evident that the Centre should not carry out any real weather forecasting but merely disseminate to the member countries the basic forecasting parameters with an appropriate resolution in space and time. It follows from this that the forecasting system at the Centre must from the operational point of view be functionally integrated with the Weather Services of the Member Countries. The operational interface between ECMWF and the Member Countries must be properly specified in order to get a reasonable flexibility for both systems. The problem of making numerical atmospheric predictions for periods beyond 4-5 days differs substantially from 2-3 days forecasting. From the physical point we can define a medium range forecast as a forecast where the initial disturbances have lost their individual structure. However we are still interested to predict the atmosphere in a similar way as in short range forecasting which means that the model must be able to predict the dissipation and decay of the initial phenomena and the creation of new ones. With this definition, medium range forecasting is indeed very difficult and generally regarded as more difficult than extended forecasts, where we usually only predict time and space mean values. The predictability of atmospheric flow has been extensively studied during the last years in theoretical investigations and by numerical experiments. As has been discussed elsewhere in this publication (see pp 338 and 431) a 10-day forecast is apparently on the fringe of predictability.

Safe construction through design: perspectives from the site team

How does the work of designers impact on the safety of operatives at the construction site? Safety research and policy emphasize the importance of designing for safe construction, yet the interface between design and construction is poorly understood: accidents have multiple causes making it hard to establish causal links between design choices and safety outcomes. An in-depth case study of a major station project examines how professionals on the construction site perceive and manage the safety challenges of a building design. Analyses reveal understandings that, on the project studied, design has an impact on safety because of: (1) the timing of design work, where the volume of late design changes increased the difficulty of planning safe procedures, e.g. for working at height, lifting heavy items, refurbishing and demolishing old buildings; and (2) inputs from design stakeholders with insufficient practical knowledge of construction and operation required unplanned work-arounds, e.g. to coordinate different sub-systems, provide maintenance access, and manage loads during construction. These findings suggest that safety suffers where projects are under-designed, and that alongside regulation, there is a need for robust management attention to the contractual structures, incentives, processes and tools that enable clients and designers to understand material practices of construction and operation.

Context relevant persuasive interaction and design: consideration of human factors influencing B2C persuasive interaction

The revolutions of electronic and mobile commerce have opened up unique opportunities for global marketing and business to consumer (B2C) persuasive interaction; with the aim of influencing user behavior. The success or failure of such persuasive interaction is impacted by cultural, social, and personal dimensions. Accordingly, failure to consider such dimensions risks the user forming a negative attitude towards retailer’s websites or mobile applications, which subsequently threatens customer behavior. A better understanding of human factors influencing the way people perceive B2C persuasive interaction is needed. This paper is introduces the concept of a context relevant persuasive interaction and proposes a guideline for designing relevant B2C persuasive interaction.

An optimized ERP brain–computer interface based on facial expression changes

Objective. Interferences from spatially adjacent non-target stimuli are known to evoke event-related potentials (ERPs) during non-target flashes and, therefore, lead to false positives. This phenomenon was commonly seen in visual attention-based brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) using conspicuous stimuli and is known to adversely affect the performance of BCI systems. Although users try to focus on the target stimulus, they cannot help but be affected by conspicuous changes of the stimuli (such as flashes or presenting images) which were adjacent to the target stimulus. Furthermore, subjects have reported that conspicuous stimuli made them tired and annoyed. In view of this, the aim of this study was to reduce adjacent interference, annoyance and fatigue using a new stimulus presentation pattern based upon facial expression changes. Our goal was not to design a new pattern which could evoke larger ERPs than the face pattern, but to design a new pattern which could reduce adjacent interference, annoyance and fatigue, and evoke ERPs as good as those observed during the face pattern. Approach. Positive facial expressions could be changed to negative facial expressions by minor changes to the original facial image. Although the changes are minor, the contrast is big enough to evoke strong ERPs. In this paper, a facial expression change pattern between positive and negative facial expressions was used to attempt to minimize interference effects. This was compared against two different conditions, a shuffled pattern containing the same shapes and colours as the facial expression change pattern, but without the semantic content associated with a change in expression, and a face versus no face pattern. Comparisons were made in terms of classification accuracy and information transfer rate as well as user supplied subjective measures. Main results. The results showed that interferences from adjacent stimuli, annoyance and the fatigue experienced by the subjects could be reduced significantly (p < 0.05) by using the facial expression change patterns in comparison with the face pattern. The offline results show that the classification accuracy of the facial expression change pattern was significantly better than that of the shuffled pattern (p < 0.05) and the face pattern (p < 0.05). Significance. The facial expression change pattern presented in this paper reduced interference from adjacent stimuli and decreased the fatigue and annoyance experienced by BCI users significantly (p < 0.05) compared to the face pattern.

An optimized ERP Brain-computer interface based on facial expression changes

OBJECTIVE: Interferences from spatially adjacent non-target stimuli are known to evoke event-related potentials (ERPs) during non-target flashes and, therefore, lead to false positives. This phenomenon was commonly seen in visual attention-based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) using conspicuous stimuli and is known to adversely affect the performance of BCI systems. Although users try to focus on the target stimulus, they cannot help but be affected by conspicuous changes of the stimuli (such as flashes or presenting images) which were adjacent to the target stimulus. Furthermore, subjects have reported that conspicuous stimuli made them tired and annoyed. In view of this, the aim of this study was to reduce adjacent interference, annoyance and fatigue using a new stimulus presentation pattern based upon facial expression changes. Our goal was not to design a new pattern which could evoke larger ERPs than the face pattern, but to design a new pattern which could reduce adjacent interference, annoyance and fatigue, and evoke ERPs as good as those observed during the face pattern. APPROACH: Positive facial expressions could be changed to negative facial expressions by minor changes to the original facial image. Although the changes are minor, the contrast is big enough to evoke strong ERPs. In this paper, a facial expression change pattern between positive and negative facial expressions was used to attempt to minimize interference effects. This was compared against two different conditions, a shuffled pattern containing the same shapes and colours as the facial expression change pattern, but without the semantic content associated with a change in expression, and a face versus no face pattern. Comparisons were made in terms of classification accuracy and information transfer rate as well as user supplied subjective measures. MAIN RESULTS: The results showed that interferences from adjacent stimuli, annoyance and the fatigue experienced by the subjects could be reduced significantly (p < 0.05) by using the facial expression change patterns in comparison with the face pattern. The offline results show that the classification accuracy of the facial expression change pattern was significantly better than that of the shuffled pattern (p < 0.05) and the face pattern (p < 0.05). SIGNIFICANCE: The facial expression change pattern presented in this paper reduced interference from adjacent stimuli and decreased the fatigue and annoyance experienced by BCI users significantly (p < 0.05) compared to the face pattern.

Using the Technology Acceptance Model to explore community dwelling older adults’ perceptions of a 3D interior design application to facilitate pre-discharge home adaptations

Background In the UK occupational therapy pre-discharge home visits are routinely carried out as a means of facilitating safe transfer from the hospital to home. Whilst they are an integral part of practice, there is little evidence to demonstrate they have a positive outcome on the discharge process. Current issues for patients are around the speed of home visits and the lack of shared decision making in the process, resulting in less than 50 % of the specialist equipment installed actually being used by patients on follow-up. To improve practice there is an urgent need to examine other ways of conducting home visits to facilitate safe discharge. We believe that Computerised 3D Interior Design Applications (CIDAs) could be a means to support more efficient, effective and collaborative practice. A previous study explored practitioners perceptions of using CIDAs; however it is important to ascertain older adult’s views about the usability of technology and to compare findings. This study explores the perceptions of community dwelling older adults with regards to adopting and using CIDAs as an assistive tool for the home adaptations process. Methods Ten community dwelling older adults participated in individual interactive task-focused usability sessions with a customised CIDA, utilising the think-aloud protocol and individual semi-structured interviews. Template analysis was used to carry out both deductive and inductive analysis of the think-aloud and interview data. Initially, a deductive stance was adopted, using the three pre-determined high-level themes of the technology acceptance model (TAM): Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU), Actual Use (AU). Inductive template analysis was then carried out on the data within these themes, from which a number of sub-thmes emerged. Results Regarding PU, participants believed CIDAs served as a useful visual tool and saw clear potential to facilitate shared understanding and partnership in care delivery. For PEOU, participants were able to create 3D home environments however a number of usability issues must still be addressed. The AU theme revealed the most likely usage scenario would be collaborative involving both patient and practitioner, as many participants did not feel confident or see sufficient value in using the application autonomously. Conclusions This research found that older adults perceived that CIDAs were likely to serve as a valuable tool which facilitates and enhances levels of patient/practitioner collaboration and empowerment. Older adults also suggested a redesign of the interface so that less sophisticated dexterity and motor functions are required. However, older adults were not confident, or did not see sufficient value in using the application autonomously. Future research is needed to further customise the CIDA software, in line with the outcomes of this study, and to explore the potential of collaborative application patient/practitioner-based deployment.

An unstructured CVFEM and moving interface algorithm for non-Newtonian Hele-Shaw flows in injection molding

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel unstructured simulation approach for injection molding processes described by the Hele-Shaw model. Design/methodology/approach - The scheme involves dual dynamic meshes with active and inactive cells determined from an initial background pointset. The quasi-static pressure solution in each timestep for this evolving unstructured mesh system is approximated using a control volume finite element method formulation coupled to a corresponding modified volume of fluid method. The flow is considered to be isothermal and non-Newtonian. Findings - Supporting numerical tests and performance studies for polystyrene described by Carreau, Cross, Ellis and Power-law fluid models are conducted. Results for the present method are shown to be comparable to those from other methods for both Newtonian fluid and polystyrene fluid injected in different mold geometries. Research limitations/implications - With respect to the methodology, the background pointset infers a mesh that is dynamically reconstructed here, and there are a number of efficiency issues and improvements that would be relevant to industrial applications. For instance, one can use the pointset to construct special bases and invoke a so-called ""meshless"" scheme using the basis. This would require some interesting strategies to deal with the dynamic point enrichment of the moving front that could benefit from the present front treatment strategy. There are also issues related to mass conservation and fill-time errors that might be addressed by introducing suitable projections. The general question of ""rate of convergence"" of these schemes requires analysis. Numerical results here suggest first-order accuracy and are consistent with the approximations made, but theoretical results are not available yet for these methods. Originality/value - This novel unstructured simulation approach involves dual meshes with active and inactive cells determined from an initial background pointset: local active dual patches are constructed ""on-the-fly"" for each ""active point"" to form a dynamic virtual mesh of active elements that evolves with the moving interface.