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Resultados da pesquisa

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  • Hovercraft telemanipulation virtual models and interface design
    Publication . Noronha, Hildegardo José Quintal
    A control system was designed to allow humans to manually drive an, usually automatic, two wheeled hovercraft. The size, the mass and the way of driving this vehicle proves to be an issue for the everyday, untrained person to achieve. During this thesis several control layouts were designed with the objective of creating an intuitive and easy way of driving such a vehicle. At the end two where usertested using a simulation (also developed during this thesis) of the said hovercraft set against obstacles similar to those expected to be encountered on its real environment. The two layouts are just slightly apart in performance but numerous issues were found that can be used to redesign a better control layout. This means that no definitive winner was found but a foundation for a better design was indeed found.
  • A multimodal tablet-based interface for designing and reviewing 3D engineering models
    Publication . Campos, Pedro; Noronha, Hildegardo
    The usage of multimodal user interfaces has revolutionized many different activities. However, most of the interactive technologies deployed in real world engineering contexts are still difficult to use, especially when engineering teams need to collaboratively visualize and review large-scale 3D CAD (Computer-Aided Design) models. This is the case of the oil platform industry, which necessarily involves the review and manipulation of large CAD models. In this paper we present a novel solution, based on multitouch and accelerometer input, which was designed and evaluated in close cooperation with researchers and engineers of a large oil industry company. We evaluated two different conditions: using multitouch-only input and using multitouch coupled with accelerometer-based input. Statistical analysis of quantitative data suggests that the second condition is faster and less error-prone than simply using multitouch-only input. Additionally, qualitative data showed that users perceive the multitouch-only interface as being more accurate, but more difficult to understand and use.
  • Collaborative 3d visualization on large screen displays
    Publication . Mendes, Daniel; Sousa, Maurício; Araújo, Bruno; Ferreira, Alfredo; Noronha, Hildegardo; Campos, Pedro; Soares, Luciano; Raposo, Alberto; Jorge, Joaquim
    Large Scale Displays, besides their visualization capabilities, can provide a great sense of immersion to a geographically distributed group of people engaging in collaborative work. This paper presents a system that uses remotely located wall sized displays, to o↵er immersive, interactive collaborative visualization and review of 3D CAD models for engineering applications.
  • Designing a mobile collaborative system for navigating and reviewing oil industry cad models
    Publication . Noronha, Hildegardo; Campos, Pedro; Jorge, Joaquim; Araújo, Bruno de; Soares, Luciano; Raposo, Alberto
    In this paper, we describe an industrial experience with the creation of a new product for collaboratively navigating and reviewing 3D engineering models, applied to the oil industry. Together with professional oil industry engineers from a large oil company, a team of HCI researchers per formed task analysis and storyboards, designed, imple mented and qualitatively evaluated a prototype that com bines the power of mobility brought by tablets with new navigation modes that employ every sensor present in the tablet to deliver a better experience. The system was the target of a qualitative assessment made by architects and oil industry engineering experts. Lessons learned are valuable, both in terms of performance and experience design, issues that necessarily arise when creating new collaborative vir tual reality systems
  • LoRaquatica: Studying Range and Location Estimation using LoRa and IoT in Aquatic Sensing
    Publication . Radeta, Marko; Ribeiro, Miguel; Vasconcelos, Dinarte; Noronha, Hildegardo; Nunes, Nuno Jardim
    While ubiquitous computing remains vastly applied in urban environments, their applications in ocean environment remain scarce due to the limitations in range and cost of current radio technology. This hinders environmental telemetry in the oceans and other remote areas. In this study, we explore the usage of IoT and Long Range Radio Communication (LoRa) in ocean environments. We study the maximum distance for LoRa and a potential location estimation based on the same technology using the passive RSSI analysis. Using three coastal based nodes and a node mounted on a sea vessel, we report a maximum range of 83.6km. We also achieve a location error within a radius of 3.4km (4% of maximum distance) in the sea. These results support marine biologist expeditions, allowing them to use low cost, long-lasting and easy to deploy solutions for tracking marine objects and species in open ocean, providing them data in near real-time. We discuss the findings from used models, outlining limitations, and providing a scenario for future ubiquitous IoT applications for tracking sea objects.
  • Harnessing virtuality in the real world: a transversal approach
    Publication . Noronha, Hildegardo José Quintal; Campos, Pedro Filipe Pereira
    This thesis explores a range of Virtual Reality-related technologies in order to solve problems and expand the State-of-the-Art in the fields of Remote Collaboration, Virtual Reality, and Ocean Awareness. It also explores and harnesses the power of supporting technologies, mostly, the Internet-of-Things. The line that separates our lives from Virtuality is becoming more and more blurred. With the rapid expansion of Virtual Reality, new problems arise, both from a technical and theoretical point-of-view. This thesis explores Virtual Reality from a low-level, ”cold metal” side - such as tracking - and a high-level, ”warm feelings” side - such as emo tions. With Virtuality in mind, this thesis tries to improve Remote Collaboration based on a real-world problem of working engineers that need to cooperate in real-time en gineering endeavors while not being present in the same physical space. It explores Gamification and a mix of Augmented and Virtual Reality to improve the experience quality of remote working. Finally, this thesis takes an approach to Ocean Awareness with the help of holography, green building, and the Internet-of-Things in order to build public displays that rely on data that is collected from the marine fauna, transport it, and display it in near-real-time. This thesis also presents and discusses a set of lessons learned during these ex periments and outlines a set of design recommendations for these contexts. It has a direct impact on the industries that depend on remote collaboration as well as indus tries that need novel ways to persuade users such as ocean awareness and human well-being and improves the State-of-the-Art in Virtual Reality
  • On the usage of different work analysis methods for collaborative review of large scale 3D CAD models
    Publication . Campos, Pedro; Noronha, Hildegardo
    Human work interaction design is an emerging discipline that aims to encourage empirical studies and conceptualizations of the interaction among humans, their variegated social contexts and the technology they use both with in and across these contexts. In this paper we describe and elaborate around the usage of different work analysis methods in a complex, real world work do main: collaborative review of large-scale 3D engineering models. The analysis is based on (i) input from experts in the oil platform engineering field, (ii) pre vious and related work and (iii) application of different methods considering the recent advances in technology. We conclude that hierarchical task analysis was not effective in obtaining a clear, common vision about the work domain. Sto ryboarding was the most useful technique as it allowed discovering novelty fac tors that differentiate the solution and improve the usability of the product, thereby supporting the human work at offshore engineering design and review sessions.
  • Physical and physiological characterization of custom-made virtual reality exergames: a pilot study
    Publication . França, Cíntia; Noronha, Hildegardo; Freitas, Eva; Campos, Pedro; Ornelas, Rui T.; Gouveia, Élvio R.; França, Cíntia; Noronha, Hildegardo; Pereira Campos, Pedro Filipe; Ornelas, Rui; Gouveia, Élvio Rúbio
    The continuous growth of the older adult population demands an urgent need to provide innovative ways to stimulate physical activity and promote functional health. This study presents FitFest, a custom-made virtual reality (VR) designed to deliver a complete physical activity (PA) session for older adults. A pilot study involving seven older adults (67.0 ± 3.8 years) was conducted, comprising 18 user testing sessions of two VR exergames: Wine Fest and Flower Fest. PA intensity and heart rate (HR) were measured. The rate of perceived exertion (RPE) and the participants’ rating of the system’s usability were also registered. Overall, sessions involved mostly sedentary behavior (56.5 ± 20.4%) and light PA (42.1 ± 19.3%), with an average of 436.7 steps and 92.1 bpm. Wine Fest elicited less sedentary behavior (53.6 ± 22.1% vs. 62.8 ± 16.2%), higher light PA intensity (44.7 ± 20.4% vs. 36.4 ± 17.0%), and a higher step count (503.0 ± 345.4 vs. 291.0 ± 143.1) than the Flower Fest, although not significantly. Tasks requiring cardiovascular effort and strength were rated as more physically demanding. Most participants found the system user-friendly and showed interest in continued use, though technical support was essential due to limited familiarity with VR. The findings suggest FitFest has potential to promote light PA in older adults, highlighting the importance of usability and support in tech-based interventions.
  • A mobile system for collaborative design and review of large scale virtual reality models
    Publication . Campos, Pedro; Pereira Campos, Pedro Filipe; Gouveia, Duarte; Noronha, Hildegardo; Noronha, Hildegardo; Jorge, Joaquim; Jorge, Joaquim
    Several tools and research prototypes have been developed with the goal of improving the visualization, manipulation, design and review of 3D virtual reality models. However, most of the interactive technologies deployed in real world engineering contexts are still difficult to use. We present a novel virtual reality system specifically designed to support the needs of engineering teams working at oil platforms. CEDAR (Collaborative Engineering Design And Review) is based on multitouch and accelerometer input, and was designed and evaluated in close cooperation with researchers and engineers of a large oil industry company. The system allows the navigation, reviewing and annotation of 3D CAD (Computer-Aided Design) models in a mobile, collaborative context.
  • The impact of virtual reality nature environments on calmness, arousal and energy: a multi-method study
    Publication . Noronha, Hildegardo; Campos, Pedro
    Virtual Reality is the current media's epitome of Immersiveness, Presence and Suspension of Disbelief. Both research and gaming industry communities have been building on this in order to exhaustively research and explore feelings of high-adrenaline, scariness, panic and other visceral and instinctive feelings. We take the opposite approach and try to prove that Virtual Reality can also be used to induce feelings of relaxation and soothingness effectively and strongly. Therefore, it could be used to improve the mental health of people who cannot be exposed to situations that induce said feelings. In our experiments, we found that Virtual Reality can be used to induce a strong sense of Calmness and to reduce the sense of Arousal and Energy, with a high degree of significance, having an effect with short-duration exposures. We also found hints that Virtual Reality may have an effect in the circadian cycle's regulation by exposing the subjects to a virtual sunset.