Decision making in advanced technological systems
Posted by Tal Oron-Gilad in Courses, News on June 21, 2022
This graduate course (364 – 2 – 1971) presents selected issues in decision-making research and their application to the design and operation of advanced technological systems. In this course, students learn how to adapt behavioral models and apply them to the design of the interaction of humans with advanced, intelligent technological systems. We aim to improve the quality of interaction by addressing the topics from multiple perspectives (individual, team and group), multiple types of models (agent-based, interaction-based, behavioral), factors and domains.
Course poster session. On 23/6 the class will present 20 posters related to decision making and technology in the domains of transportation, media and communication, medical and health, and robots and human robot interaction.
https://app.virtualpostersession.org/e/64ffba6872c8f3fc949c40d77b93e621
The ‘Bot in the box’ Technique for remote HRI studies
Posted by Tal Oron-Gilad in HRI, human factors engineering, robotics on February 22, 2022
Here we describe a new method to conduct studies in HRI that we developed during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
The Laundry Room – a research facility to study human-robot interaction
Posted by Tal Oron-Gilad in HRI, News, robotics on November 29, 2021
Meet Sawyer as a laundry sorting robot. The user places the dirty laundry on the sorting table. Sawyer then sorts the dirty laundry by color and places the clothes in the appropriate bins.
see the short video at https://youtu.be/WTvuA9oHP8g
Eldercare will change
Posted by Tal Oron-Gilad in HRI, Human-Robot Interaction, News, Older adults, robotics on April 12, 2020
Here is a link to a short video summary of our work for the SOCRATES EU project. The overarching focus of this project is on Robotics in eldercare. The use-cases have become extremely relevant with the coronavirus outbreak. We often tended to assume that the lack of sufficient professional personnel will be the main reason for implementing and distributing social robots for the older population. Now we see the necessity of robots for maintaining the safety of older adults and avoiding the spread of disease – virus among those who are more vulnerable.
In SOCRATES we (Samuel Olatunji our doctoral student, Yael Edan my colleague and myself) look at the necessary balance between the robot’s level of autonomy (LOA) and the amount and pace of information it should provide (LOT – level of transparency) – so that people will get just the right amount of feedback from the robot (too much may distract them, too little may cause confusion, distrust, and abandonment fo this technology).
Our participants are active older adults who were willing to come to the lab and help us in developing our algorithms and applications. We wish them all well and to stay healthy. We hope to see them all again in the lab when the time comes and it is possible again.
The robot that you see in the film is not teleoperated, it moves autonomously following the user’s path and pace. This is the YouTube link: https://youtu.be/3ruDAcTzPIg
To read more about this work and about Samuel
The effects of road environment complexity and age on pedestrian’s visual attention and crossing behavior
Posted by Tal Oron-Gilad in children, News, pedestrians on January 25, 2020
Work on pedestrian distraction co-authored with Hagai Tapiro and Yisrael Parmet
Abstract
Introduction: Little is known how the characteristics of the environment affect pedestrians’ road crossing behavior. Method: In this work, the effect of typical urban visual clutter created by objects and elements in the road proximity (e.g., billboards) on adults and children (aged 9–13) road crossing behavior was examined in a controlled laboratory environment, utilizing virtual reality scenarios projected on a large dome screen. Results: Divided into three levels of visual load, results showed that high visual load affected children’s and adults’ road crossing behavior and visual attention. The main effect on participants’ crossing decisions was seen in missed crossing opportunities. Children and adults missed more opportunities to cross the road when exposed to more cluttered road environments. An interaction with age was found in the dispersion of the visual attention measure. Children, 9–10 and 11–13 years old, had a wider spread of gazes across the scene when the environment was highly loaded—an effect not seen with adults. However, unexpectedly, no other indication of the deterring effect was found in the current study. Still, according to the results, it is reasonable to assume that busier road environments can be more hazardous to adult and child pedestrians. Practical Applications: In that context, it is important to further investigate the possible distracting effect of causal objects in the road environment on pedestrians, and especially children. This knowledge can help to create better safety guidelines for children and assist urban planners in creating safer urban environments.
Human Factors Engineering 