Browsing by Author "Cartwright, Stephen"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Flying Frustum: A Spatial Interface for Enhancing Human- UAV Awareness
    (2015-06-09) Li, Nico; Cartwright, Stephen; Shekhar Nittala, Aditya; Sharlin, Ehud; Costa Sousa, Mario
    We present Flying Frustum, a 3D spatial interface that enables control of semi-autonomous UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) using pen interaction on a physical model of the terrain, and that spatially situates the information streaming from the UAVs onto the physical model. Our interface is based on a 3D printout of the terrain, which allows the operator to enter goals and paths to the UAV by drawing them directly on the physical model. In turn, the UAV’s streaming reconnaissance information is superimposed on the 3D printout as a view frustum, which is situated according to the UAV’s position and orientation on the actual terrain. We argue that Flying Frustum’s 3D spatially situated interaction can potentially help improve human-UAV awareness, allow a better operators-to-UAV ratio, and enhance the overall situational awareness. We motivate our design approach for Flying Frustum, discuss previous related work in CSCW and HRI, present our current prototype using both handheld and headset augmented reality interfaces, reflect on Flying Frustum’s strengths and weaknesses, and discuss our plans for future evaluation and prototype improvements.
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    FLYING FRUSTUM: A Spatial Interface for Enhancing Human-UAV Awareness: The Video
    (2016-01-18) Li, Nico; Cartwright, Stephen; Shekhar Nittala, Aditya; Sharlin, Ehud; Costa Sousa, Mario
    We present Flying Frustum, a 3D spatial interface that enables control of semi-autonomous UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) using pen interaction on a physical model of the terrain, and that spatially situates the information streaming from the UAVs onto the physical model. Our interface is based on a 3D printout of the terrain, which allows the operator to enter goals and paths to the UAV by drawing them directly on the physical model. In turn, the UAV’s streaming reconnaissance information is superimposed on the 3D printout as a view frustum, which is situated on the physical model according to the UAV’s location on the actual terrain. We argue that Flying Frustum’s 3D spatially situated interaction can help improve human- UAV awareness, allow a better operators-to-UAV ratio, and enhance the overall situational awareness. In this video we illustrate the design and demonstrate the proof-of-concept system of Flying Frustum.
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    PLANWELL : Spatial Interface For Collaborative Petroleum-Well Planning: The Video
    (2016-01-19) Shekhar Nittala, Aditya; Li, Nico; Cartwright, Stephen; Takashima, Kazuki; Sharlin, Ehud; Costa Sousa, Mario
    We present our prototype of PlanWell, a spatial augmented reality interface that facilitates collaborative field operations. PlanWell collaborative field operations. PlanWell allows a central overseer (in a command and control center) and a remote explorer (an outdoor user in the field) to explore and collaborate within a geographical area. > PlanWell provides the overseer with a tangible user interface (TUI) based on a 3D printout of surface geography which acts as a physical representation of the region to be explored. Augmented reality is used to dynamically overlay properties of the region as well as the presence of the remote explorer and their actions on to the 3D representation of the terrain. The overseer is able to perform the actions directly on the TUI and then the overseer’s actions are presented as dynamic AR visualizations superimposed on the explorer’s view in the field. Although our interface could applied to many domains, the PlanWell prototype was developed to facilitate petroleum engineering tasks such as well planning and coordination of drilling operations. This video illustrates the design and demonstrated the interaction techniques of our PlanWell prototype.
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    Secure Collaboration Across the Reality-Virtuality Continuum Using Reservoir Data
    (2018-12-20) Cartwright, Stephen; Sharlin, Ehud; Costa Sousa, Mario; Chen, Zhangxing; El-Sheimy, Naser
    Acquiring, storing, processing, synthesizing, visualizing, and interpreting data are core to scientific knowledge discovery. This data life cycle is common to many diverse fields such as medicine and petroleum engineering. A wide range of techniques may be used for interacting with and visualizing data. Immersive technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality show great potential to enhance important workplace activities such as collaboration. To this end an immersive, collaborative tool for visualizing reservoir data is discussed. Some collaborative scenarios using these technologies are then described. It is important to carefully consider how these technologies will be incorporated into a professional setting to ensure tools based on these technologies will provide a high quality user experience while meeting the security needs of industry. In order to further this goal, some of the architectural considerations of a collaboration tool that uses a variety of technologies from the reality-virtuality continuum are explored. A prototype tool is then presented that has been developed for collaborating over petroleum reservoir scenarios involving sensitive data. This tool incorporates visual protection mechanisms to facilitate collaboration while providing enhanced control over information disclosure. A user feedback session was performed with reservoir engineering subject matter experts, and the results from this exploratory evaluation are reported.
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    Using Virtual Reality to Develop Clinical Educators' Skills of Facilitating Challenging Conversations with Students
    (2022-11-21) Ibbotson, Hannah; Laing, Catherine; Cartwright, Stephen; Clancy, Tracey
    Facilitating challenging conversations with struggling nursing students can be a stressful experience for clinical educators (CEs). By addressing identified issues in a timely manner, CEs ensure competent patient care while providing students with an opportunity to improve performance. With little to no opportunity to practice facilitating challenging conversations until the actual interactions, CEs are often unprepared to navigate these conversations. This study aimed to gain CEs’ perspectives on the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) in facilitating faculty development in navigating these conversations. A mixed-methods approach using a survey with demographic items, open- and close-ended questions, and interviews were implemented at the beginning and end of the Fall 2020 teaching semester with CEs teaching small groups (6-8 students) in the Faculty of Nursing. Data analysis included frequency distribution and thematic analysis. The study found that CEs perceived the VR experience as a beneficial tool to develop their skills. While providing a safe and positive learning environment to practice necessary skills, the VR experience prompted CEs to be actively engaged in their learning as well as enhance their confidence level in how they manage challenging student interactions. CEs suggested that the VR experience could be utilized for both new and experienced educators by incorporating it as a part of orientation and ongoing professional development sessions, respectively. Also, CEs shared that receiving feedback on their performance and making the experience more interactive may further enhance their learning. Gaining CEs’ perspective on the usefulness of the VR experience for faculty development could be beneficial in better supporting CEs in their roles to provide quality learning for the students. With this insight, there is potential to implement the use of VR as a means to support faculty and develop additional learning experiences to build their capabilities as educators.