As the space industry continues its rapid development, humanity is poised to expand beyond Low Ea... more As the space industry continues its rapid development, humanity is poised to expand beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO), seeking to establish permanent presence on the Moon and beyond. While space travel has traditionally been the domain of a small number of highly specialized professionals, a new era of human exploration, involving non-space actors and stakeholders, is now becoming a reality. In spite of this development, most space habitats are still designed for a narrow target group. This paper seeks to address this deficit by rethinking the established design approaches, typically limited to tackling engineering and challenges of human space exploration (such as radiation or hypogravity), by instead adopting an interdisciplinary "big picture" perspective encompassing social, psychological and cultural aspects of future space habitats. By elaborating and reflecting on our concept, this paper seeks to demonstrate the importance of a trans-disciplinary approach to designing thr...
Repository@Nottingham (University of Nottingham), Jul 3, 2020
UbiComp has been envisioned to bring about a future dominated by calm computing technologies maki... more UbiComp has been envisioned to bring about a future dominated by calm computing technologies making our everyday lives ever more convenient. Yet the same vision has also attracted criticism for encouraging a solitary and passive lifestyle. The aim of this paper is to explore and elaborate these tensions further by examining the human values surrounding future domestic UbiComp solutions. Drawing on envisioning and contravisioning, we probe members of the public (N=28) through the presentation and focus group discussion of two contrasting animated video scenarios, where one is inspired by 'calm' and the other by 'engaging' visions of future UbiComp technology. By analysing the reasoning of our participants, we identify and elaborate a number of relevant values involved in balancing the two perspectives. In conclusion, we articulate practically applicable takeaways in the form of a set of key design questions and challenges.
As the space industry continues its rapid development, humanity is poised to expand beyond Low Ea... more As the space industry continues its rapid development, humanity is poised to expand beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO), seeking to establish permanent presence on the Moon and beyond. While space travel has traditionally been the domain of a small number of highly specialized professionals, a new era of human exploration, involving non-space actors and stakeholders, is now becoming a reality. In spite of this development, most space habitats are still designed for a narrow target group. This paper seeks to address this deficit by rethinking the established design approaches, typically limited to tackling technological and physiological challenges of human space exploration (such as radiation or hypogravity), by instead adopting an interdisciplinary 'big picture' perspective encompassing social, psychological and cultural aspects of future space habitats. In collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), we have conducted an extensive literature review and interviews featuring both industry experts, as well as members of the public. On these grounds, we then present a broad overview of key considerations and relevant human factors surrounding the design of future large-scale space habitats with a lifetime that spans generations of settlers. Drawing on elements from architecture, urban studies and design fiction, we synthesize our findings into a hypothetical lunar settlement concept. Realized by in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) and 3D printing, we propose the construction of sub-surface living spaces in lava tubes, with respect to the rough internal terrain, close to the lunar poles. We take a holistic human-centered approach prioritizing the fostering of community, belonging and identification with the habitat. To this end, the concept encompasses 7 different module types each tailored to meet specific human needs such as private, social as well as multipurpose spaces. This approach purposefully distances itself from traditional centrally planned settlements, by instead enabling inhabitants to autonomously and organically grow their colony over an extended period of time. The theoretical urban development is illustrated by a conceptual 25-years plan starting from 2030. Our aim is to present a concept that is generalizable and applicable to destinations beyond the Moon. By elaborating and reflecting on our concept, this paper seeks to demonstrate the importance of a trans-disciplinary approach to designing thriving sustainable colonies beyond LEO. We demonstrate the potentially key role of design as mediator in advancing macro-strategies promoting thriving existence and sustainable growth. With this approach we tackle big-picture questions about humanity's future and prospects amongst the stars..
The ongoing push to send humans back to the Moon and to Mars is giving rise to a wide range of no... more The ongoing push to send humans back to the Moon and to Mars is giving rise to a wide range of novel technical solutions in support of prospective astronaut expeditions. Crew capsules for long-duration travel, prospective lunar surface habitats, and extravehicular activity (EVA) suits are a few of the advanced systems set to underpin future human space explorations. Such systems are in need of efficient human-machine control mechanisms and interaction interfaces that would ensure optimal work performance while safeguarding astronauts' physical and mental well-being. Against this backdrop, the European Space Agency (ESA) has recently launched an investigation into unobtrusive interface technologies as a potential answer to such challenges. In theory, the application of these technologies could enable future crews to initiate actions without requiring any form of manual manipulation, resulting in a more intuitive, safe, and flexible control mechanism in numerous situations. Potential examples range from the control of robotic arms and rovers to the interaction with virtual and augmented reality applications. Three particular technologies have shown promise in this regard: EEG-based brain-computer interfaces (BCI) provide a non-invasive method of utilizing recorded electrical activity of a user's brain, electromyography (EMG) enables monitoring of electrical signals generated by the user's muscle contractions, and finally, eye tracking enables, for instance, the tracking of user's gaze direction via camera recordings to convey commands. Beyond simply improving the usability of prospective technical solutions, our findings indicate that EMG, EEG, and eye-tracking could also serve to monitor and assess a variety of cognitive states, including attention, cognitive load, and mental fatigue of the user, while EMG could furthermore also be utilized to monitor the physical state of the astronaut. Such capabilities may well turn out to be important enablers for the success of future space expeditions. Indeed, monitoring cognitive states could, e.g. help guide adaptive automation, improve crew mental health and concentration via neurofeedback, indicate training success, or help astronauts to optimize the timing of their actions during future missions. In this paper, we elaborate on the key strengths and challenges of these three enabling technologies, and in light of ESA's latest findings, we reflect on their applicability in the context of human space flight. Furthermore, a timeline of technological readiness is provided. In so doing, this paper feeds into the growing discourse on emerging technology and its role in paving the way for a human return to the Moon and expeditions beyond the Earth's orbit.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has a clear mission to go forward to the Moon in preparation of h... more The European Space Agency (ESA) has a clear mission to go forward to the Moon in preparation of human presence on Mars. One of the technologies looked at to increase safety and efficiency of astronauts in this context is Augmented Reality (AR). This technology allows digital visual information to be overlaid onto the user's environment through some type of display or projector. In recent years separate studies have been conducted to test the potential value of AR for astronauts by implementing a few functionalities on an AR display followed by testing in terrestrial analogue environments. One of the groups contributing to these investigations is Spaceship EAC (SSEAC). SSEAC is a group of interns and trainees at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) focusing on emerging technologies for human space exploration. This paper presents an outcome of SSEAC's activities related to AR for lunar extravehicular activities (EVAs), in which an approach similar to design thinking was used to explore, identify, and structure the opportunities offered by this technology. The resulting categorization of AR use cases can be used to identify new functionalities to test through prototyping and usability tests and can also be used to relate individual studies to each other to gain insight into the overall potential value AR has to offer to human lunar exploration. The approach adopted in this paper is based on the Fuzzy Front End (FFE) model from the innovation management domain. Utilising a user-driven instead of technology-driven method resulted in findings that are relevant irrespective of the hardware and software implementation. Instead, the outcome is an overview of use cases in which some type of AR system could provide value by contributing to increased astronaut safety, efficiency and/or efficacy. An initial overview of AR functions for lunar EVAs was created based on existing literature. These were expanded on through a multidisciplinary brainstorm within SSEAC. A subsequent clustering activity resulted in a categorisation of potential AR applications. The following categories were defined: EVA navigation, Scientific measurements and observations, Sample Collection, Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul (MRO) and Construction, Logistics and Inventory Management, Medical Procedures, Biomedical and System Status Monitoring, Collaboration and Support.
Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Future astronauts living and working on the Moon will face extreme environmental conditions imped... more Future astronauts living and working on the Moon will face extreme environmental conditions impeding their operational safety and performance. While it has been suggested that Augmented Reality (AR) Head-Up Displays (HUDs) could potentially help mitigate some of these adversities, the applicability of AR in the unique lunar context remains underexplored. To address this limitation, we have produced an accurate representation of the lunar setting in virtual reality (VR) which then formed our testbed for the exploration of prospective operational scenarios with aerospace experts. Herein we present findings based on qualitative reflections made by the first 6 study participants. AR was found instrumental in several use cases, including the support of navigation and risk awareness. Major design challenges were likewise identified, including the importance of redundancy and contextual appropriateness. Drawing on these findings, we conclude by outlining directions for future research aimed at developing AR-based assistive solutions tailored to the lunar setting.
Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2023
Revived interest in lunar exploration is heralding a new generation of design solutions in suppor... more Revived interest in lunar exploration is heralding a new generation of design solutions in support of human operations on the Moon. While space system design has traditionally been guided by prototype deployments in analogue studies, the resource-intensive nature of this approach has largely precluded application of proficient user-centered design (UCD) methods from human-computer interaction (HCI). This paper explores possible use of Virtual Reality (VR) to simulate analogue studies in lab settings and thereby bring to bear UCD in this otherwise engineering-dominated field. Drawing on the ongoing development of the European Large Logistics Lander, we have recreated a prospective lunar operational scenario in VR and evaluated it with a group of astronauts and space experts (n=20). Our qualitative findings demonstrate the efficacy of VR in facilitating UCD, enabling efficient contextual inquiries and improving project team coordination. We conclude by proposing future directions to further exploit VR in lunar systems design.
Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2019
Growing organizational safety awareness is propelling the interest in development of novel soluti... more Growing organizational safety awareness is propelling the interest in development of novel solutions for fire training. Significant effort in this area has previously gone into designing various immersive virtual reality (VR) systems in hopes of enabling safe exploration and experiencing the consequences of ones actions in scenarios that would be too hazardous in the real life. Yet, the fact that VR generally lacks the sensory feedback of a real life fire situation has been found to impede a sense of realism and validity of such experiences. As part of our efforts to mitigate this issue, we now present a new prototype fire evacuation simulator designed to deliver not just audiovisual feedback, but likewise real-time heat and scent stimulation.
Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2019
Research indicates that personal adoption of emerging ubicomp technologies is being notoriously h... more Research indicates that personal adoption of emerging ubicomp technologies is being notoriously hampered by a variety of critical issues including trust, privacy and security. Issues such as these cannot be studied and understood by evaluating computer systems in isolation, but rather by taking a 'big picture' approach and examining their synergy with the broader social context. Traditional low-fidelity prototyping methods, such as interface mockups, are however poorly equipped to convey such broader settings. Video-based scenarios on the other hand are uniquely qualified to portray rich socio-technical ecosystems. By creating a set of provocative video scenarios that contextualize and provide a backdrop for prospective technologies, we thus seek to draw attention to the potentially important role that worldbuilding strategies might play in the future of low fidelity prototyping.
The value of interdisciplinary research is increasingly recognised by the research community. Fun... more The value of interdisciplinary research is increasingly recognised by the research community. Funding bodies are nowadays specifically encouraging that research they fund is interdisciplinary in nature. However, what is often branded as interdisciplinary research is in fact a network of researchers working to deliver a research output. In this research note, we share our experience of what we think can be labelled “truly interdisciplinary”. We share some best practice tips for those who are interested to go through a similar metamorphosis as we did as a team, learning from each other's ways of working. Overall, it has been a very positive experience and a revelation that has had a big impact on each author's view on how to conduct research as an integrated multidisciplinary team, as it has shifted our mental models and broadened our thinking, capacity to reflect, and critical analysis. We hope that our research note clearly shows the benefits of truly interdisciplinary resea...
The application of mobile computing is currently altering patterns of our behavior to a greater d... more The application of mobile computing is currently altering patterns of our behavior to a greater degree than perhaps any other invention. In combination with the introduction of BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) and similar technologies enabling context-awareness, designers are today finding themselves empowered to build experiences and facilitate interactions with our physical surroundings in ways not possible before. The aim of this thesis is to present a research project, currently underway at the University of Cambridge, which is dealing with implementation of a BLE system into a museum environment. By assessing the technology, describing the design decisions as well as presenting a qualitative evaluation, this paper seeks to provide insight into some of the challenges and possible solutions connected to the process of developing ubiquitous BLE computing systems for public spaces. The project outcome revealed the potential use of BLE to engage whole new groups of audiences as well as made me argue in favor of a more seamful approach to the design of these systems.
By utilizing different communication channels, such as verbal language, gestures or facial expres... more By utilizing different communication channels, such as verbal language, gestures or facial expressions, virtually embodied interactive humans hold a unique potential to bridge the gap between human-computer interaction and actual interhuman communication. The use of virtual humans is consequently becoming increasingly popular in a wide range of areas where such a natural communication might be beneficial, including entertainment, education, mental health research and beyond. Behind this development lies a series of technological advances in a multitude of disciplines, most notably natural language processing, computer vision, and speech synthesis. In this paper we discuss a Virtual Human Journalist, a project employing a number of novel solutions from these disciplines with the goal to demonstrate their viability by producing a humanoid conversational agent capable of naturally eliciting and reacting to information from a human user. A set of qualitative and quantitative evaluation sessions demonstrated the technical feasibility of the system whilst uncovering a number of deficits in its capacity to engage users in a way that would be perceived as natural and emotionally engaging. We argue that naturalness should not always be seen as a desirable goal and suggest that deliberately suppressing the naturalness of virtual human interactions, such as by altering its personality cues, might in some cases yield more desirable results. Index Terms-Embodied virtual agents, human-computer interaction, anthropomorphic agents, empathy.
CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts
The European Large Logistics Lander (EL3) is being designed to carry out cargo delivery missions ... more The European Large Logistics Lander (EL3) is being designed to carry out cargo delivery missions in support of future lunar ground crews. The capacity of virtual reality (VR) to visualize and interactively simulate the unique lunar environment makes it a potentially powerful design tool during the early development stages of EL3,
Virtual environments (VEs) offer potential benefits to health and safety training: exposure to da... more Virtual environments (VEs) offer potential benefits to health and safety training: exposure to dangerous (virtual) environments; the opportunity for experiential learning; and a high level of control over the training, in that aspects can be repeated or reviewed based on the trainee's performance. However, VEs are typically presented as audiovisual (AV) systems, whereas engagement of other senses could increase the immersion in the virtual experience. Moreover, other senses play a key role in certain health and safety contexts, for example the feel of heat and smell in a fire or smell in a fuel leak. A multi-sensory (MS) VE was developed, which provided simulated heat and smell in accordance with events in a virtual world. As users approached a virtual fire, they felt heat from three 2 kW heaters and smelled smoke from a scent diffuser. Behaviours in the MS VE demonstrated higher validity than those in a comparable AV VE, which ratings and verbatim responses indicated was down to a greater belief that participants were in a real fire. However, a study of the effectiveness of the MS VE as a training tool demonstrated that it did not offer benefits over AV as measured by a written knowledge test and subjective ratings of engagement, attitude towards health and safety and desire to repeat. However, the study found further evidence for the use of AV VEs in health and safety training, particularly as the subjective ratings were generally better than for PowerPoint-based training. Despite the lack of evidence for MS simulation on traditional measures of training, the different attitudes and experiences of users suggest that it may have value as a system for changing trainees' attitudes towards their personal safety and awareness. This view was supported by feedback from industrial partners.
The convergence of multiple technologies, including sensors, embedded computing, real-time analyt... more The convergence of multiple technologies, including sensors, embedded computing, real-time analytics and machine learning, is in the process of enabling system solutions capable of perception, decision-making and actuation without depending on direct human control or oversight. A widespread adoption of such autonomous systems has been suggested to make our lives more efficient, convenient and healthy, with the domestic context being frequently described as one of the main potential growth areas in this domain. However, it is important to treat such predictions with a degree of caution as they are based on mere extrapolations from the current trends in technical progress that fail to take into account (known and unknown) non-technical pitfalls that might yet impact mainstream adoption. Indeed, research indicates the adoption of domestic autonomous systems is already being hampered by a variety of critical issues including an impaired sense of trust, privacy and security. This thesis ...
Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, 2020
UbiComp has been envisioned to bring about a future dominated by calm computing technologies maki... more UbiComp has been envisioned to bring about a future dominated by calm computing technologies making our everyday lives ever more convenient. Yet the same vision has also attracted criticism for encouraging a solitary and passive lifestyle. The aim of this paper is to explore and elaborate these tensions further by examining the human values surrounding future domestic UbiComp solutions. Drawing on envisioning and contravisioning, we probe members of the public (N=28) through the presentation and focus group discussion of two contrasting animated video scenarios, where one is inspired by 'calm' and the other by 'engaging' visions of future UbiComp technology. By analysing the reasoning of our participants, we identify and elaborate a number of relevant values involved in balancing the two perspectives. In conclusion, we articulate practically applicable takeaways in the form of a set of key design questions and challenges.
Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2019
Understanding validity of user behaviour in Virtual Environments (VEs) is critical as they are in... more Understanding validity of user behaviour in Virtual Environments (VEs) is critical as they are increasingly being used for serious Health and Safety applications such as predicting human behaviour and training in hazardous situations. This paper presents a comparative study exploring user behaviour in VE-based fire evacuation and investigates whether this is affected by the addition of thermal and olfactory simulation. Participants (N=43) were exposed to a virtual fire in an office building. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of participant attitudes and behaviours found deviations from those we would expect in real life (e.g. pre-evacuation actions), but also valid behaviours like fire avoidance. Potentially important differences were found between multisensory and audiovisual-only conditions (e.g. perceived urgency). We conclude VEs have significant potential in safety-related applications, and that multimodality may afford additional uses in this context, but the identified limitations of behavioural validity must be carefully considered to avoid misapplication of the technology.
Virtual Worlds: The Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Intersections, 2016
There are many reasons for utilising 3D animation and virtual reality in sexuality research. Apar... more There are many reasons for utilising 3D animation and virtual reality in sexuality research. Apart from providing a mean with which to (re)experience certain situations there are four main advantages: a) bespoke animated stimuli can be created and customized, which is especially important when researching paraphilia and sexual preferences; b) stimulus production is less expensive and easier to produce compared to real world stimuli; c) virtual reality allows us to capture data such as physiological reasons to stimuli, that we would not be able to otherwise (without resorting to self-report measures which are especially problematic in this research domain); d) ethical, legal, and health and safety issues are less complex since neither physical nor psychological harm is caused to animated characters allowing for the safe presentation of stimuli involving vulnerable targets. The animation subgroup has been exploring so far several production quality levels and various animation procedures in a number of available software. The aim is to develop static as well as dynamic, interactive sexual stimuli for sexual diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. We are aware of number of ethical issues related to the use of virtual reality in proposed research are analysed in this chapter.
Mapping the Digital: Cultures and Territories of Play, 2016
BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) is a new wireless communication technology that, thanks to reduced pow... more BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) is a new wireless communication technology that, thanks to reduced power consumption, promises to facilitate communication between computing devices and help us harness their power in environments and contexts previously untouched by information technology. Museums and other facilities housing various cultural content are a particularly interesting area of application. The University of Cambridge Museums consortium has put considerable effort into researching the potential uses of emerging technologies such as BLE to unlock new experiences enriching the way we engage with cultural information. As a part of this research initiative, our ambition has been to examine the challenges and opportunities introduced by the introduction of a BLE-centred system into the museum context. We present an assessment of the potential offered by this technology and of the design approaches that might yield the best results when developing BLE-centred experiences for museum environments. A pivotal part of our project consisted of designing, developing and evaluating a prototype mobile location-based BLE-centred game. A number of technical problems, such as unstable and fluctuating signal strength, were encountered throughout the project lifecycle. Instead of attempting to eliminate such problems, we argued in favour of embracing them and turning them into a cornerstone of the gameplay. Our study suggested that this alternative seamful design approach yields particularly good results when deploying the technology in public environments. The project outcome also demonstrated the potential of BLE-centred solutions to reach out and engage new demographics, especially children, extending their interest in museum visits.
The domestic environment is a key area for the design and deployment of autonomous systems. Yet r... more The domestic environment is a key area for the design and deployment of autonomous systems. Yet research indicates their adoption is already being hampered by a variety of critical issues including trust, privacy and security. This paper explores how potential users relate to the concept of autonomous systems in the home and elaborates further points of friction. It makes two contributions. The first one is of a methodological nature and focuses on the use of provocative utopian and dystopian scenarios of future autonomous systems in the home. These are used to drive an innovative workshop-based approach to breaching experiments, which surfaces the usually tacit and unspoken background expectancies implicated in the organisation of everyday life that have a powerful impact on the acceptability of future and emerging technologies. The other contribution is substantive, produced through participants' efforts to repair the incongruity or Breality disjuncture^created by utopian and dystopian visions, and highlights the need to build social as well as computational accountability into autonomous systems, and to enable coordination and control. Keywords Autonomous systems. Domestic environment. Background expectancies. Breaching experiments. Scenarios. Utopian and dystopian contra-visions. Reality disjunctures
As the space industry continues its rapid development, humanity is poised to expand beyond Low Ea... more As the space industry continues its rapid development, humanity is poised to expand beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO), seeking to establish permanent presence on the Moon and beyond. While space travel has traditionally been the domain of a small number of highly specialized professionals, a new era of human exploration, involving non-space actors and stakeholders, is now becoming a reality. In spite of this development, most space habitats are still designed for a narrow target group. This paper seeks to address this deficit by rethinking the established design approaches, typically limited to tackling engineering and challenges of human space exploration (such as radiation or hypogravity), by instead adopting an interdisciplinary "big picture" perspective encompassing social, psychological and cultural aspects of future space habitats. By elaborating and reflecting on our concept, this paper seeks to demonstrate the importance of a trans-disciplinary approach to designing thr...
Repository@Nottingham (University of Nottingham), Jul 3, 2020
UbiComp has been envisioned to bring about a future dominated by calm computing technologies maki... more UbiComp has been envisioned to bring about a future dominated by calm computing technologies making our everyday lives ever more convenient. Yet the same vision has also attracted criticism for encouraging a solitary and passive lifestyle. The aim of this paper is to explore and elaborate these tensions further by examining the human values surrounding future domestic UbiComp solutions. Drawing on envisioning and contravisioning, we probe members of the public (N=28) through the presentation and focus group discussion of two contrasting animated video scenarios, where one is inspired by 'calm' and the other by 'engaging' visions of future UbiComp technology. By analysing the reasoning of our participants, we identify and elaborate a number of relevant values involved in balancing the two perspectives. In conclusion, we articulate practically applicable takeaways in the form of a set of key design questions and challenges.
As the space industry continues its rapid development, humanity is poised to expand beyond Low Ea... more As the space industry continues its rapid development, humanity is poised to expand beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO), seeking to establish permanent presence on the Moon and beyond. While space travel has traditionally been the domain of a small number of highly specialized professionals, a new era of human exploration, involving non-space actors and stakeholders, is now becoming a reality. In spite of this development, most space habitats are still designed for a narrow target group. This paper seeks to address this deficit by rethinking the established design approaches, typically limited to tackling technological and physiological challenges of human space exploration (such as radiation or hypogravity), by instead adopting an interdisciplinary 'big picture' perspective encompassing social, psychological and cultural aspects of future space habitats. In collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), we have conducted an extensive literature review and interviews featuring both industry experts, as well as members of the public. On these grounds, we then present a broad overview of key considerations and relevant human factors surrounding the design of future large-scale space habitats with a lifetime that spans generations of settlers. Drawing on elements from architecture, urban studies and design fiction, we synthesize our findings into a hypothetical lunar settlement concept. Realized by in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) and 3D printing, we propose the construction of sub-surface living spaces in lava tubes, with respect to the rough internal terrain, close to the lunar poles. We take a holistic human-centered approach prioritizing the fostering of community, belonging and identification with the habitat. To this end, the concept encompasses 7 different module types each tailored to meet specific human needs such as private, social as well as multipurpose spaces. This approach purposefully distances itself from traditional centrally planned settlements, by instead enabling inhabitants to autonomously and organically grow their colony over an extended period of time. The theoretical urban development is illustrated by a conceptual 25-years plan starting from 2030. Our aim is to present a concept that is generalizable and applicable to destinations beyond the Moon. By elaborating and reflecting on our concept, this paper seeks to demonstrate the importance of a trans-disciplinary approach to designing thriving sustainable colonies beyond LEO. We demonstrate the potentially key role of design as mediator in advancing macro-strategies promoting thriving existence and sustainable growth. With this approach we tackle big-picture questions about humanity's future and prospects amongst the stars..
The ongoing push to send humans back to the Moon and to Mars is giving rise to a wide range of no... more The ongoing push to send humans back to the Moon and to Mars is giving rise to a wide range of novel technical solutions in support of prospective astronaut expeditions. Crew capsules for long-duration travel, prospective lunar surface habitats, and extravehicular activity (EVA) suits are a few of the advanced systems set to underpin future human space explorations. Such systems are in need of efficient human-machine control mechanisms and interaction interfaces that would ensure optimal work performance while safeguarding astronauts' physical and mental well-being. Against this backdrop, the European Space Agency (ESA) has recently launched an investigation into unobtrusive interface technologies as a potential answer to such challenges. In theory, the application of these technologies could enable future crews to initiate actions without requiring any form of manual manipulation, resulting in a more intuitive, safe, and flexible control mechanism in numerous situations. Potential examples range from the control of robotic arms and rovers to the interaction with virtual and augmented reality applications. Three particular technologies have shown promise in this regard: EEG-based brain-computer interfaces (BCI) provide a non-invasive method of utilizing recorded electrical activity of a user's brain, electromyography (EMG) enables monitoring of electrical signals generated by the user's muscle contractions, and finally, eye tracking enables, for instance, the tracking of user's gaze direction via camera recordings to convey commands. Beyond simply improving the usability of prospective technical solutions, our findings indicate that EMG, EEG, and eye-tracking could also serve to monitor and assess a variety of cognitive states, including attention, cognitive load, and mental fatigue of the user, while EMG could furthermore also be utilized to monitor the physical state of the astronaut. Such capabilities may well turn out to be important enablers for the success of future space expeditions. Indeed, monitoring cognitive states could, e.g. help guide adaptive automation, improve crew mental health and concentration via neurofeedback, indicate training success, or help astronauts to optimize the timing of their actions during future missions. In this paper, we elaborate on the key strengths and challenges of these three enabling technologies, and in light of ESA's latest findings, we reflect on their applicability in the context of human space flight. Furthermore, a timeline of technological readiness is provided. In so doing, this paper feeds into the growing discourse on emerging technology and its role in paving the way for a human return to the Moon and expeditions beyond the Earth's orbit.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has a clear mission to go forward to the Moon in preparation of h... more The European Space Agency (ESA) has a clear mission to go forward to the Moon in preparation of human presence on Mars. One of the technologies looked at to increase safety and efficiency of astronauts in this context is Augmented Reality (AR). This technology allows digital visual information to be overlaid onto the user's environment through some type of display or projector. In recent years separate studies have been conducted to test the potential value of AR for astronauts by implementing a few functionalities on an AR display followed by testing in terrestrial analogue environments. One of the groups contributing to these investigations is Spaceship EAC (SSEAC). SSEAC is a group of interns and trainees at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) focusing on emerging technologies for human space exploration. This paper presents an outcome of SSEAC's activities related to AR for lunar extravehicular activities (EVAs), in which an approach similar to design thinking was used to explore, identify, and structure the opportunities offered by this technology. The resulting categorization of AR use cases can be used to identify new functionalities to test through prototyping and usability tests and can also be used to relate individual studies to each other to gain insight into the overall potential value AR has to offer to human lunar exploration. The approach adopted in this paper is based on the Fuzzy Front End (FFE) model from the innovation management domain. Utilising a user-driven instead of technology-driven method resulted in findings that are relevant irrespective of the hardware and software implementation. Instead, the outcome is an overview of use cases in which some type of AR system could provide value by contributing to increased astronaut safety, efficiency and/or efficacy. An initial overview of AR functions for lunar EVAs was created based on existing literature. These were expanded on through a multidisciplinary brainstorm within SSEAC. A subsequent clustering activity resulted in a categorisation of potential AR applications. The following categories were defined: EVA navigation, Scientific measurements and observations, Sample Collection, Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul (MRO) and Construction, Logistics and Inventory Management, Medical Procedures, Biomedical and System Status Monitoring, Collaboration and Support.
Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Future astronauts living and working on the Moon will face extreme environmental conditions imped... more Future astronauts living and working on the Moon will face extreme environmental conditions impeding their operational safety and performance. While it has been suggested that Augmented Reality (AR) Head-Up Displays (HUDs) could potentially help mitigate some of these adversities, the applicability of AR in the unique lunar context remains underexplored. To address this limitation, we have produced an accurate representation of the lunar setting in virtual reality (VR) which then formed our testbed for the exploration of prospective operational scenarios with aerospace experts. Herein we present findings based on qualitative reflections made by the first 6 study participants. AR was found instrumental in several use cases, including the support of navigation and risk awareness. Major design challenges were likewise identified, including the importance of redundancy and contextual appropriateness. Drawing on these findings, we conclude by outlining directions for future research aimed at developing AR-based assistive solutions tailored to the lunar setting.
Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2023
Revived interest in lunar exploration is heralding a new generation of design solutions in suppor... more Revived interest in lunar exploration is heralding a new generation of design solutions in support of human operations on the Moon. While space system design has traditionally been guided by prototype deployments in analogue studies, the resource-intensive nature of this approach has largely precluded application of proficient user-centered design (UCD) methods from human-computer interaction (HCI). This paper explores possible use of Virtual Reality (VR) to simulate analogue studies in lab settings and thereby bring to bear UCD in this otherwise engineering-dominated field. Drawing on the ongoing development of the European Large Logistics Lander, we have recreated a prospective lunar operational scenario in VR and evaluated it with a group of astronauts and space experts (n=20). Our qualitative findings demonstrate the efficacy of VR in facilitating UCD, enabling efficient contextual inquiries and improving project team coordination. We conclude by proposing future directions to further exploit VR in lunar systems design.
Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2019
Growing organizational safety awareness is propelling the interest in development of novel soluti... more Growing organizational safety awareness is propelling the interest in development of novel solutions for fire training. Significant effort in this area has previously gone into designing various immersive virtual reality (VR) systems in hopes of enabling safe exploration and experiencing the consequences of ones actions in scenarios that would be too hazardous in the real life. Yet, the fact that VR generally lacks the sensory feedback of a real life fire situation has been found to impede a sense of realism and validity of such experiences. As part of our efforts to mitigate this issue, we now present a new prototype fire evacuation simulator designed to deliver not just audiovisual feedback, but likewise real-time heat and scent stimulation.
Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2019
Research indicates that personal adoption of emerging ubicomp technologies is being notoriously h... more Research indicates that personal adoption of emerging ubicomp technologies is being notoriously hampered by a variety of critical issues including trust, privacy and security. Issues such as these cannot be studied and understood by evaluating computer systems in isolation, but rather by taking a 'big picture' approach and examining their synergy with the broader social context. Traditional low-fidelity prototyping methods, such as interface mockups, are however poorly equipped to convey such broader settings. Video-based scenarios on the other hand are uniquely qualified to portray rich socio-technical ecosystems. By creating a set of provocative video scenarios that contextualize and provide a backdrop for prospective technologies, we thus seek to draw attention to the potentially important role that worldbuilding strategies might play in the future of low fidelity prototyping.
The value of interdisciplinary research is increasingly recognised by the research community. Fun... more The value of interdisciplinary research is increasingly recognised by the research community. Funding bodies are nowadays specifically encouraging that research they fund is interdisciplinary in nature. However, what is often branded as interdisciplinary research is in fact a network of researchers working to deliver a research output. In this research note, we share our experience of what we think can be labelled “truly interdisciplinary”. We share some best practice tips for those who are interested to go through a similar metamorphosis as we did as a team, learning from each other's ways of working. Overall, it has been a very positive experience and a revelation that has had a big impact on each author's view on how to conduct research as an integrated multidisciplinary team, as it has shifted our mental models and broadened our thinking, capacity to reflect, and critical analysis. We hope that our research note clearly shows the benefits of truly interdisciplinary resea...
The application of mobile computing is currently altering patterns of our behavior to a greater d... more The application of mobile computing is currently altering patterns of our behavior to a greater degree than perhaps any other invention. In combination with the introduction of BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) and similar technologies enabling context-awareness, designers are today finding themselves empowered to build experiences and facilitate interactions with our physical surroundings in ways not possible before. The aim of this thesis is to present a research project, currently underway at the University of Cambridge, which is dealing with implementation of a BLE system into a museum environment. By assessing the technology, describing the design decisions as well as presenting a qualitative evaluation, this paper seeks to provide insight into some of the challenges and possible solutions connected to the process of developing ubiquitous BLE computing systems for public spaces. The project outcome revealed the potential use of BLE to engage whole new groups of audiences as well as made me argue in favor of a more seamful approach to the design of these systems.
By utilizing different communication channels, such as verbal language, gestures or facial expres... more By utilizing different communication channels, such as verbal language, gestures or facial expressions, virtually embodied interactive humans hold a unique potential to bridge the gap between human-computer interaction and actual interhuman communication. The use of virtual humans is consequently becoming increasingly popular in a wide range of areas where such a natural communication might be beneficial, including entertainment, education, mental health research and beyond. Behind this development lies a series of technological advances in a multitude of disciplines, most notably natural language processing, computer vision, and speech synthesis. In this paper we discuss a Virtual Human Journalist, a project employing a number of novel solutions from these disciplines with the goal to demonstrate their viability by producing a humanoid conversational agent capable of naturally eliciting and reacting to information from a human user. A set of qualitative and quantitative evaluation sessions demonstrated the technical feasibility of the system whilst uncovering a number of deficits in its capacity to engage users in a way that would be perceived as natural and emotionally engaging. We argue that naturalness should not always be seen as a desirable goal and suggest that deliberately suppressing the naturalness of virtual human interactions, such as by altering its personality cues, might in some cases yield more desirable results. Index Terms-Embodied virtual agents, human-computer interaction, anthropomorphic agents, empathy.
CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts
The European Large Logistics Lander (EL3) is being designed to carry out cargo delivery missions ... more The European Large Logistics Lander (EL3) is being designed to carry out cargo delivery missions in support of future lunar ground crews. The capacity of virtual reality (VR) to visualize and interactively simulate the unique lunar environment makes it a potentially powerful design tool during the early development stages of EL3,
Virtual environments (VEs) offer potential benefits to health and safety training: exposure to da... more Virtual environments (VEs) offer potential benefits to health and safety training: exposure to dangerous (virtual) environments; the opportunity for experiential learning; and a high level of control over the training, in that aspects can be repeated or reviewed based on the trainee's performance. However, VEs are typically presented as audiovisual (AV) systems, whereas engagement of other senses could increase the immersion in the virtual experience. Moreover, other senses play a key role in certain health and safety contexts, for example the feel of heat and smell in a fire or smell in a fuel leak. A multi-sensory (MS) VE was developed, which provided simulated heat and smell in accordance with events in a virtual world. As users approached a virtual fire, they felt heat from three 2 kW heaters and smelled smoke from a scent diffuser. Behaviours in the MS VE demonstrated higher validity than those in a comparable AV VE, which ratings and verbatim responses indicated was down to a greater belief that participants were in a real fire. However, a study of the effectiveness of the MS VE as a training tool demonstrated that it did not offer benefits over AV as measured by a written knowledge test and subjective ratings of engagement, attitude towards health and safety and desire to repeat. However, the study found further evidence for the use of AV VEs in health and safety training, particularly as the subjective ratings were generally better than for PowerPoint-based training. Despite the lack of evidence for MS simulation on traditional measures of training, the different attitudes and experiences of users suggest that it may have value as a system for changing trainees' attitudes towards their personal safety and awareness. This view was supported by feedback from industrial partners.
The convergence of multiple technologies, including sensors, embedded computing, real-time analyt... more The convergence of multiple technologies, including sensors, embedded computing, real-time analytics and machine learning, is in the process of enabling system solutions capable of perception, decision-making and actuation without depending on direct human control or oversight. A widespread adoption of such autonomous systems has been suggested to make our lives more efficient, convenient and healthy, with the domestic context being frequently described as one of the main potential growth areas in this domain. However, it is important to treat such predictions with a degree of caution as they are based on mere extrapolations from the current trends in technical progress that fail to take into account (known and unknown) non-technical pitfalls that might yet impact mainstream adoption. Indeed, research indicates the adoption of domestic autonomous systems is already being hampered by a variety of critical issues including an impaired sense of trust, privacy and security. This thesis ...
Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, 2020
UbiComp has been envisioned to bring about a future dominated by calm computing technologies maki... more UbiComp has been envisioned to bring about a future dominated by calm computing technologies making our everyday lives ever more convenient. Yet the same vision has also attracted criticism for encouraging a solitary and passive lifestyle. The aim of this paper is to explore and elaborate these tensions further by examining the human values surrounding future domestic UbiComp solutions. Drawing on envisioning and contravisioning, we probe members of the public (N=28) through the presentation and focus group discussion of two contrasting animated video scenarios, where one is inspired by 'calm' and the other by 'engaging' visions of future UbiComp technology. By analysing the reasoning of our participants, we identify and elaborate a number of relevant values involved in balancing the two perspectives. In conclusion, we articulate practically applicable takeaways in the form of a set of key design questions and challenges.
Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2019
Understanding validity of user behaviour in Virtual Environments (VEs) is critical as they are in... more Understanding validity of user behaviour in Virtual Environments (VEs) is critical as they are increasingly being used for serious Health and Safety applications such as predicting human behaviour and training in hazardous situations. This paper presents a comparative study exploring user behaviour in VE-based fire evacuation and investigates whether this is affected by the addition of thermal and olfactory simulation. Participants (N=43) were exposed to a virtual fire in an office building. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of participant attitudes and behaviours found deviations from those we would expect in real life (e.g. pre-evacuation actions), but also valid behaviours like fire avoidance. Potentially important differences were found between multisensory and audiovisual-only conditions (e.g. perceived urgency). We conclude VEs have significant potential in safety-related applications, and that multimodality may afford additional uses in this context, but the identified limitations of behavioural validity must be carefully considered to avoid misapplication of the technology.
Virtual Worlds: The Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Intersections, 2016
There are many reasons for utilising 3D animation and virtual reality in sexuality research. Apar... more There are many reasons for utilising 3D animation and virtual reality in sexuality research. Apart from providing a mean with which to (re)experience certain situations there are four main advantages: a) bespoke animated stimuli can be created and customized, which is especially important when researching paraphilia and sexual preferences; b) stimulus production is less expensive and easier to produce compared to real world stimuli; c) virtual reality allows us to capture data such as physiological reasons to stimuli, that we would not be able to otherwise (without resorting to self-report measures which are especially problematic in this research domain); d) ethical, legal, and health and safety issues are less complex since neither physical nor psychological harm is caused to animated characters allowing for the safe presentation of stimuli involving vulnerable targets. The animation subgroup has been exploring so far several production quality levels and various animation procedures in a number of available software. The aim is to develop static as well as dynamic, interactive sexual stimuli for sexual diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. We are aware of number of ethical issues related to the use of virtual reality in proposed research are analysed in this chapter.
Mapping the Digital: Cultures and Territories of Play, 2016
BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) is a new wireless communication technology that, thanks to reduced pow... more BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) is a new wireless communication technology that, thanks to reduced power consumption, promises to facilitate communication between computing devices and help us harness their power in environments and contexts previously untouched by information technology. Museums and other facilities housing various cultural content are a particularly interesting area of application. The University of Cambridge Museums consortium has put considerable effort into researching the potential uses of emerging technologies such as BLE to unlock new experiences enriching the way we engage with cultural information. As a part of this research initiative, our ambition has been to examine the challenges and opportunities introduced by the introduction of a BLE-centred system into the museum context. We present an assessment of the potential offered by this technology and of the design approaches that might yield the best results when developing BLE-centred experiences for museum environments. A pivotal part of our project consisted of designing, developing and evaluating a prototype mobile location-based BLE-centred game. A number of technical problems, such as unstable and fluctuating signal strength, were encountered throughout the project lifecycle. Instead of attempting to eliminate such problems, we argued in favour of embracing them and turning them into a cornerstone of the gameplay. Our study suggested that this alternative seamful design approach yields particularly good results when deploying the technology in public environments. The project outcome also demonstrated the potential of BLE-centred solutions to reach out and engage new demographics, especially children, extending their interest in museum visits.
The domestic environment is a key area for the design and deployment of autonomous systems. Yet r... more The domestic environment is a key area for the design and deployment of autonomous systems. Yet research indicates their adoption is already being hampered by a variety of critical issues including trust, privacy and security. This paper explores how potential users relate to the concept of autonomous systems in the home and elaborates further points of friction. It makes two contributions. The first one is of a methodological nature and focuses on the use of provocative utopian and dystopian scenarios of future autonomous systems in the home. These are used to drive an innovative workshop-based approach to breaching experiments, which surfaces the usually tacit and unspoken background expectancies implicated in the organisation of everyday life that have a powerful impact on the acceptability of future and emerging technologies. The other contribution is substantive, produced through participants' efforts to repair the incongruity or Breality disjuncture^created by utopian and dystopian visions, and highlights the need to build social as well as computational accountability into autonomous systems, and to enable coordination and control. Keywords Autonomous systems. Domestic environment. Background expectancies. Breaching experiments. Scenarios. Utopian and dystopian contra-visions. Reality disjunctures
Telerobotic Mars Mission for Lava Tube Exploration and Examination of Life, 2023
The general profile and overarching goal of our proposed mission is to pioneer potentially highly... more The general profile and overarching goal of our proposed mission is to pioneer potentially highly beneficial, or even vital, and cost-effective techniques for the future human colonization of Mars. Adopting radically new and disruptive solutions untested in the Martian context, our approach is one of high risk and high reward. The real possibility of such a solution failing has prompted us to base our mission architecture around a rover carrying a set of 6 distinct experimental payloads, each capable of operating independently on the others, thus substantially increasing the chances of the mission yielding some valuable findings. At the same time, we sought to exploit available synergies by assembling a combination of payloads that would together form a coherent experimental ecosystem, with each payload providing potential value to the others. Apart from providing such a testbed for evaluation of novel technological solutions, another aim of our proposed mission is to help generate scientific know-how enhancing our understanding of the Red Planet.
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Papers by Tommy Nilsson