Augmenting Remote Interviews through Virtual Experience Prototypes

Creative AI for HRI Design Explorations

“…This work also opened up possibilities to anticipate and discuss the possible impact of these technologies in specific contexts, as often happens with video-based and simulation-based studies [1,81]. As a matter of fact, despite efforts to deploy and test robotic artefacts in the 'real-world' (e.g.…”

“…For example, a Brooklyn-based artist used the DALL-E 2 image generator to transform Google Street View images of U.S. streets into pedestrianised areas (e.g., by integrating AI-generated images of public plazas or shady parks into the original footage). Engaging with the sociotechnical imaginary of the 'car-free city', the images that the artist posted under the twitter pseudonym "betterstreets.ai" have gone viral, helping people to imagine how their places could look in a pedestrian-centric world 1 . Another example comes from design researcher Dan Lockton and social scientist Josie Chambers who used generative image generation to integrate wind turbines and photovoltaic plants into landscape masterpieces from Van Gogh and Vermeer.…”

There is Always a Way: Organizing VR User Tests with Remote and Hybrid Setups during a Pandemic—Learnings from Five Case Studies

“…For instance, an article by De Ponti et al [48] reported the procedures of online learning with access to a VR training platform among medical students, which resulted in one-third of the students facing technical and user interface issues during the learning process. In the article by Albastaki et al [49], the use of virtual experience prototypes for robotics evaluation was tested with expert users via online Zoom sessions. The results demonstrated that the think-aloud protocol was adopted with ease during the remote procedure, whereas screen-sharing and video recording were sufficient to observe the participants.…”

How Can Autonomous Vehicles Convey Emotions to Pedestrians? A Review of Emotionally Expressive Non-Humanoid Robots

“…Consider Evaluation Environments: Most AV-pedestrian interaction solutions are evaluated in lab-based simulated environments since building fully functional prototypes on actual AVs can be expensive, complicated, and sometimes dependent on traffic regulations [67]. On the one hand, simulation-based prototypes, such as virtual reality (VR) simulations, are more feasible and flexible than physical ones deployed in the wild; on the other, they are still weaker in terms of ecological validity [72]. Furthermore, VR-based evaluations can be divided into immersive VR (i.e., use wearable equipment and immerse users in the virtual world) and non-immersive VR (i.e., users experience the virtual world via a computer screen) [72] in which the former provides a better presence of the AV while the latter is less confined by hardware and allows for remote user testing.…”

“…On the one hand, simulation-based prototypes, such as virtual reality (VR) simulations, are more feasible and flexible than physical ones deployed in the wild; on the other, they are still weaker in terms of ecological validity [72]. Furthermore, VR-based evaluations can be divided into immersive VR (i.e., use wearable equipment and immerse users in the virtual world) and non-immersive VR (i.e., users experience the virtual world via a computer screen) [72] in which the former provides a better presence of the AV while the latter is less confined by hardware and allows for remote user testing. Nevertheless, studies in affective robotics show that the proximity and presence of the robot can impact people's perceptions of its social intentions [13,23].…”