Projects

Multi-perspective video tutorials for assembly tasks

J. Stark, V. Bryan, T. Mok, A. Tang, et. al.
This project is awaiting publication.

MakeAware: Designing to Support Situation Awareness in Makerspaces

Study Setup new(click image for video)

J. Stark, S. Somanath, F. Anderson, G. Fitzmaurice
People new to making and makerspaces often struggle with identifying what tools are available and where they are, understanding how to operate the tools, and predicting how their decisions will affect their final product. From literature on novices and our interviews with expert makers, we identified situation awareness support as one possible way to address some of the challenges faced by novices. We present a set of design goals intended to scaffold situation awareness in a makerspace, and MakeAware, a prototype system we implemented based on those design goals. MakeAware provides a combination of environmental cues, information about the project process, and background knowledge. In a preliminary evaluation, we found MakeAware can help novices make conscious choices during a project and put more emphasis on planning, thereby exhibiting traits associated with having situation awareness while making.

Last Words

Last Words thumbnail
(Click image for video)

J. Stark
Last Words is an augmented reality experience that allows viewers to explore the final statements of executed death row convicts in Texas. We use Last Words to explore the idea of immersive experiential exploration, where Last Words is designed to encourage learning through discovery and reflection on social justice. The final statements of death row convicts are visualized as 3D word trees that the viewer can walk around and explore, and we use speech interaction to allow viewers to embody the last words, giving voice back to the individuals who no longer have it.

Personal Space Intrusion in Human-Robot Collaboration

Personal Space thumbnail
(Click image for video)

J. Stark, R.R.C. Mota, E. Sharlin
Our research aims toward a method of evaluating how invasion of personal space by a robot, with appropriate social context, affects human comfort. We contribute an early design of a testbed to evaluate how comfort changes because of invasion of personal space by a robot during a collaborative task within a shared workspace. Our testbed allows the robot to reach into the human’s personal space at different distances and urgency levels.