AHCI RESEARCH GROUP
Publications
Papers published in international journals,
proceedings of conferences, workshops and books.
OUR RESEARCH
Scientific Publications
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You can expand the Abstract, Links and BibTex record for each paper.
2020
Caggianese, Giuseppe; Pietro, Giuseppe De; Esposito, Massimo; Gallo, Luigi; Minutolo, Aniello; Neroni, Pietro
Discovering Leonardo with Artificial Intelligence and Holograms: A User Study Journal Article
In: Pattern Recognition Letters, vol. 131, pp. 361–367, 2020, ISSN: 0167-8655.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Artificial intelligence, Conversational systems, Cultural heritage, Holograms, Touchless interfaces, User study
@article{caggianeseDiscoveringLeonardoArtificial2020,
title = {Discovering Leonardo with Artificial Intelligence and Holograms: A User Study},
author = { Giuseppe Caggianese and Giuseppe De Pietro and Massimo Esposito and Luigi Gallo and Aniello Minutolo and Pietro Neroni},
doi = {10.1016/j.patrec.2020.01.006},
issn = {0167-8655},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-01-01},
journal = {Pattern Recognition Letters},
volume = {131},
pages = {361--367},
abstract = {Cutting-edge visualization and interaction technologies are increasingly used in museum exhibitions, providing novel ways to engage visitors and enhance their cultural experience. Existing applications are commonly built upon a single technology, focusing on visualization, motion or verbal interaction (e.g., high-resolution projections, gesture interfaces, chatbots). This aspect limits their potential, since museums are highly heterogeneous in terms of visitors profiles and interests, requiring multi-channel, customizable interaction modalities. To this aim, this work describes and evaluates an artificial intelligence powered, interactive holographic stand aimed at describing Leonardo Da Vinci's art. This system provides the users with accurate 3D representations of Leonardo's machines, which can be interactively manipulated through a touchless user interface. It is also able to dialog with the users in natural language about Leonardo's art, while keeping the context of conversation and interactions. Furthermore, the results of a large user study, carried out during art and tech exhibitions, are presented and discussed. The goal was to assess how users of different ages and interests perceive, understand and explore cultural objects when holograms and artificial intelligence are used as instruments of knowledge and analysis.},
keywords = {Artificial intelligence, Conversational systems, Cultural heritage, Holograms, Touchless interfaces, User study},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Cutting-edge visualization and interaction technologies are increasingly used in museum exhibitions, providing novel ways to engage visitors and enhance their cultural experience. Existing applications are commonly built upon a single technology, focusing on visualization, motion or verbal interaction (e.g., high-resolution projections, gesture interfaces, chatbots). This aspect limits their potential, since museums are highly heterogeneous in terms of visitors profiles and interests, requiring multi-channel, customizable interaction modalities. To this aim, this work describes and evaluates an artificial intelligence powered, interactive holographic stand aimed at describing Leonardo Da Vinci's art. This system provides the users with accurate 3D representations of Leonardo's machines, which can be interactively manipulated through a touchless user interface. It is also able to dialog with the users in natural language about Leonardo's art, while keeping the context of conversation and interactions. Furthermore, the results of a large user study, carried out during art and tech exhibitions, are presented and discussed. The goal was to assess how users of different ages and interests perceive, understand and explore cultural objects when holograms and artificial intelligence are used as instruments of knowledge and analysis.
Caggianese, Giuseppe; Capece, Nicola; Erra, Ugo; Gallo, Luigi; Rinaldi, Michele
Freehand-Steering Locomotion Techniques for Immersive Virtual Environments: A Comparative Evaluation Journal Article
In: International Journal of Human– Computer Interaction, vol. 36, no. 18, pp. 1734–1755, 2020.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Locomotion techniques, Natural User Interfaces, User study, Virtual Reality
@article{caggianeseFreehandSteeringLocomotionTechniques2020,
title = {Freehand-Steering Locomotion Techniques for Immersive Virtual Environments: A Comparative Evaluation},
author = { Giuseppe Caggianese and Nicola Capece and Ugo Erra and Luigi Gallo and Michele Rinaldi},
doi = {10.1080/10447318.2020.1785151},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-01-01},
journal = {International Journal of Human– Computer Interaction},
volume = {36},
number = {18},
pages = {1734--1755},
abstract = {Virtual reality has achieved significant popularity in recent years, and allowing users to move freely within an immersive virtual world has become an important factor critical to realize. The user's interactions are generally designed to increase the perceived realism, but the locomotion techniques and how these affect the user's task performance still represent an open issue, much discussed in the literature. In this article, we evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of, and user preferences relating to, freehand locomotion techniques designed for an immersive virtual environment performed through hand gestures tracked by a sensor placed in the egocentric position and experienced through a head-mounted display. Three freehand locomotion techniques have been implemented and compared with each other, and with a baseline technique based on a controller, through qualitative and quantitative measures. An extensive user study conducted with 60 subjects shows that the proposed methods have a performance comparable to the use of the controller, further revealing the users' preference for decoupling the locomotion in sub-tasks, even if this means renouncing precision and adapting the interaction to the possibilities of the tracker sensor.},
keywords = {Locomotion techniques, Natural User Interfaces, User study, Virtual Reality},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Virtual reality has achieved significant popularity in recent years, and allowing users to move freely within an immersive virtual world has become an important factor critical to realize. The user's interactions are generally designed to increase the perceived realism, but the locomotion techniques and how these affect the user's task performance still represent an open issue, much discussed in the literature. In this article, we evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of, and user preferences relating to, freehand locomotion techniques designed for an immersive virtual environment performed through hand gestures tracked by a sensor placed in the egocentric position and experienced through a head-mounted display. Three freehand locomotion techniques have been implemented and compared with each other, and with a baseline technique based on a controller, through qualitative and quantitative measures. An extensive user study conducted with 60 subjects shows that the proposed methods have a performance comparable to the use of the controller, further revealing the users' preference for decoupling the locomotion in sub-tasks, even if this means renouncing precision and adapting the interaction to the possibilities of the tracker sensor.
2019
Caggianese, Giuseppe; Gallo, Luigi; Neroni, Pietro
The Vive Controllers vs. Leap Motion for Interactions in Virtual Environments: A Comparative Evaluation Proceedings Article
In: Pietro, Giuseppe De; Gallo, Luigi; Howlett, Robert J.; Jain, Lakhmi C.; Vlacic, Ljubo (Ed.): Intelligent Interactive Multimedia Systems and Services, pp. 24–33, Springer International Publishing, Cham, 2019, ISBN: 978-3-319-92231-7.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Head-mounted displays, Human computer interaction, Input devices, User study, Virtual Reality
@inproceedings{caggianeseViveControllersVs2019,
title = {The Vive Controllers vs. Leap Motion for Interactions in Virtual Environments: A Comparative Evaluation},
author = { Giuseppe Caggianese and Luigi Gallo and Pietro Neroni},
editor = { Giuseppe De Pietro and Luigi Gallo and Robert J. Howlett and Lakhmi C. Jain and Ljubo Vlacic},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-92231-7_3},
isbn = {978-3-319-92231-7},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-01-01},
booktitle = {Intelligent Interactive Multimedia Systems and Services},
pages = {24--33},
publisher = {Springer International Publishing},
address = {Cham},
series = {Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies},
abstract = {In recent years, virtual reality technologies have been improving in terms of resolution, convenience and portability, fostering their adoption in real life applications. The Vive Controllers and Leap Motion are two of the most commonly used low-cost input devices for interactions in virtual environments. This paper discusses their differences in terms of interaction design, and presents the results of a user study focusing on manipulation tasks, namely Walking box and blocks, Block tower and Numbered cubes tasks, taking into account both quantitative and qualitative observations. The experimental findings show a general preference for the Vive Controllers, but also highlight that further work is needed to simplify complex tasks.},
keywords = {Head-mounted displays, Human computer interaction, Input devices, User study, Virtual Reality},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
In recent years, virtual reality technologies have been improving in terms of resolution, convenience and portability, fostering their adoption in real life applications. The Vive Controllers and Leap Motion are two of the most commonly used low-cost input devices for interactions in virtual environments. This paper discusses their differences in terms of interaction design, and presents the results of a user study focusing on manipulation tasks, namely Walking box and blocks, Block tower and Numbered cubes tasks, taking into account both quantitative and qualitative observations. The experimental findings show a general preference for the Vive Controllers, but also highlight that further work is needed to simplify complex tasks.
2018
Caggianese, Giuseppe; Gallo, Luigi; Neroni, Pietro
Evaluation of Spatial Interaction Techniques for Virtual Heritage Applications: A Case Study of an Interactive Holographic Projection Journal Article
In: Future Generation Computer Systems, vol. 81, pp. 516–527, 2018, ISSN: 0167-739X.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Cultural heritage, Holograms, Interaction techniques, Museum, Touchless interaction, User study
@article{caggianeseEvaluationSpatialInteraction2018,
title = {Evaluation of Spatial Interaction Techniques for Virtual Heritage Applications: A Case Study of an Interactive Holographic Projection},
author = { Giuseppe Caggianese and Luigi Gallo and Pietro Neroni},
doi = {10.1016/j.future.2017.07.047},
issn = {0167-739X},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-01-01},
journal = {Future Generation Computer Systems},
volume = {81},
pages = {516--527},
abstract = {The increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in museums is providing curators with new opportunities for the display of cultural heritage content, making it possible to merge real and digital works of art in a coherent exhibition space. However, humans learn and perceive by following an interactive process, a fact that is particularly true in relation to the understanding, analysis and interpretation of the cultural heritage. In order to allow visitors to fully exploit the potential of this new hybrid cultural communication, interactivity is essential. This paper analyzes interaction design focusing on a holographic projection system equipped with a gesture-based interface and discussing the results of both quantitative and qualitative user studies aimed at empirically investigating users' preferences in relation to interaction techniques when used in a museum context. The experimental findings suggest the adoption of task-specific patterns in the design of touchless user interfaces for the exploration of digital heritage content.},
keywords = {Cultural heritage, Holograms, Interaction techniques, Museum, Touchless interaction, User study},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in museums is providing curators with new opportunities for the display of cultural heritage content, making it possible to merge real and digital works of art in a coherent exhibition space. However, humans learn and perceive by following an interactive process, a fact that is particularly true in relation to the understanding, analysis and interpretation of the cultural heritage. In order to allow visitors to fully exploit the potential of this new hybrid cultural communication, interactivity is essential. This paper analyzes interaction design focusing on a holographic projection system equipped with a gesture-based interface and discussing the results of both quantitative and qualitative user studies aimed at empirically investigating users' preferences in relation to interaction techniques when used in a museum context. The experimental findings suggest the adoption of task-specific patterns in the design of touchless user interfaces for the exploration of digital heritage content.
2017
Brancati, Nadia; Caggianese, Giuseppe; Frucci, Maria; Gallo, Luigi; Neroni, Pietro
Experiencing Touchless Interaction with Augmented Content on Wearable Head-Mounted Displays in Cultural Heritage Applications Journal Article
In: Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 203–217, 2017, ISSN: 1617-4909, 1617-4917.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Augmented Reality, Point-and-click interface, RGB-D, Touchless interaction, User study
@article{brancatiExperiencingTouchlessInteraction2017,
title = {Experiencing Touchless Interaction with Augmented Content on Wearable Head-Mounted Displays in Cultural Heritage Applications},
author = { Nadia Brancati and Giuseppe Caggianese and Maria Frucci and Luigi Gallo and Pietro Neroni},
doi = {10.1007/s00779-016-0987-8},
issn = {1617-4909, 1617-4917},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-01-01},
urldate = {2016-12-06},
journal = {Personal and Ubiquitous Computing},
volume = {21},
number = {2},
pages = {203--217},
abstract = {The cultural heritage could benefit significantly from the integration of wearable augmented reality (AR). This technology has the potential to guide the user and provide her with both in-depth information, without distracting her from the context, and a natural interaction, which can further allow her to explore and navigate her way through a huge amount of cultural information. The integration of touchless interaction and augmented reality is particularly challenging. On the technical side, the human-machine interface has to be reliable so as to guide users across the real world, which is composed of cluttered backgrounds and severe changes in illumination conditions. On the user experience side, the interface has to provide precise interaction tools while minimizing the perceived task difficulty. In this study, an interactive wearable AR system to augment the environment with cultural information is described. To confer robustness to the interface, a strategy that takes advantage of both depth and color data to find the most reliable information on each single frame is introduced. Moreover, the results of an ISO 9241-9 user study performed in both indoor and outdoor conditions are presented and discussed. The experimental results show that, by using both depth and color data, the interface can behave consistently in different indoor and outdoor scenarios. Furthermore, the results show that the presence of a virtual pointer in the augmented visualization significantly reduces the users error rate in selection tasks.},
keywords = {Augmented Reality, Point-and-click interface, RGB-D, Touchless interaction, User study},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The cultural heritage could benefit significantly from the integration of wearable augmented reality (AR). This technology has the potential to guide the user and provide her with both in-depth information, without distracting her from the context, and a natural interaction, which can further allow her to explore and navigate her way through a huge amount of cultural information. The integration of touchless interaction and augmented reality is particularly challenging. On the technical side, the human-machine interface has to be reliable so as to guide users across the real world, which is composed of cluttered backgrounds and severe changes in illumination conditions. On the user experience side, the interface has to provide precise interaction tools while minimizing the perceived task difficulty. In this study, an interactive wearable AR system to augment the environment with cultural information is described. To confer robustness to the interface, a strategy that takes advantage of both depth and color data to find the most reliable information on each single frame is introduced. Moreover, the results of an ISO 9241-9 user study performed in both indoor and outdoor conditions are presented and discussed. The experimental results show that, by using both depth and color data, the interface can behave consistently in different indoor and outdoor scenarios. Furthermore, the results show that the presence of a virtual pointer in the augmented visualization significantly reduces the users error rate in selection tasks.
2015
Brancati, Nadia; Caggianese, Giuseppe; Pietro, Giuseppe De; Frucci, Maria; Gallo, Luigi; Neroni, Pietro
Usability Evaluation of a Wearable Augmented Reality System for the Enjoyment of the Cultural Heritage Proceedings Article
In: 2015 The 11th International Conference on Signal-Image Technology and Internet-Based Systems (SITIS), pp. 768–774, IEEE, Bangkok, Thailand, 2015, ISBN: 978-1-4673-9721-6.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Augmented Reality, Cultural heritage, Touchless interaction, User study
@inproceedings{brancatiUsabilityEvaluationWearable2015,
title = {Usability Evaluation of a Wearable Augmented Reality System for the Enjoyment of the Cultural Heritage},
author = { Nadia Brancati and Giuseppe Caggianese and Giuseppe De Pietro and Maria Frucci and Luigi Gallo and Pietro Neroni},
doi = {10.1109/SITIS.2015.98},
isbn = {978-1-4673-9721-6},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-11-01},
urldate = {2016-12-06},
booktitle = {2015 The 11th International Conference on Signal-Image Technology and Internet-Based Systems (SITIS)},
pages = {768--774},
publisher = {IEEE},
address = {Bangkok, Thailand},
abstract = {The recent availability of low cost wearable augmented reality (WAR) technologies is leveraging the design of applications in the cultural heritage domain in order to support users in their emotional journey among the cultural artefacts and monuments of a city. In this paper, we describe a user study evaluating the usability of a wearable augmented reality touchless interface for the enjoyment of the cultural heritage in outdoor environments. The usability evaluation has been carried out in out-of-lab settings with inexperienced users, during a three day exhibition in the city of Naples. The presented results are related to the ease of use and learning of the system, and to the user's satisfaction in the enjoyment of the system.},
keywords = {Augmented Reality, Cultural heritage, Touchless interaction, User study},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
The recent availability of low cost wearable augmented reality (WAR) technologies is leveraging the design of applications in the cultural heritage domain in order to support users in their emotional journey among the cultural artefacts and monuments of a city. In this paper, we describe a user study evaluating the usability of a wearable augmented reality touchless interface for the enjoyment of the cultural heritage in outdoor environments. The usability evaluation has been carried out in out-of-lab settings with inexperienced users, during a three day exhibition in the city of Naples. The presented results are related to the ease of use and learning of the system, and to the user's satisfaction in the enjoyment of the system.
2013
Gallo, Luigi
A Study on the Degrees of Freedom in Touchless Interaction Proceedings Article
In: SA '13 SIGGRAPH Asia 2013 Technical Briefs, pp. 28, ACM, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2013, ISBN: 978-1-4503-2629-2.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: 3D interaction, DOF, Touchless interaction, User study
@inproceedings{galloStudyDegreesFreedom2013,
title = {A Study on the Degrees of Freedom in Touchless Interaction},
author = { Luigi Gallo},
doi = {10.1145/2542355.2542390},
isbn = {978-1-4503-2629-2},
year = {2013},
date = {2013-11-01},
booktitle = {SA '13 SIGGRAPH Asia 2013 Technical Briefs},
pages = {28},
publisher = {ACM},
address = {Hong Kong, Hong Kong},
abstract = {During the last few years, we have been witnessing a widespread adoption of touchless technologies in the context of surgical procedures. Touchless interfaces are advantageous in that they can preserve sterility around the patient, allowing surgeons to visualize medical images without having to physically touch any control or to rely on a proxy. Such interfaces have been tailored to interact with 2D medical images but not with 3D reconstructions of anatomical data, since such an interaction requires at least three degrees of freedom. In this paper, we discuss the results of a user study in which a mouse-based interface has been compared with two Kinect-based touchless interfaces which allow users to interact with 3D data with up to nine degrees of freedom. The experimental results show that there is a significant relation between the number of degrees of freedom simultaneously controlled by the user and the number of degrees of freedom required to perform, in a touchless way, an accurate manipulation task.},
keywords = {3D interaction, DOF, Touchless interaction, User study},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
During the last few years, we have been witnessing a widespread adoption of touchless technologies in the context of surgical procedures. Touchless interfaces are advantageous in that they can preserve sterility around the patient, allowing surgeons to visualize medical images without having to physically touch any control or to rely on a proxy. Such interfaces have been tailored to interact with 2D medical images but not with 3D reconstructions of anatomical data, since such an interaction requires at least three degrees of freedom. In this paper, we discuss the results of a user study in which a mouse-based interface has been compared with two Kinect-based touchless interfaces which allow users to interact with 3D data with up to nine degrees of freedom. The experimental results show that there is a significant relation between the number of degrees of freedom simultaneously controlled by the user and the number of degrees of freedom required to perform, in a touchless way, an accurate manipulation task.
2012
Gallo, Luigi; Minutolo, Aniello
Design and Comparative Evaluation of Smoothed Pointing: A Velocity-oriented Remote Pointing Enhancement Technique Journal Article
In: International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, vol. 70, no. 4, pp. 287–300, 2012, ISSN: 1071-5819.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: C-D ratio, Ray pointing, Smoothed Pointing, User study, Wiimote
@article{galloDesignComparativeEvaluation2012,
title = {Design and Comparative Evaluation of Smoothed Pointing: A Velocity-oriented Remote Pointing Enhancement Technique},
author = { Luigi Gallo and Aniello Minutolo},
doi = {10.1016/j.ijhcs.2011.12.001},
issn = {1071-5819},
year = {2012},
date = {2012-04-01},
journal = {International Journal of Human-Computer Studies},
volume = {70},
number = {4},
pages = {287--300},
abstract = {The increasing use of remote pointing devices in various application domains is fostering the adoption of pointing enhancement techniques which are aimed at counterbalancing the shortcomings of desk-free interaction. This paper describes the strengths and weaknesses of existing methods for ray pointing facilitation, and presents a refinement of Smoothed Pointing, an auto-calibrating velocity-oriented precision enhancing technique. Furthermore, the paper discusses the results of a user study aimed at empirically investigating how velocity-oriented approaches perform in target acquisition and in trajectory-based interaction tasks, considering both laser-style and image-plane pointing modalities. The experiments, carried out in a low precision scenario in which a Wiimote was used both as a wand and a tracking system, show that Smoothed Pointing allows a significant decrease in the error rate and achieves the highest values of throughput in trajectory-based tasks. The results also indicate that the effectiveness of precision enhancing techniques is significantly affected by the pointing modality and the type of pointing task.},
keywords = {C-D ratio, Ray pointing, Smoothed Pointing, User study, Wiimote},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The increasing use of remote pointing devices in various application domains is fostering the adoption of pointing enhancement techniques which are aimed at counterbalancing the shortcomings of desk-free interaction. This paper describes the strengths and weaknesses of existing methods for ray pointing facilitation, and presents a refinement of Smoothed Pointing, an auto-calibrating velocity-oriented precision enhancing technique. Furthermore, the paper discusses the results of a user study aimed at empirically investigating how velocity-oriented approaches perform in target acquisition and in trajectory-based interaction tasks, considering both laser-style and image-plane pointing modalities. The experiments, carried out in a low precision scenario in which a Wiimote was used both as a wand and a tracking system, show that Smoothed Pointing allows a significant decrease in the error rate and achieves the highest values of throughput in trajectory-based tasks. The results also indicate that the effectiveness of precision enhancing techniques is significantly affected by the pointing modality and the type of pointing task.
2010
Gallo, Luigi; Minutolo, Aniello; Pietro, Giuseppe De
A User Interface for VR-ready 3D Medical Imaging by off-the-Shelf Input Devices Journal Article
In: Computers in Biology and Medicine, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 350–358, 2010, ISSN: 0010-4825.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Healthcare, Interaction techniques, Medical Imaging, Mouse, Natural User Interfaces, Pointing, Rotation, User study, Virtual Reality, Wiimote
@article{galloUserInterfaceVRready2010,
title = {A User Interface for VR-ready 3D Medical Imaging by off-the-Shelf Input Devices},
author = { Luigi Gallo and Aniello Minutolo and Giuseppe De Pietro},
doi = {10.1016/j.compbiomed.2010.01.006},
issn = {0010-4825},
year = {2010},
date = {2010-01-01},
journal = {Computers in Biology and Medicine},
volume = {40},
number = {3},
pages = {350--358},
abstract = {The distinctiveness of clinical environments demands specific solutions in the design of both usable and practical user interfaces for 3D medical imaging. In this work, a novel user interface to provide a direct interaction in 3D space by off-the-shelf input devices is proposed. The interface, which has been implemented and integrated into an open-source medical image viewer, features a depth-enhanced mouse pointer and a novel rotation technique that uses the object's geometry as the rotation handle. The usability of the proposed approach is evaluated to show its effectiveness for use in professional 3D imaging applications.},
keywords = {Healthcare, Interaction techniques, Medical Imaging, Mouse, Natural User Interfaces, Pointing, Rotation, User study, Virtual Reality, Wiimote},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The distinctiveness of clinical environments demands specific solutions in the design of both usable and practical user interfaces for 3D medical imaging. In this work, a novel user interface to provide a direct interaction in 3D space by off-the-shelf input devices is proposed. The interface, which has been implemented and integrated into an open-source medical image viewer, features a depth-enhanced mouse pointer and a novel rotation technique that uses the object's geometry as the rotation handle. The usability of the proposed approach is evaluated to show its effectiveness for use in professional 3D imaging applications.