Multimodal Interaction
Use of Olfactory Stimuli for medical applications
The aim of the thesis is to study and develop an Olfactory Display that can be used for producing various types of smells, and to study the impact of Olfactory Stimuli on the patients' health, particularly in the case of diseases like Alzheimer, through studies and experiments performed using the Olfactory Display. The thesis will be developed in collaboration with therapists and a private hospital.
Contact Person: Prof. Monica Bordegoni
Development of an Olfactory Device producing various types of smells for far-away communications
The aims of this thesis are:
- the definition of some scenarios concerning mobile-phone communications by introducing the sense of smell for improving the user experience.
- the development of a wearable olfactory device to perform experiments with users.
The thesis will be developed within a project in collaboration with Nokia.
Contact Person: Prof. Monica Bordegoni
Mechanical Input System for Tactile Display
The proposed thesis deals with the development of an input system for a desktop Tactile Display based on servo-actuated modules. This device is able to represent in the real environment the shape of a digital model of a product, which would be explored naturally through a free-hand interaction. The device has a modular configuration and each module is equipped with 5 degree of freedom. Currently, a first prototype of the Tactile Display has been developed. However, it is configured only as an Output device. The aim of the thesis is to develop a mechanical input system (by using load cells or extensometers), which will be placed on the end effector of each module in order to modify the rendered shape by means of the touch.
Contact Person: Prof. Monica Bordegoni
Contact-less Input System for Tactile Display
The proposed thesis aims at developing an input system for a desktop Tactile Display based on servo-actuated modules. This device is able to represent in the real environment the shape of a digital model of a product, which can be explored naturally through a free-hand interaction. The device is based on modular configuration and each module is equipped with 5 degree of freedom. Currently a first prototype of the Tactile Display has been developed. However, it is configured only as Output device. The aim of the thesis is to develop a contact-less input system (i.e., using finger tracking), which will allow user to modify the rendered shape by using gestures.
Contact Person: Prof. Monica Bordegoni
Re-Design of 5 degree of freedom mechanism for a modular Tactile Display
The proposed thesis focuses on the development of a new version of the modular mechanism for an existing desktop Tactile Display. This device is able to represent in the real environment the shape of a digital model of a product, which can be explored naturally through a free-hand interaction. The device has a modular configuration and each module is equipped with 5 degree of freedom. The aim of the thesis is to develop new configurations for the actuation mechanisms in order to obtain a more performing device in terms of dimensions and accuracy of the positioning of the end effector.
Contact Person: Prof. Monica Bordegoni
Design protective product by detecting emotional states using physiological measurement technique
In safety-critical systems such as driving a car or riding a motorbike, it is unavoidable that sometimes people have to be exposed to some emergency situation. In this situation, the emotional states of people are greatly aroused but the body couldn't reflect so fast in time and properly to avoid accidents. As a result, protective products could be designed to change its form quickly according to peoples' emotional change in order to protect the body.
Contact Person: Prof. Monica Bordegoni
Design products by using eye tracking technique
Nowadays it is critical for designers to understand users' preference while designing products. Compared to the traditional user study tools such as persona, eye tracking technique is a more direct and accurate way to know the user behavior. Designers could get known which part the users look at for the longest time and which part the users look at first. So it could be inferred which part is attracting the users most and how users look at the products exactly by using the technique. What's more, it could support designers by supplying quantitative data of user behavior, which can be of great significance for designers.
Contact Person: Prof. Monica Bordegoni
