2023
Conference article
Open Access
Towards adaptation of humanoid robot behaviour in serious game scenarios using reinforcement learning
Zedda E., Manca M., Paternò F.
Repetitive cognitive training can be seen as tedious by older adults and cause participants to drop out. Humanoid robots can be exploited to reduce boredom and the cognitive burden in playing serious games as part of cognitive training. In this paper, an adaptive technique to select the best actions for a robot is proposed to maintain the attention level of elderly users during a serious game. The goal is to create a strategy to adapt the robot's behaviour to stimulate the user to remain attentive through reinforcement learning. Specifically, a learning algorithm (QL) has been applied to obtain the best adaptation strategy for the selection of the robot's actions. The robot's actions consist of a combination of verbal and nonverbal interaction aspects. We have applied this approach to the behaviour of a Pepper robot for which two possible personalities have been defined. Each personality is exhibited by performing specific actions in the various modalities supported. Simulation results indicate learning convergence and seem promising to validate the effectiveness of the obtained strategy. Preliminary test results with three participants suggest that the adaption in the robot is perceived.Source: ALTRUIST 2022 - 2nd Workshop on sociAL roboTs for peRsonalized, continUous and adaptIve aSsisTance, pp. 93–99, Florence, Italy, 16/12/2022
Zedda E., Manca M., Paternò F.
Repetitive cognitive training can be seen as tedious by older adults and cause participants to drop out. Humanoid robots can be exploited to reduce boredom and the cognitive burden in playing serious games as part of cognitive training. In this paper, an adaptive technique to select the best actions for a robot is proposed to maintain the attention level of elderly users during a serious game. The goal is to create a strategy to adapt the robot's behaviour to stimulate the user to remain attentive through reinforcement learning. Specifically, a learning algorithm (QL) has been applied to obtain the best adaptation strategy for the selection of the robot's actions. The robot's actions consist of a combination of verbal and nonverbal interaction aspects. We have applied this approach to the behaviour of a Pepper robot for which two possible personalities have been defined. Each personality is exhibited by performing specific actions in the various modalities supported. Simulation results indicate learning convergence and seem promising to validate the effectiveness of the obtained strategy. Preliminary test results with three participants suggest that the adaption in the robot is perceived.Source: ALTRUIST 2022 - 2nd Workshop on sociAL roboTs for peRsonalized, continUous and adaptIve aSsisTance, pp. 93–99, Florence, Italy, 16/12/2022
See at:
ceur-ws.org 
| ISTI Repository | CNR ExploRA
2023
Conference article
Open Access
An environment to collect personal memories of older adults and use them to personalise serious games with humanoid robots
Catricalà B., Ledda M., Manca M., Paternò F., Santoro C., Zedda E.
One of the goals of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) solutions is to be able to stimulate the cognitive resources of older adults. An innovative way to address such stimulation is the use of serious games delivered through humanoid robots, as they can provide an engaging way to perform exercises useful for training human memory, attention, processing, and planning activities. This paper presents an approach to supporting cognitive stimulation based on personal memories. The humanoid robot can exhibit different behaviours using various modalities, and propose the games in a way personalised to specific individuals' requirements, preferences, abilities, and motivations, which can vary among older adults, and even dynamically evolve over time for the same person depending on changing user needs and health conditions. Using personal memories associated with facts and events that occurred in older adults life in the serious games can increase their engagement, and thus potentially reduce the cognitive training drop-out.Source: ALTRUIST 2022 - 2nd Workshop on sociAL roboTs for peRsonalized, continUous and adaptIve aSsisTance, pp. 44–54, Florence, Italy, 16/12/2022
Catricalà B., Ledda M., Manca M., Paternò F., Santoro C., Zedda E.
One of the goals of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) solutions is to be able to stimulate the cognitive resources of older adults. An innovative way to address such stimulation is the use of serious games delivered through humanoid robots, as they can provide an engaging way to perform exercises useful for training human memory, attention, processing, and planning activities. This paper presents an approach to supporting cognitive stimulation based on personal memories. The humanoid robot can exhibit different behaviours using various modalities, and propose the games in a way personalised to specific individuals' requirements, preferences, abilities, and motivations, which can vary among older adults, and even dynamically evolve over time for the same person depending on changing user needs and health conditions. Using personal memories associated with facts and events that occurred in older adults life in the serious games can increase their engagement, and thus potentially reduce the cognitive training drop-out.Source: ALTRUIST 2022 - 2nd Workshop on sociAL roboTs for peRsonalized, continUous and adaptIve aSsisTance, pp. 44–54, Florence, Italy, 16/12/2022
See at:
ceur-ws.org | ISTI Repository | CNR ExploRA
2022
Journal article
Open Access
Smartphone-based augmented reality for end-user creation of home automations
Ariano R., Manca M., Paternò F., Santoro C.
In the last few years, several end-user tools have been designed to help people who are not professional developers in programming their smart environments. However, such tools are often based on structured visual editors providing abstract representations of the available connected sensors and objects, which can be problematic for end users, and do not particularly encourage their participation. This work aims to make the end-user experience of creating everyday automations involving various types of connected sensors and objects more engaging by replacing extensive, static, structured and comprehensive abstract visual tools with more narrowed, relevant, context-sensitive, dynamic, augmented reality-based representations. We present a solution for this purpose that mobile users can exploit through their smartphone. End users can use the smartphone camera to frame the relevant sensor or object through the developed prototype, then get the current automations associated with it, edit their definition, create new ones as well as monitor the automations involving the whole current environment. We also report a first user test of the developed prototype deployed in a home equipped with connected sensors and objects, which yielded positive feedback.Source: Behaviour & information technology (Online) (2022). doi:10.1080/0144929X.2021.2017482
DOI: 10.1080/0144929x.2021.2017482
Metrics:
Ariano R., Manca M., Paternò F., Santoro C.
In the last few years, several end-user tools have been designed to help people who are not professional developers in programming their smart environments. However, such tools are often based on structured visual editors providing abstract representations of the available connected sensors and objects, which can be problematic for end users, and do not particularly encourage their participation. This work aims to make the end-user experience of creating everyday automations involving various types of connected sensors and objects more engaging by replacing extensive, static, structured and comprehensive abstract visual tools with more narrowed, relevant, context-sensitive, dynamic, augmented reality-based representations. We present a solution for this purpose that mobile users can exploit through their smartphone. End users can use the smartphone camera to frame the relevant sensor or object through the developed prototype, then get the current automations associated with it, edit their definition, create new ones as well as monitor the automations involving the whole current environment. We also report a first user test of the developed prototype deployed in a home equipped with connected sensors and objects, which yielded positive feedback.Source: Behaviour & information technology (Online) (2022). doi:10.1080/0144929X.2021.2017482
DOI: 10.1080/0144929x.2021.2017482
Metrics:
See at:
ISTI Repository | CNR ExploRA 
| www.tandfonline.com
2022
Conference article
Open Access
Alexism: ALEXa supporting children with autism in their oral care at home
Parvin P., Manca M., Senette C., Buzzi M. C., Buzzi M., Pelagatti S.
Oral health care can be a challenging experience for children with autism, for their parents and for dentists. Recently, some technology-enhanced systems have been proposed to help people with autism to cope with distressing situations originated by unknown social-life contexts, such as dental care settings with intense sound-visual stimulations. Results were positive in mitigating anxiety at the dental clinic but seem to fail in supporting proper oral hygiene at home. Thanks to the increasing spread of household Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPA) and Vocal Conversational Agents (VCAs), we envisage new opportunities considering the Voice-enabled IPAs not only as support on daily activities but also to enrich and simplify access to healthcare procedures from home. This work attempts to extend the use of technology-enhanced systems for dental care by exploiting the potential of the Vocal User Interface, Amazon Alexa, as an instructional agent with children on the spectrum. To this purpose, we developed a personalized Alexa Skill with two different functionalities: (i) support the child during the routine transition toward the target activity: move to the bathroom to brush their teeth; (ii) act as a persuader and a timer to guide the child during the procedure observing the proper brushing time. We conducted a three-week preliminary study with three children of different autistic profiles. The goal was to collect opportunities and issues deriving from the device introduction in the home context and test the device usage to favour dental care. Results and feedback were encouraging and gave insights to improve this approach.Source: AVI 2022 - International Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces, Frascati, 06-10/06/2022
DOI: 10.1145/3531073.3531157
Metrics:
Parvin P., Manca M., Senette C., Buzzi M. C., Buzzi M., Pelagatti S.
Oral health care can be a challenging experience for children with autism, for their parents and for dentists. Recently, some technology-enhanced systems have been proposed to help people with autism to cope with distressing situations originated by unknown social-life contexts, such as dental care settings with intense sound-visual stimulations. Results were positive in mitigating anxiety at the dental clinic but seem to fail in supporting proper oral hygiene at home. Thanks to the increasing spread of household Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPA) and Vocal Conversational Agents (VCAs), we envisage new opportunities considering the Voice-enabled IPAs not only as support on daily activities but also to enrich and simplify access to healthcare procedures from home. This work attempts to extend the use of technology-enhanced systems for dental care by exploiting the potential of the Vocal User Interface, Amazon Alexa, as an instructional agent with children on the spectrum. To this purpose, we developed a personalized Alexa Skill with two different functionalities: (i) support the child during the routine transition toward the target activity: move to the bathroom to brush their teeth; (ii) act as a persuader and a timer to guide the child during the procedure observing the proper brushing time. We conducted a three-week preliminary study with three children of different autistic profiles. The goal was to collect opportunities and issues deriving from the device introduction in the home context and test the device usage to favour dental care. Results and feedback were encouraging and gave insights to improve this approach.Source: AVI 2022 - International Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces, Frascati, 06-10/06/2022
DOI: 10.1145/3531073.3531157
Metrics:
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ISTI Repository | ISTI Repository | dl.acm.org | CNR ExploRA
2022
Conference article
Open Access
An approach to exploiting personal memories in humanoid robots serious games for cognitive stimulation of older adults
Catricalà B., Coffaro D., Manca M., Mattioli A., Paternò F., Santoro C.
One of the goals of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) solutions is to be able to stimulate the cognitive resources of older adults. An innovative way to address such stimulation is the use of serious games delivered through humanoid robots. Such devices are based on Internet of Things technologies since they are collections of sensors and actuators in a human shape. Serious games delivered through humanoid robots can provide an engaging way to perform exercises useful for training human memory, attention, processing, and planning activities. This paper presents an approach to supporting cognitive stimulation based on personal memories. The humanoid robot can exhibit different behaviours through different modalities, and propose the games in a way personalized to specific individuals' requirements, preferences, abilities, and motivations, which can vary among older adults, and even dynamically evolve over time for the same person depending on changing user needs and health conditions.Source: EMPATHY 2022 - 3rd International Workshop on Empowering People in Dealing with Internet of Things Ecosystems, Frascati, 06-10/06/2022
Catricalà B., Coffaro D., Manca M., Mattioli A., Paternò F., Santoro C.
One of the goals of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) solutions is to be able to stimulate the cognitive resources of older adults. An innovative way to address such stimulation is the use of serious games delivered through humanoid robots. Such devices are based on Internet of Things technologies since they are collections of sensors and actuators in a human shape. Serious games delivered through humanoid robots can provide an engaging way to perform exercises useful for training human memory, attention, processing, and planning activities. This paper presents an approach to supporting cognitive stimulation based on personal memories. The humanoid robot can exhibit different behaviours through different modalities, and propose the games in a way personalized to specific individuals' requirements, preferences, abilities, and motivations, which can vary among older adults, and even dynamically evolve over time for the same person depending on changing user needs and health conditions.Source: EMPATHY 2022 - 3rd International Workshop on Empowering People in Dealing with Internet of Things Ecosystems, Frascati, 06-10/06/2022
See at:
ceur-ws.org | ISTI Repository | ISTI Repository | CNR ExploRA
2022
Journal article
Open Access
End-user development in industrial contexts: the paper mill case study
Manca M., Paternò F., Santoro C.
This work aims to explore the potentialities of an end-user personalisation platform in industrial settings. In such a context, stakeholders with different roles and competencies collaborate to manage and control an environment where legacy machines coexist and interact with newer ones. Our goal is to provide a rule-based tool that allows end-users to build personalised solutions to respond quickly to the dynamic needs of factories. We report on a case study in the paper factory domain, in which the industrial aspects identified with expert stakeholders through interviews have been simulated and addressed through an extension of a personalisation platform. A first user test of the resulting environment has been carried out with a representative set of users, and has provided useful and encouraging feedback in terms of the potentialities of the proposed approach in industrial contexts.Source: Behaviour & information technology (Online) (2022). doi:10.1080/0144929X.2022.2089597
DOI: 10.1080/0144929x.2022.2089597
Metrics:
Manca M., Paternò F., Santoro C.
This work aims to explore the potentialities of an end-user personalisation platform in industrial settings. In such a context, stakeholders with different roles and competencies collaborate to manage and control an environment where legacy machines coexist and interact with newer ones. Our goal is to provide a rule-based tool that allows end-users to build personalised solutions to respond quickly to the dynamic needs of factories. We report on a case study in the paper factory domain, in which the industrial aspects identified with expert stakeholders through interviews have been simulated and addressed through an extension of a personalisation platform. A first user test of the resulting environment has been carried out with a representative set of users, and has provided useful and encouraging feedback in terms of the potentialities of the proposed approach in industrial contexts.Source: Behaviour & information technology (Online) (2022). doi:10.1080/0144929X.2022.2089597
DOI: 10.1080/0144929x.2022.2089597
Metrics:
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ISTI Repository | CNR ExploRA | www.tandfonline.com
2022
Conference article
Open Access
Towards understanding the transparency of automations in daily environments
Paternò F., Gallo S., Manca M., Mattioli A., Santoro C.
This paper outlines a proposal for how to address transparency of automations in daily environments, such as smart homes, based on experiences carried out in previous projects. The trigger-action programming paradigm has been used to describe and implement such automations in both commercial and research tools. Such automations can be generated through machine learning techniques or directly by the end users or through an interaction between an intelligent agent and the user. When they are executed the resulting behaviour does not always result in the desired actions, and users may have difficulties in understanding and controlling them. Thus, there is a need for design criteria and associated tools that help people to understand and control what happens with the automations active in the environments where they live, and explain how they work and can be modified to better meet their needs.Source: IUI-WS 2022 - Workshops at the International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI) 2022, pp. 187–191, Helsinki, Finland, 21-22/03/2022
Paternò F., Gallo S., Manca M., Mattioli A., Santoro C.
This paper outlines a proposal for how to address transparency of automations in daily environments, such as smart homes, based on experiences carried out in previous projects. The trigger-action programming paradigm has been used to describe and implement such automations in both commercial and research tools. Such automations can be generated through machine learning techniques or directly by the end users or through an interaction between an intelligent agent and the user. When they are executed the resulting behaviour does not always result in the desired actions, and users may have difficulties in understanding and controlling them. Thus, there is a need for design criteria and associated tools that help people to understand and control what happens with the automations active in the environments where they live, and explain how they work and can be modified to better meet their needs.Source: IUI-WS 2022 - Workshops at the International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (IUI) 2022, pp. 187–191, Helsinki, Finland, 21-22/03/2022
See at:
ceur-ws.org | ISTI Repository | CNR ExploRA
2022
Journal article
Open Access
Play with me! A serious game for cognitive stimulation of older adults with a humanoid robot
Zedda E., Manca M., Paternò F.
Serious games in humanoid robots have an interesting potential to help older adults with cognitive stimulation in non-pharmacological treatments. Additionally, exploiting the multimodal possibilities of the humanoid robots in such a way to provide them with a personality can be suitable to improve users' engagement, and thus their potential participation in cognitive training programmes.Source: ERCIM news 130 (2022): 24–25.
Zedda E., Manca M., Paternò F.
Serious games in humanoid robots have an interesting potential to help older adults with cognitive stimulation in non-pharmacological treatments. Additionally, exploiting the multimodal possibilities of the humanoid robots in such a way to provide them with a personality can be suitable to improve users' engagement, and thus their potential participation in cognitive training programmes.Source: ERCIM news 130 (2022): 24–25.
See at:
ercim-news.ercim.eu | ISTI Repository | CNR ExploRA
2022
Journal article
Open Access
PlayToPickup: customisable serious games for children with cognitive disorders
Angileri L., Manca M., Paternò F., Santoro C.
Cognitive developmental disorders are common in children and affect the language or attention area, such as attention deficit and hyperactivity. In these cases, the individual is unable to engage and interact effectively with the environment, resulting in difficulties in learning and autonomously carrying out daily activities. For these reasons, this work proposes a solution that aims to stimulate children in the relevant cognitive aspects, which are attention, planning tasks and error monitoring. The proposed solution is PlayToPickUp, a serious game that supports tasks that replicate the activities of daily life, such as preparing the backpack, recognising money or emotions.Source: ERCIM news 130 (2022): 22–23.
Angileri L., Manca M., Paternò F., Santoro C.
Cognitive developmental disorders are common in children and affect the language or attention area, such as attention deficit and hyperactivity. In these cases, the individual is unable to engage and interact effectively with the environment, resulting in difficulties in learning and autonomously carrying out daily activities. For these reasons, this work proposes a solution that aims to stimulate children in the relevant cognitive aspects, which are attention, planning tasks and error monitoring. The proposed solution is PlayToPickUp, a serious game that supports tasks that replicate the activities of daily life, such as preparing the backpack, recognising money or emotions.Source: ERCIM news 130 (2022): 22–23.
See at:
ercim-news.ercim.eu | ISTI Repository | CNR ExploRA
2022
Journal article
Open Access
The transparency of automatic web accessibility evaluation tools: design criteria, state of the art, and user perception
Manca M., Palumbo V., Paternò F., Santoro C.
Several Web accessibility evaluation tools have been put forward to reduce the burden of identifying accessibility barriers for users, especially those with disabilities. One common issue in using accessibility evaluation tools in practice is that the results provided by different tools are sometimes unclear, and often diverging. Such limitations may confuse the users who may not understand the reasons behind them, and thus hamper the possible adoption of such tools. Hence, there is a need for tools that shed light on their actual functioning, and the success criteria and techniques supported. For this purpose, we must identify what criteria should be adopted in order for such tools to be transparent and to help users better interpret their results. In this paper, we discuss such issues, provide design criteria for obtaining user-centred and transparent accessibility evaluation tools, and analyse how they have been addressed by a representative set of open, license-free, accessibility tools. We also report on the results of a survey with 138 users of such tools, aimed at capturing the perceived usefulness of previously identified transparency requirements. Finally, we performed a user study with 18 users working in the Web design or accessibility fields with the goal of receiving more feedback about the transparency of a selected subset of accessibility tools.Source: ACM transactions on accessible computing (2022). doi:10.1145/3556979
DOI: 10.1145/3556979
Metrics:
Manca M., Palumbo V., Paternò F., Santoro C.
Several Web accessibility evaluation tools have been put forward to reduce the burden of identifying accessibility barriers for users, especially those with disabilities. One common issue in using accessibility evaluation tools in practice is that the results provided by different tools are sometimes unclear, and often diverging. Such limitations may confuse the users who may not understand the reasons behind them, and thus hamper the possible adoption of such tools. Hence, there is a need for tools that shed light on their actual functioning, and the success criteria and techniques supported. For this purpose, we must identify what criteria should be adopted in order for such tools to be transparent and to help users better interpret their results. In this paper, we discuss such issues, provide design criteria for obtaining user-centred and transparent accessibility evaluation tools, and analyse how they have been addressed by a representative set of open, license-free, accessibility tools. We also report on the results of a survey with 138 users of such tools, aimed at capturing the perceived usefulness of previously identified transparency requirements. Finally, we performed a user study with 18 users working in the Web design or accessibility fields with the goal of receiving more feedback about the transparency of a selected subset of accessibility tools.Source: ACM transactions on accessible computing (2022). doi:10.1145/3556979
DOI: 10.1145/3556979
Metrics:
See at:
ISTI Repository | ISTI Repository | CNR ExploRA
2022
Contribution to conference
Open Access
Biography-based games for cognitive stimulation of older adults
Catricalà B., Manca M., Paternò F., Santoro C.
Currently, cognitive stimulation exercises conducted with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)-affected older adults are typically administered by care professionals through exercises, which require a high degree of involvement by professional therapists, and are often perceived as tedious by the older adults. We aim to offer novel digital training through serious games designed using personally relevant material from the older adults' life. They will be based on memories associated with their biography, thus making interactions personalised, relevant, and more engaging. The serious games can be accessed through humanoid robots, which can make the training exercise more engaging because of their human-like behaviour. In this paper we discuss our approach to biography-based games for older adultsSource: CROA 2022 - The First Workshop on Care Robots for Older Adults, Naples, Italy, 29/08-2/09/2022
Catricalà B., Manca M., Paternò F., Santoro C.
Currently, cognitive stimulation exercises conducted with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)-affected older adults are typically administered by care professionals through exercises, which require a high degree of involvement by professional therapists, and are often perceived as tedious by the older adults. We aim to offer novel digital training through serious games designed using personally relevant material from the older adults' life. They will be based on memories associated with their biography, thus making interactions personalised, relevant, and more engaging. The serious games can be accessed through humanoid robots, which can make the training exercise more engaging because of their human-like behaviour. In this paper we discuss our approach to biography-based games for older adultsSource: CROA 2022 - The First Workshop on Care Robots for Older Adults, Naples, Italy, 29/08-2/09/2022
See at:
ISTI Repository | croa-roman.com | CNR ExploRA
2022
Journal article
Open Access
Usability and transparency in the design of a tool for automatic support for web accessibility validation
Iannuzzi N., Manca M., Paternò F., Santoro C.
The importance of guaranteeing accessible Web applications is becoming widely recognised, and supported by national and international legislation. This implies an increasing need for large scale validations, which can be achieved only through automatic support. Thus, there is a need for a new generation of accessibility validation tools able to check against the continuously evolving guidelines and report any issues revealed, considering that their results will be used by many people with varied backgrounds and goals. Such tools should be able to support monitoring of Web sites' accessibility, provide user-friendly information suitable for various purposes, and be transparent in terms of what they are actually able to evaluate in order to elicit the right expectations from their users. They should also consider how the technologies for implementing Web sites have evolved in recent years. In this paper, we provide a description of the requirements and design dimensions that characterise such tools in order to address emerging needs, providing indications on whether and how several existing validation tools support them, and present how we have addressed and implemented them in a specific tool. We also report on a first usability test of such tool, which has provided encouraging feedback.Source: Universal access in the information society (Internet) (2022). doi:10.1007/s10209-022-00948-x
DOI: 10.1007/s10209-022-00948-x
Metrics:
Iannuzzi N., Manca M., Paternò F., Santoro C.
The importance of guaranteeing accessible Web applications is becoming widely recognised, and supported by national and international legislation. This implies an increasing need for large scale validations, which can be achieved only through automatic support. Thus, there is a need for a new generation of accessibility validation tools able to check against the continuously evolving guidelines and report any issues revealed, considering that their results will be used by many people with varied backgrounds and goals. Such tools should be able to support monitoring of Web sites' accessibility, provide user-friendly information suitable for various purposes, and be transparent in terms of what they are actually able to evaluate in order to elicit the right expectations from their users. They should also consider how the technologies for implementing Web sites have evolved in recent years. In this paper, we provide a description of the requirements and design dimensions that characterise such tools in order to address emerging needs, providing indications on whether and how several existing validation tools support them, and present how we have addressed and implemented them in a specific tool. We also report on a first usability test of such tool, which has provided encouraging feedback.Source: Universal access in the information society (Internet) (2022). doi:10.1007/s10209-022-00948-x
DOI: 10.1007/s10209-022-00948-x
Metrics:
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link.springer.com | ISTI Repository | ISTI Repository | CNR ExploRA
2021
Journal article
Open Access
The impact of serious games with humanoid robots on mild cognitive impairment older adults
Manca M., Paterno F., Santoro C., Zedda E., Braschi C., Franco R., Sale A.
The number of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) older adults is increasing; thus, it becomes more and more important to provide them with support to avoid, or at least slow down, their cognitive decline. To this end, interactive serious games can play an important role. So far, most of them have been deployed through tablets, which represent a cost-effective solution, yet offering only limited possibilities for truly engaging such users in a multimodal manner. However, emerging humanoid robots, through their physical embodiment and human-like attributes, including facial expressions and body language, may open up new possibilities in more effectively engaging MCI older adults during repetitive cognitive training. We present a study aiming to better understand the impact of humanoid robots in supporting serious games for such users. In particular, we investigate how seniors with Mild Cognitive Impairments relate to and perceive serious games accessed through humanoid robots, as part of a training programme aimed to improve their cognitive status. For this purpose, two versions of a music-based memory game have been designed by a multi-disciplinary team, one for humanoid robots and one for tablets. We report on its use during a between-subject study that involved MCI seniors, and discuss their experience. The results show that the robot was received with more enthusiasm by the older adults, thus improving their level of engagement.Source: International journal of human-computer studies (Print) 145 (2021). doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2020.102509
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2020.102509
Metrics:
Manca M., Paterno F., Santoro C., Zedda E., Braschi C., Franco R., Sale A.
The number of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) older adults is increasing; thus, it becomes more and more important to provide them with support to avoid, or at least slow down, their cognitive decline. To this end, interactive serious games can play an important role. So far, most of them have been deployed through tablets, which represent a cost-effective solution, yet offering only limited possibilities for truly engaging such users in a multimodal manner. However, emerging humanoid robots, through their physical embodiment and human-like attributes, including facial expressions and body language, may open up new possibilities in more effectively engaging MCI older adults during repetitive cognitive training. We present a study aiming to better understand the impact of humanoid robots in supporting serious games for such users. In particular, we investigate how seniors with Mild Cognitive Impairments relate to and perceive serious games accessed through humanoid robots, as part of a training programme aimed to improve their cognitive status. For this purpose, two versions of a music-based memory game have been designed by a multi-disciplinary team, one for humanoid robots and one for tablets. We report on its use during a between-subject study that involved MCI seniors, and discuss their experience. The results show that the robot was received with more enthusiasm by the older adults, thus improving their level of engagement.Source: International journal of human-computer studies (Print) 145 (2021). doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2020.102509
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2020.102509
Metrics:
See at:
ISTI Repository | International Journal of Human-Computer Studies | CNR ExploRA | www.sciencedirect.com
2021
Journal article
Open Access
Remote monitoring of end-user created automations in field trials
Manca M., Paterno F., Santoro C.
This paper presents how the TAREME (Trigger-Action Rule Editing, Monitoring, Executing) platform provides support for executing and analysing personalized automations in Internet of Things scenarios. The platform allows the creation and execution of trigger-action personalization rules that can change the state of connected smart objects and devices, send alarms or reminders, and modify applications' state depending on contextual events. This paper focuses on how the platform supports analytics about the actual use of the rules and provides associated information, which can be useful to better understand users' personalization needs. Such features have been deployed in a first round of six trials, which have shown the feasibility of the approach and reported fruitful feedback.Source: Journal of ambient intelligence & humanized computing (Print) (2021). doi:10.1007/s12652-021-03239-0
DOI: 10.1007/s12652-021-03239-0
Metrics:
Manca M., Paterno F., Santoro C.
This paper presents how the TAREME (Trigger-Action Rule Editing, Monitoring, Executing) platform provides support for executing and analysing personalized automations in Internet of Things scenarios. The platform allows the creation and execution of trigger-action personalization rules that can change the state of connected smart objects and devices, send alarms or reminders, and modify applications' state depending on contextual events. This paper focuses on how the platform supports analytics about the actual use of the rules and provides associated information, which can be useful to better understand users' personalization needs. Such features have been deployed in a first round of six trials, which have shown the feasibility of the approach and reported fruitful feedback.Source: Journal of ambient intelligence & humanized computing (Print) (2021). doi:10.1007/s12652-021-03239-0
DOI: 10.1007/s12652-021-03239-0
Metrics:
See at:
ISTI Repository | link.springer.com | Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing | Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing | CNR ExploRA
2021
Conference article
Open Access
The transparency of automatic accessibility evaluation tools
Parvin P., Palumbo V., Manca M. Paternò F.
Several web accessibility evaluation tools have been put forward to reduce the burden of identifying accessibility barriers for disabled people. One common issue in using accessibility evaluation tools in practice is that the results provided by different tools are often variable. Such variability may confuse the users who may not understand the reasons behind it, and thus limits the possible adoption of such tools. Hence, there is a need to shed light on the tools' actual functioning, indicate what criteria they should adopt to be transparent and to help users better interpret their results. In this communication paper, we discuss such issues, analyse how they have been addressed by a representative set of tools, and provide useful indications for obtaining user-centred accessibility evaluations.Source: W4A '21: 18th Web for All Conference, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 19-20/04/2021
DOI: 10.1145/3430263.3452436
Metrics:
Parvin P., Palumbo V., Manca M. Paternò F.
Several web accessibility evaluation tools have been put forward to reduce the burden of identifying accessibility barriers for disabled people. One common issue in using accessibility evaluation tools in practice is that the results provided by different tools are often variable. Such variability may confuse the users who may not understand the reasons behind it, and thus limits the possible adoption of such tools. Hence, there is a need to shed light on the tools' actual functioning, indicate what criteria they should adopt to be transparent and to help users better interpret their results. In this communication paper, we discuss such issues, analyse how they have been addressed by a representative set of tools, and provide useful indications for obtaining user-centred accessibility evaluations.Source: W4A '21: 18th Web for All Conference, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 19-20/04/2021
DOI: 10.1145/3430263.3452436
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2021
Conference article
Open Access
Comparative analysis of composition paradigms for personalization rules in IoT settings
Gallo S., Manca M., Mattioli A., Paternò F., Santoro C.
The rapid pervasive diffusion of Internet of Things technologies has opened up many opportunities for people to directly personalise the behaviour of surrounding objects and devices based on the dynamic events that can occur. To this end, several tailoring environments have been proposed supporting the enduser creation of trigger-action rules. Such tools can support different composition paradigms. In this paper we present a study that analyses three composition paradigms (graphical wizard, block-based, and conversational) to better understand how well they support rule creation activities. In order to make the analysis consistent we considered three implementations of such composition paradigms supporting the same set of triggers and actions. We have carried out a first user study in order to gather empirical feedback for substantiating our analysis, which provides indications of the pros and cons of each approach.Source: IS-EUD 2021 - 8th International Symposium on End-User Development, pp. 53–70, Online conference, 06-08/07/2021
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-79840-6_4
Metrics:
Gallo S., Manca M., Mattioli A., Paternò F., Santoro C.
The rapid pervasive diffusion of Internet of Things technologies has opened up many opportunities for people to directly personalise the behaviour of surrounding objects and devices based on the dynamic events that can occur. To this end, several tailoring environments have been proposed supporting the enduser creation of trigger-action rules. Such tools can support different composition paradigms. In this paper we present a study that analyses three composition paradigms (graphical wizard, block-based, and conversational) to better understand how well they support rule creation activities. In order to make the analysis consistent we considered three implementations of such composition paradigms supporting the same set of triggers and actions. We have carried out a first user study in order to gather empirical feedback for substantiating our analysis, which provides indications of the pros and cons of each approach.Source: IS-EUD 2021 - 8th International Symposium on End-User Development, pp. 53–70, Online conference, 06-08/07/2021
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-79840-6_4
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2021
Conference article
Open Access
Personalization in a paper factory
Manca M., Paternò F., Santoro C.
The purpose of this work is to explore the potentialities of a personalization platform in industrial settings. We report on a case study in the paper factory domain, in which the industrial aspects identified with relevant experts through interviews have been simulated and connected with a personalization platform. A first user test has been carried out with a representative set of users, which has provided useful and encouraging feedback in terms of the potentialities of the approach in industrial settings.Source: IS-EUD 2021 - 8th International Symposium on End-User Development, pp. 102–118, Online conference, 06-08/07/2021
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-79840-6_7
Metrics:
Manca M., Paternò F., Santoro C.
The purpose of this work is to explore the potentialities of a personalization platform in industrial settings. We report on a case study in the paper factory domain, in which the industrial aspects identified with relevant experts through interviews have been simulated and connected with a personalization platform. A first user test has been carried out with a representative set of users, which has provided useful and encouraging feedback in terms of the potentialities of the approach in industrial settings.Source: IS-EUD 2021 - 8th International Symposium on End-User Development, pp. 102–118, Online conference, 06-08/07/2021
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-79840-6_7
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2021
Conference article
Open Access
The role of augmented reality in smart home settings
Mattioli A., Manca M., Paternò F., Santoro C.
Augmented Reality (AR) is a growing trend in technology with countless applications in different domains. However, not much attention has been devoted to the smart home setting and how its application can be used to allow users to customise their living spaces. In this paper, we describe the implementation of two methods for recognising objects with AR, and how an End-User Development (EUD) approach to a smart home can take full advantage of these techniques to provide personalisable and more meaningful experiences to users.Source: EMPATHY 2021 - 2nd International Workshop on Empowering People in Dealing with Internet of Things Ecosystems, pp. 17–22, Bari, 30/09/2021
Mattioli A., Manca M., Paternò F., Santoro C.
Augmented Reality (AR) is a growing trend in technology with countless applications in different domains. However, not much attention has been devoted to the smart home setting and how its application can be used to allow users to customise their living spaces. In this paper, we describe the implementation of two methods for recognising objects with AR, and how an End-User Development (EUD) approach to a smart home can take full advantage of these techniques to provide personalisable and more meaningful experiences to users.Source: EMPATHY 2021 - 2nd International Workshop on Empowering People in Dealing with Internet of Things Ecosystems, pp. 17–22, Bari, 30/09/2021
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2021
Conference article
Open Access
A cooking game for cognitive training of older adults interacting with a humanoid robot
Zedda E., Manca M., Paternò F.
In this paper, we present the design and the implementation of a cooking game for older adults interacting through a humanoid robot. We discuss the motivations and the requirements that have driven such design and indicate how it has been implemented. The main goal is to stimulate the cognitive resources of older adults in order to limit their decline. For this purpose, we have exploited the multimodal possibilities of the humanoid robot and have identified two robot personalities, which are suitable to improve users' engagement, and thus their potential participation in cognitive training programmes.Source: CHIRA 2021 - 5th International Conference on Computer-Human Interaction Research and Applications, pp. 271–282, La Valletta, Malta, 28-29/10/2021
DOI: 10.5220/0010721500003060
Metrics:
Zedda E., Manca M., Paternò F.
In this paper, we present the design and the implementation of a cooking game for older adults interacting through a humanoid robot. We discuss the motivations and the requirements that have driven such design and indicate how it has been implemented. The main goal is to stimulate the cognitive resources of older adults in order to limit their decline. For this purpose, we have exploited the multimodal possibilities of the humanoid robot and have identified two robot personalities, which are suitable to improve users' engagement, and thus their potential participation in cognitive training programmes.Source: CHIRA 2021 - 5th International Conference on Computer-Human Interaction Research and Applications, pp. 271–282, La Valletta, Malta, 28-29/10/2021
DOI: 10.5220/0010721500003060
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2020
Journal article
Open Access
Flexible automatic support for web accessibility validation
Broccia G., Manca M., Paternò F., Pulina F.
Automatic support for web accessibility validation needs to evolve for several reasons The increasingly recognised importance of accessibility implies that various stakeholders, with different expertise, look at it from different viewpoints and have different requirements regarding the types of outputs they expect. The technologies used to support Web application access are evolving along with the associated accessibility guidelines. We present a novel tool that aims to provide flexible and open support for addressing such issues. We describe the design of its main features including support for recent guidelines and tailored results presentations, and report on first technical and empirical validation s that have provided positive feedbackSource: Proceedings of the ACM on human-computer interaction 4 (2020). doi:10.1145/3397871
DOI: 10.1145/3397871
Metrics:
Broccia G., Manca M., Paternò F., Pulina F.
Automatic support for web accessibility validation needs to evolve for several reasons The increasingly recognised importance of accessibility implies that various stakeholders, with different expertise, look at it from different viewpoints and have different requirements regarding the types of outputs they expect. The technologies used to support Web application access are evolving along with the associated accessibility guidelines. We present a novel tool that aims to provide flexible and open support for addressing such issues. We describe the design of its main features including support for recent guidelines and tailored results presentations, and report on first technical and empirical validation s that have provided positive feedbackSource: Proceedings of the ACM on human-computer interaction 4 (2020). doi:10.1145/3397871
DOI: 10.1145/3397871
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ISTI Repository | dl.acm.org | Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction | CNR ExploRA