Observing the Users to Estimate the Perceived Quality: Challenges and Technologies
Luigi Atzori, Universita degli Studi di Cagliari, Italy
From Anthropomorphic to Zoomorphic Social Robots: Our Experiences
Patrick Hung, Ontario Tech University, Canada
In a World of Digital Transformation, Is AI Turning Us Into Superheroes?
Matthieu Deboeuf Rouchon, Capgemini Engineering, France
Observing the Users to Estimate the Perceived Quality: Challenges and Technologies
Luigi Atzori
Universita degli Studi di Cagliari
Italy
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Brief Bio
Luigi Atzori (PhD, 2000) is professor of Telecommunications at the University of Cagliari, where he leads the activities of the Net4U laboratory (Network for Humans) with around 20 affiliated researchers. Since 2018, he has been the coordinator of the master degree course in Internet Technology Engineering at the University of Cagliari. His research interests fall in the area of Internet of Things (IoT), with particular reference to the design of effective algorithms for the realization of social networks among connected devices to develop the Social IoT paradigm. His works on the IoT and the social IoT have received a great impact with more than 20K citations. His interests also fall in the area of Quality of Experience (QoE), with particular application to the management of services and resources in new generation networks for multimedia communications. Lately, he also applies the study of QoE to IoT services. He serves regularly as referee for several international and national funding programs, in the organizing committee of international conferences, and as associate and guest editor in several international journals (Ad Hoc Networks, IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society, IEEE Communications Magazine, etc.). He is co-founder of two spinoffs in the areas of IoT solutions for people mobility.
Abstract
The increasing adoption of pervasive digital infrastructure is aimed at improving the human quality of life when conducting most of everyday activities, from having online meetings to using transport mobility services. The achievement of this objective calls for the adoption of a human-centric approach when deploying and managing relevant services. One of the approaches that contributes to this objective is to estimate and manage the quality of experience (QoE) of the users when consuming these services, which requires a deep knowledge of the factors that impact on the formation of the quality perception. In this respect, this talk will focus on the estimation of the users’ perceived QoE when using multimedia and IoT applications by observing their gesture, facial expression and speech. It will describe the technologies to monitor the users and how a proper selection of features from the collected data and the adoption of fusion techniques allow for the estimation of the perceived quality without asking for an explicit feedback from the user while avoiding biasing effects. Future scenarios and challenges will also be described, included the interaction in the immersive digital worlds.
From Anthropomorphic to Zoomorphic Social Robots: Our Experiences
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Brief Bio
Patrick C. K. Hung is a Professor and Graduate Program Director of Computer Science at Ontario Tech University, Faculty of Business and Information Technology. He is a Leverhulme Visiting Professor at Aston University, England, and an Honorable Guest Professor at Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu, Japan. He was also a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Abertay University, Scotland, and a Visiting Researcher at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. Dr. Hung worked with Boeing Research and Technology in Seattle on aviation services-related research with two U.S. patents on the mobile network dynamic workflow system. Before that, he was a Research Scientist with Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. He is a founding member of the IEEE Technical Committee on Services Computing and IEEE Transactions on Services Computing. In addition, he is an editorial board member for the IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management and a coordinating editor of the Information Systems Frontiers. He has a Ph.D. and Master in Computer Science from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, a Master in Management Sciences from the University of Waterloo, Canada, and a Bachelor in Computer Science from the University of New South Wales, Australia.
Abstract
A social robot consists of a physical hardware component to interact with humans connected through a network infrastructure as a cyber-physical computing system supported by Cloud services. Human-robot interaction (HRI) is a research area of understanding, designing, and evaluating robots for use by or with humans, respectively. The Uncanny Valley theory describes the disturbing effect of imperfect human likenesses that have dominated HRI. Referring to the Uncanny Valley, social robots usually constitute a form of anthropomorphism. Social robots typically behave like humans or animals, such as mimicry of human/animal behavior and emotional expression, with speech, gestures, movements, and eye-gaze features. Prior research found that it is much easier for an embodied humanoid robot with emotional expression to gain users’ trust to release personal information than a disembodied interactive kiosk. Emotions are essential to human cognition and behavior caused by an identifiable source, such as an event or seeing emotions in other people. During the pandemic, our research team designed and built a homemade robotic puppy with wood and mechatronics with a mechanical tail to express emotion from scratch with body language. This talk will then overview our social-technical research works from anthropomorphic to zoomorphic robots. This talk will also focus on a recent study of a guide dog robot for people with visual impairments.
In a World of Digital Transformation, Is AI Turning Us Into Superheroes?
Matthieu Deboeuf Rouchon
Capgemini Engineering
France
Brief Bio
Matthieu Deboeuf-Rouchon is a recognized expert in innovation and digital transformation. In 2008, he founded his own Digital Transformation and Innovation consultancy. In 2017 he joined the Capgemini Engineering teams. He is co-author of the "Consumer Electronics Show Survival Guide: how to organize, experience & optimize your visit to the world's biggest tech show!". He is also a member of the CES Innovation Awards 2024 jury. Passionate about the impact of technology on society, business and human beings, he co-hosts the podcast Innovation & Prospective Talk.
Abstract
In a world where digital transformation is no longer a "revolution" but a continuum serving the operational efficiency of companies. In a world where change is a natural phenomenon for every human being, both professionally and personally. In this world of perpetual acceleration, AI is becoming central and shaping a singular business paradigm, where the place of human beings, their skills and their interaction with technology have yet to be defined. Is AI, and even more so generative AI, giving us the illusion of an illusory superhero potential? Between addiction, new beliefs, ethics and "added human value", let's explore, for the time of this talk, the fascinating landscape of the company undergoing transformation in the age of AI.