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The free roving robot in the form of a computer controlled industrial truck is now technically possible. The use of small on‐board computers and navigation aids frees the robot from dependence on fixed route marking. Conventional vehicles such as fork lift trucks may be modified for autonomous or semi‐autonomous control.

This paper examines in detail how the use of storytelling with parallax technology can influence the user experience (UX) in online shops as well as brand- and behavior-relevant variables. Furthermore, this study analyzes the causal relationships between UX, brand attitudes and brand-related behavioral intentions in terms of purchase intention and price premiums. Explicit and implicit paths of human information processing are considered.

A sample of 266 respondents completed a web-based experiment under two conditions (text-based vs parallax storytelling online shop). An existing and operational online shop was used. The causal relationships were assessed by using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). To measure implicit information processing, a single category implicit association test was applied.

By applying the storytelling technique with parallax scrolling, the online shop increased visitors' UX on explicit and implicit information processing levels and increased the online shop's overall perceived attractiveness. Storytelling with parallax motion enables an efficient transmission of brand-related associations to consumers' minds, enhances their explicit and implicit brand attitudes and increases their willingness to pay a higher price. Moreover, this study provides empirical evidence on the effects of UX on brand-related measures by applying PLS-SEM and thus reveals a causal chain of effects from UX on online shop attractiveness, brand attitude and behavioral intentions. Again, explicit and implicit perceptions were considered.

Science and practice are increasingly emphasizing that storytelling emotionalizes content, which facilitates effective communication and builds strong relationships with customers. Little evidence exists about its efficient implementation in an online shopping context and in fulfilling hedonic and pragmatic needs throughout the online journey. This study provides novel insights into managing online shoppers' UX, brand-related perceptions and behavioral intentions with the optimal use of techniques to implement storytelling. Furthermore, this is one of the first studies to holistically consider the human perception of online shops by drawing on theories and methods of psychology, marketing, consumer behavior, brand research and consumer neuroscience and considering explicit and implicit information processing in terms of hedonic and pragmatic UX and brand-related measures.

The current threats to US security, both military and civilian, have led to an increased interest in the development of technologies to safeguard national facilities such as military bases, federal buildings, nuclear power plants, and national laboratories. As a result, the imaging, robotics, and intelligent systems (IRIS) laboratory at the University of Tennessee has established a research consortium, known as security automation and future electromotive robotics (SAFER), to develop, test, and deploy sensing and imaging systems. In this paper, we describe efforts made to build multi‐perspective mosaics of infrared and color video data for the purpose of under vehicle inspection. It is desired to create a large, high‐resolution mosaic that may be used to quickly visualize the entire scene shot by a camera making a single pass underneath the vehicle. Several constraints are placed on the video data in order to facilitate the assumption that the entire scene in the sequence exists on a single plane. Therefore, a single mosaic is used to represent a single video sequence.

SD is defined as a failure to sense correctly the attitude, motion, and/or position of the aircraft with respect to the surface of the earth (Benson, 2003). The types of SD are generally thought to be “unrecognized” and “recognized” (Previc & Ercoline, 2004). Although a third type has been reported (incapacitating), this type seems irrelevant to UAV operations. Unrecognized SD occurs when the person at the controls is unaware that a change in the motion/attitude of the aircraft has taken place. The cause is often the result of a combination of sub-threshold motion and inattention. This type of SD is known to be the single most serious human factors reason for aircraft accidents today, accounting for roughly 90% of all known SD-related mishaps (Davenport, 2000). Recognized SD occurs when a noticeable conflict is created between the actual motion/attitude of the aircraft and any one of the common physiological sensory mechanisms (e.g., visual, vestibular, auditory, and tactile). Recognized SD is the most common type of SD, accounting for the remaining SD-related accidents.

Computer vision provides many opportunities for novel man‐machine interfaces. Pointing and face gestures can be used as a simple, passive means of interfacing with computers and robots. We describe two novel algorithms to track the position and orientation of the user’s hand or face in video images. This information is used to determine where the hand or face is pointing. This can be used in interactive robotics to allow a user with manipulation disabilities or working in hazardous environments to guide a robot manipulator to pick up a simple object of interest.

Explores the use of “enhanced reality” to achieve the ideal of instruments coupling humans into tasks which defy direct human interactions. Looks at the use of intelligent imaging systems [IIS] in sensing the real world and creating a model of the complete task in a form that humans can use to perform the task easily and effectively. Discusses the importance of improved human computer interfacing and data visualization and concludes by outlining future developments in intelligent imaging systems.

The purpose of this paper is to present a system for customized binaural audio delivery based on the extraction of relevant features from a 2-D representation of the listener’s pinna.

The most significant pinna contours are extracted by means of multi-flash imaging, and they provide values for the parameters of a structural head-related transfer function (HRTF) model. The HRTF model spatializes a given sound file according to the listener’s head orientation, tracked by sensor-equipped headphones, with respect to the virtual sound source.

A preliminary localization test shows that the model is able to statically render the elevation of a virtual sound source better than non-individual HRTFs.

Results encourage a deeper analysis of the psychoacoustic impact that the individualized HRTF model has on perceived elevation of virtual sound sources.

The model has low complexity and is suitable for implementation on mobile devices. The resulting hardware/software package will hopefully allow an easy and low-tech fruition of custom spatial audio to any user.

The authors show that custom binaural audio can be successfully deployed without the need of cumbersome subjective measurements.

Blending sensor theory and practice, and with a commercial market reckoned to be huge, robotic vision is currently a ‘hot topic’. Here, Professor Mike Brady, explains the advanced research being pursued.

Examines the potential of virtual reality as a user interface for computer systems for mass‐market applications. Describes Desk‐top Virtual Environments [DVE] and how it differs from full immersion visual reality. Analyses the response times and image qualities of the various systems and compares the pros and cons of DVE and VR. Concludes that DVE might well find its way onto the mass market in the form of computer games in the first instance with another possibility being through developments in the interactive television market.

Farradane's categories of relations (Fig. 1) are viewed as percepts rather than concepts. It is argued that Farradane's original use of language supports this view. A comparison of Farradane's categories with perceptual discriminations in humans is attempted. The conclusion seems to support claims made for relational operators, whether those of Farradane or similar relational indexing devices as in PRECIS, to have the potential to act as metalanguages.