A survey: Cyber-physical-social systems and their system-level design methodology

The sense of smell is perhaps the most pervasive of all senses, but it is also one of the least understood and least exploited in HCI. We present Essence, the first olfactory computational necklace that can be remotely controlled through a smartphone and can vary the intensity and frequency of the released scent based on biometric or contextual data. This paper discusses the role of smell in designing pervasive systems that affect one's mood and cognitive performance while being asleep or awake. We present a set of applications for this type of technology as well as the implementation of the olfactory display and the supporting software. We also discuss the results of an initial test of the prototype that show the robustness and usability of Essence while wearing it for long periods of time in multiple environments.

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Essence: Olfactory Interfaces for Unconscious Influence of Mood and Cognitive Performance

As a field, telepresence has grown to include a wide range of systems, from multi-view videoconferencing units to humanlike androids. However, the diversity of systems and research makes it difficult to form a holistic understanding of where the field stands. We propose a framework consisting of seven design dimensions for understanding telepresence, iteratively developed from previous literature, a series of three surveys, the construction of two design probes, and a field study. These design dimensions uniquely categorize 17 telepresence scenarios. In this work, we explain our development process, describe our design dimensions - initiation, physical environment, mobility, vision, social environment, communication, and independence - as well as our scenarios, and demonstrate the use of our framework as a tool to (1) highlight opportunities for future work, (2) identify generalizable findings from research, and (3) facilitate communication in the telepresence community.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/cscwf145-raeA.pdf

A Framework for Understanding and Designing Telepresence

Commensality is a key aspect of social dining. However, previous research has identified a number of pros and cons associated with the incorporation of digital technology into eating and drinking episodes. For instance, those who are distracted by digital technology may eat/drink more (that is, they may overconsume) as a result of their failure to attend to the food-related sensations that are thought to cue the termination of eating. Similarly, it has often been suggested that the use of mobile devices at mealtimes can disrupt the more commensal aspects of dining/drinking (at least among those who are physically present together). At the same time, however, looking to the future, it seems clear that digital technologies also hold the promise of delivering opportunities for enhanced multisensory experiential dining. For instance, they might be used to match the auditory, visual, or audiovisual entertainment to the eating/drinking episode (e.g., think only about watching a Bollywood movie while eating a home-delivery Indian meal, say). Indeed, given the growing societal problems associated with people dining by themselves, there are a number of routes by which digital technologies may increasingly help to connect the solo diner with physically co-located, remote, or even virtual dining partners. In this review of the literature, our focus is specifically on the role of technology in inhibiting/facilitating the more pleasurable social aspects of dining, what one might call "digital commensality." The focus is primarily on Westernized adults with reasonable access to, and familiarity with, digital technologies.

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Digital Commensality: Eating and Drinking in the Company of Technology.

There is an increasing desire to remain connected when physically distant and computer-mediated communication (CMC) is one means of satisfying this desire. In particular, there is a growing trend for individuals to use commercially available technology to connect with friends and family in social and leisure settings. Drawing on this trend, performative arts and existing telecommunications research, we identify the social practice of sharing a meal together as ripe for reinterpretation within CMC. We explore the opportunities to design a technology platform that supports remote guests in experiencing togetherness and playfulness within the practices of a traditional dinner party. Through both visual and aural channels as well as remote agency, the dinner guests were able to share a holistic telematic dining experience comparable to a traditional co-presence dinner. Based on the findings, we propose that one must consider the social structure and cultural background of users to inform the design of a technological intervention.

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Telematic dinner party: designing for togetherness through play and performance

The pervasiveness of computing has extended into domestic realms, including the dining room. Beyond simply a place to consume food, the dining room is a social hub where family members meet and share experiences. Yet busy lifestyles can make it difficult to spend social time with your family. To provide a new solution for family bonding, this paper presents the CoDine system, a dining table embedded with interactive subsystems that augment and transport the experience of communal family dining to create a sense of coexistence among remote family members. CoDine connects people in different locations through shared dining activities: gesture-based screen interaction, mutual food serving, ambient pictures on an animated tablecloth, and the transportation of edible messages. Rather than focusing on functionality or efficiency, CoDine aims to provide people with an engaging interactive dining experience through enriched multi-sensory communication.

CoDine: an interactive multi-sensory system for remote dining

Sound and smell can sometimes generate stronger emotional feelings than words can. They can even sometimes awaken strong, long forgotten memories.The Sound Perfume system provides users with additional auditory and olfactory sensory inputs through a pair of glasses, to augment their unique identities and impressions to others during face-to-face interpersonal communication.When a user starts a conversation with another person for the first time, sound and fragrance IDs information is shared with each other through wireless mobile communication. Received IDs information is forwarded to the user's glasses, and they can feel the other person's sound and fragrance IDs through actuators in the glasses. Perfume actuators heat the solid perfume and pulsating sound ID from the speaker helps to gently emit a fragrance. When the user meets the other person again in the future, their phone recognizes the other person and transfers ID information to their glasses to regenerate the other person's sound and fragrance IDs once again. This indirect stimulation helps users to express their unique identity during face-to-face interpersonal interactions, and awaken memories of the other person when they meet again after some time.Sound Perfume can also be integrated with a mobile phone camera and photo viewer application. When a user takes the other person's picture using a mobile phone camera, this photo saves a shot location, time, the other person's name, the other person's mobile phone MAC address, and the other person's sound and fragrance ID information. When he sees this picture later, he can feel the other person's sound and fragrance IDs softly through his glasses again. In this paper, as the first step, we are more focusing on the designing of the Sound Perfume system.

Sound perfume: designing a wearable sound and fragrance media for face-to-face interpersonal interaction

Families have strong desires to have fun together, even at a distance. "Food Media" is an exploration of appropriating food and food activities as a medium for family communication and entertainment, across generations and over a distance. Traditionally, food has always been a social hub which brings people together for communication and entertainment. As the chances for remote families to enjoy shared entertainment are decreasing greatly nowadays, we propose "Food Media" as an intuitive multimodal interaction platform to engage remote people into social communication and entertainment within the telepresent family dinner context. Rather than fancy multimedia or computerized social games, this system breathes interactive entertainment into domestic routine activities of family dining, introduces multi-sensory interactions like touch, smell and taste to support enriched experience of interaction, connects and entertains people over a natural and playful eating experience.

Food Media: exploring interactive entertainment over telepresent dinner

In our fast evolving, highly technological world, sometimes we don't spend quality time cooking or eating together because our attention is split. How can we find a way to bring fun back into the kitchen, re-engaging people with cooking?

The aim of this research is to use Media Design to engage people with food experiences by bringing fun into cooking and eating. Through the design and implementation of a sound augmented kitchen prototype, we have attempted to address this question.

Chop Chop is a sound augmented kitchen prototype system. It consists of very simple commercially available hardware; A computer or mobile device, headphones, a cutting board and knife. As a user performs a simple everyday cooking task, chopping food, the sound is enhanced with filters and combo events, allowing the user to experience the act of chopping in a novel and exciting way.

Through demonstrations, surveys and user experience analysis, we have tested our prototype and shown that using our Augmented Reality system in a kitchen setting has no detriment over traditional tools and techniques, and enhances user experience and positive affect.

Chop chop: a sound augmented kitchen prototype

Currently we are developing a co-cooking system that helps users to make similar tasting dishes, even though users may all be in remote locations and potentially cooking at different times.

Veronica Halupka

Papers

CoDine: an interactive multi-sensory system for remote dining

Sound perfume: designing a wearable sound and fragrance media for face-to-face interpersonal interaction

Food Media: exploring interactive entertainment over telepresent dinner

Chop chop: a sound augmented kitchen prototype

Flavor visualization: Taste guidance in co-cooking system for coexistence