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Abstract – This paper provides a set of definitions that form a framework for describing the types of awareness that humans have of robot activities and the knowledge that robots have of the commands given them by humans. As a case study, we applied this human-robot interaction (HRI) awareness framework to our analysis of the HRI approaches used at an urban search and rescue competition. We determined that most of the critical incidents (e.g., damage done by robots to the test arena) were directly attributable to lack of one or more kinds of HRI awareness.

. Despite the increasing availability of groupware, most systems are awkward and not widely used. While there are many reasons for this, a significant problem is that groupware is difficult to evaluate. In particular, there are no discount usability evaluation methodologies that can discover problems specific to teamwork. In this paper, we describe how we adapted Nielsen's heuristic evaluation methodology, designed originally for single user applications, to help inspectors rapidly, cheaply effectively identify usability problems within groupware systems. Specifically, we take the `mechanics of collaboration' framework and restate it as heuristics for the purposes of discovering problems in shared visual work surfaces for distance-separated groups. 1.

Most video games require constant interaction, so game designers must pay careful attention to usability issues. However, there are few formal methods for evaluating the usability of game interfaces. In this paper, we introduce a new set of heuristics that can be used to carry out usability inspections of video games. The heuristics were developed to help identify usability problems in both early and functional game prototypes. We developed the heuristics by analyzing PC game reviews from a popular gaming website, and the review set covered 108 different games and included 18 from each of 6 major game genres. We analyzed the reviews and identified twelve common classes of usability problems seen in games. We developed ten usability heuristics based on the problem categories, and they describe how common game usability problems can be avoided. A preliminary evaluation of the heuristics suggests that they help identify game-specific usability problems that can easily be overlooked otherwise.

It is proposed that games, which are designed to generate positive affect, are most successful when they facilitate flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1992). Flow is a state of concentration, deep enjoyment, and total absorption in an activity. The study of games, and a resulting understanding of flow can inform the design of non-leisure software for positive affect. The paper considers the ways in which computer games contravene the accepted user interface guidelines and how this impacts on flow. The paper also explores the implications for research that stem from the differences between games played on a personal computer and games played on a dedicated console. The paper takes important initial steps towards defining how flow in computer games can inform affective design.

While proponents of adaptive user interfaces tout potential performance gains, critics argue that adaptation's unpredictability may disorient users, causing more harm than good. We present a study that examines the relative effects of predictability and accuracy on the usability of adaptive UIs. Our results show that increasing predictability and accuracy led to strongly improved satisfaction. Increasing accuracy also resulted in improved performance and higher utilization of the adaptive interface. Contrary to our expectations, improvement in accuracy had a stronger effect on performance, utilization and some satisfaction ratings than the improvement in predictability.

Abstract: Our work seeks to design and develop a tool to enable the learning of human-computer

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Goal: The use of an online game for learning in higher education aims to make complex theoretical knowledge more approachable. Permanent repetition will lead to a more in-depth learning. Objective: To gain insight into whether and to what extent, online games have the potential to contribute to student learning in higher education. Experimental Setting: The online game was used for the first time during a lecture on Structural Concrete at Master’s level, involving 121 seventh semester students. Methods: Pretest/posttest experimental control group design with questionnaires and an independent online evaluation. Results: The minimum learning result of playing the game was equal to that achieved with traditional methods. A factor called “joy ” was introduced, according to Nielsen (2002), which was amazingly high. Conclusion: The experimental findings support the efficacy of game playing. Students enjoyed this kind of e-Learning. Keywords: Game-based learning, e-Learning, Human-Computer Interaction,

The methods that provide a structured approach to user interface design, often more or less ignores the aspects of display design. The structured display design approaches that exist, seems to have problems coping with conceptually complex interfaces. Building on the relationship between the system data model and the display design, this article proposes a structured approach to display design. The design is divided into three steps: conceptual design, logical window design and physical window design. This structure seems to be a way of coping with the design of conceptually complex user interfaces.