Joseph La Delfa

KTH Royal Institute of Technology | KTH · Robotics Perception and Learning

Somaesthetics—motivated by improving life quality via appreciation for bodily and sensory experiences—is increasingly influencing HCI designs. Investigating the potential of drones as a material for somaesthetic HCI, we designed Drone Chi: a Tai Chi-inspired close-range human-drone interaction experience. The design process for Drone Chi has been i...

Drone Chi is a Tai Chi-inspired human-drone interaction experience. As a design research project, Drone Chi is situated within somaesthetic interaction design, where a central topic is cultivating bodily and sensory appreciation to improve one's quality of life. Drone Chi investigates the potential of autonomous micro-quadcopters as a design materi...

How To Train Your Drone is a novel human-drone interaction that demonstrates the generative potential of a design metaphor: the umwelt. We describe the concept of the umwelt and detail how we applied it to inform our soma design process, creating an interactive space where somatic understandings between human and drone could emerge. The system was...

We present mechanical sympathy as a generative design concept for cultivating somaesthetic relationships with machines and machine-like systems. We identify the qualities of mechanical sympathy using the design case of How to Train your Drone (HTTYD), a unique human-drone research product designed to explore the process by which people discover and...

In a long-term commitment to designing for the aesthetics of human– drone interactions, we have been troubled by the lack of tools for shaping and interactively feeling drone behaviours. By observing participants in a three-day drone challenge,we isolated components of drones that, if made transparent, could have helped participants better explore...

Abstract—We present work on structuring robotics simulation scenarios into components. Components can comprise simulation entities with a physical counterpart such as automated guided vehicles, drones, robots and machines. Components are typically further structured into sub-components, e.g., a robot arm or a gripper and they can be used to build d...

Prior psychology studies have shown that eating ice cream increases happiness, while human-computer interaction work has shown that interactive technology can enrich the eating experience. We explore the opportunity to combine these two through WeScream!, a playful social gustosonic system we designed-social gustosonic referring to the link between...

Human-drone interaction (HDI) is becoming an ubiquitous topic in daily life, and a rising research topic within CHI. Knowledge from a wealth of disciplines-design, engineering , social sciences, and humanities-can inform the design and scholarship of HDI, and interdisciplinary communication is essential to this end. The Interdisciplinary Workshop o...

There is mounting evidence acknowledging that embodiment is foundational to cognition. In HCI, this understanding has been incorporated in concepts like embodied interaction , bodily play, and natural user-interfaces. However, while embodied cognition suggests a strong connection between motor activity and memory, we find the design of technologica...

Human-Computer Integration (HInt) is an emerging paradigm in which computational and human systems are closely interwoven. Integrating computers with the human body is not new. however, we believe that with rapid technological advancements, increasing real-world deployments, and growing ethical and societal implications, it is critical to identify...

Departing from our earlier work on conceptualizing "social drones," we enrich the discussion using notions of "agent archetypes" and "objects with intent" from recent interaction design literature. We briefly unpack these notions, and argue that they are useful in characterizing both design intentions and human perceptions. Thus they have the poten...

Departing from our earlier work on conceptualizing "social drones," we enrich the discussion using notions of "agent archetypes" and "objects with intent" from recent interaction design literature. We briefly unpack these notions, and argue that they are useful in characterizing both design intentions and human perceptions. Thus they have the poten...

2020 ACM. Human-Computer Integration (HInt) is an emerging paradigm in which computational and human systems are closely interwoven. Integrating computers with the human body is not new. however, we believe that with rapid technological advancements, increasing real-world deployments, and growing ethical and societal implications, it is critical to...

Current use cases for drones often involve a remote human operator and/or an environment which is inaccessible to humans. Social drones, which we define as autonomous drones that operate in close proximity to human users or bystanders, are distinct from these. The design of social drones, in terms of both aesthetics and behavior, can involve partic...

Meditative movement involves regulating attention to the body whilst moving, to create a state of meditation. This can be difficult for beginners, we propose that drones can facilitate this as they can move with and give feedback to whole body movements. We present a demonstration that explores various ways drones could facilitate meditative moveme...

Tai Chi uses smooth movement and a focussed state of mind to support mental and physical health. Tai Chi teachers use metaphoric imagery such as "wave hands like clouds" to help students integrate smooth movements with a focussed mind. Current interactive technologies applied to Tai Chi take a very literal approach, focussing on body position and c...