Vinoba Vinayagamoorthy

BBC · Research & Development

This paper presents a real-time emotion-annotation tool using a personal mobile device. To this end, an application based on the Valence-Arousal model was developed, following two different approaches (Two-step Sequential Annotation and One-step Matrix Annotation). The application was tested through, an experiment where users performed annotations...

Virtual environments (VEs) can create collaborative and social spaces, which are increasingly important in the face of remote work and travel reduction. Recent advances, such as more open and widely available platforms, create new possibilities to observe and analyse interaction in VEs. Using a custom instrumented build of Mozilla Hubs to measure p...

We examine the concept and characteristics of “Augmented Reality Television” (ARTV) using a four-step investigation method consisting of (1) an analysis of commonly-accepted perspectives on Augmented and Mixed Reality systems, (2) a literature survey of previous work on ARTV, (3) relevant connections with other areas of scientific investigation fro...

This paper proposes a deep learning-based method for learning joint context-content embeddings (JCCE) with a view to context-aware recommendations, and demonstrate its application in the television domain. JCCE builds on recent progress within latent representations for recommendation and deep metric learning. The model effectively groups viewing s...

Augmented Reality (AR) technology has the potential to extend the screen area beyond the rigid frames of televisions. The additional display area can be used to augment televisions (TVs) with extra information tailored to individuals, for instance, the provision of access services like sign language interpretations. We invited 23 (11 in the UK, 12...

This paper explores the potential of augmented reality technology as a novel way to allow users to view a sign language interpreter through an optical head-mounted display while watching a TV programme. We address the potential of augmented reality for personalisation of TV access services as part of closed laboratory investigations. Based on guide...

A lot of work has been focused around enabling accurately synchronised companion screen experiences. The challenge has been to ensure that the delays between the presentation of programme content to the TV and the delivery of the relevant companion screen content to a mobile device are kept to a minimum. This is mainly driven by the need to ensure...

Mobile devices are increasingly used while watching television, leading to the development of companion apps that complement the content of programmes. A concern for these applications is the extent to which companion app and television content need to be temporally aligned for live synchronisation. In this study, 18 participants watched a nature p...

One major challenge in creation of compelling companion screen experiences, are the time delays between the presentation of content on the TV compared to the presentation of content on the companion screen. Through the use of a synchronised, interactive textbook application, we conducted a user study to evaluate the potential influence of different...

This paper describes the development and implementation of an open communication standard between Internet-connected TVs and companion screens, over the home network. Content providers know that the better Internet connectivity and prevalence of personal mobile devices is encouraging our audiences to seek more interactive experiences across multipl...

This workshop seeks to help increase the volume and quality of HCI research and innovative practice around user interfaces for television. Internet connectivity is driving a rapid increase in the range and scope of interactive experiences on the TV platform and it represents an exciting new opportunity for developing new HCI practice and methodolog...

This paper presents a Case Study of the BBC's recent research and development work into the user experience of Internet-Connected Television. User expectations and aspirations around their TV experiences are changing radically as the platform increasingly supplements broadcast network connectivity with IP connectivity. Despite the relative youth of...

This contribution describes an alternative approach to generating stereoscopic content of sports scenes from regular broadcast cameras without the need for special stereo rigs. This is achieved by using 3D reconstruction previously developed for applications in postmatch analysis. The reconstruction method requires at least four or five cameras and...

This paper presents the quantitative and qualitative findings from an experiment designed to evaluate a developing model of affective postures for full-body virtual characters in immersive virtual environments (IVEs). Forty-nine participants were each requested to explore a virtual environment by asking two virtual characters for instructions. The...

This paper reports on the results of an experiment designed to study fine grain physiological responses of participants to an immersive virtual simulation of an urban environment. An experiment was carried out with 40 participants who were asked to walk through a virtual street, which had virtual characters walking through it. The analysis of diffe...

This paper presents an experiment that investigates the importance of nonverbal behavioral cues when designing affective virtual characters for an immersive virtual environment (IVE).Forty-nine participants were each instructed to explore a virtual environment by asking two virtual characters for instructions in a CAVE#8482;-like system. The underl...

This paper presents a study of the fine grain physiological respon- ses of participants to an immersive virtual simulation of an urban environment. The analysis of differences in participant responses at various stages of the experiment (baseline recordings, training, first half and second half of the urban simulation) are examined in de- tail. It...

Virtual characters are an important part of many 3D graphical simulations. In entertainment or training applications, virtual characters might be one of the main mechanisms for creating and developing content and scenarios. In such applications the user may need to interact with a number of different characters that need to invoke specific response...

We have developed a Platform Independent Architecture for Virtual Characters and Avatars (PIAVCA), a character animation system that aims to be independent of any underlying graphics framework and so be easily portable. PIAVCA supports body animation based on a skeletal representation and facial animation based on morph targets.

This paper describes a behavioural model used to simulate realistic eye-gaze behaviour and body animations for avatars representing participants in a shared immersive virtual environment (IVE). The model was used in a study designed to explore the impact of avatar realism on the perceived quality of communication within a negotiation scenario. Our...

This paper describes a behavioural model used to simulate realistic eye-gaze behaviour and body animations for avatars representing participants in a shared immersive virtual environment (IVE). The model was used in a study designed to explore the impact of avatar realism on the perceived quality of communication within a negotiation scenario. Our...

The use of virtual reality permits individuals' reactions to standard controlled environments to be studied. It may therefore provide a means for understanding the interpretations of experience relevant to clinical disorders. The use of this technology for understanding persecutory ideation has not been investigated. A pilot study was undertaken to...

This paper presents an experiment designed to investigate the impact of visual and behavioral realism in avatars on perceived quality of communication in an immersive virtual environment.

This paper presents an experiment designed to investigate the impact of scommunication in an immersive virtual environment.Participants were paired by gender and were randomly assigned to a CAVE-like system or a head-mounted display. Both were represented by a humanoid avatar in the shared 3D environment. The visual appearance of the avatars was ei...

This paper presents an experiment designed to investigate the impact of scommunication in an immersive virtual environment. Participants were paired by gender and were randomly assigned to a CAVE-like system or a head-mounted display. Both were represented by a humanoid avatar in the shared 3D environment. The visual appearance of the avatars was e...

This paper describes a study of remote collaboration between people in a shared virtual environment. Seventeen subjects were recruited at University College London, who worked with a confederate at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Each pair was required to negotiate the task of handling an object together, and moving a few metres into a bu...

More physical realism demands an increase in behaviour realism in order to increase the levels of co-presence, realism and believability in virtual environment users. This concept builds on the work done by others in the Virtual Environment and Computer Graphics group at University College London. In most cases a hypothesis is tackled by research i...

There are a number of common research problems en-countered in building applications which involve the us-age of virtual characters or sociable robots, especially when the application demands the facilitation of social interaction and communication with users (Breazeal, 2002; Kidd, 2003; Schroeder, 2002). One of these chal-lenges is in modelling ch...

A number of authors have noted that usability engineering for virtual environments (VEs) is complicated by the fact that the worlds and tasks are often quite open ended and that the experience is real-time. In particular, with immersive virtual environments (IVEs), the simulation is designed and engineered so that the participant experiences presen...

This paper describes reports on the results of an experiment designed to study the impact of realism on the reported presence in an immersive virtual environment. An experiment was carried out with 40 participants who were asked to walk through a virtual street, which had virtual characters walking through it. Two factors were varied – texture qual...

In this paper we give an overview of our recent work on extending and applying our breaks in presence model. We have started using physiological sensors, initially to monitor user response and we have shown appropriate responses to stressful situations. We described how we have applied this to our study of agoraphobia. We then describe our explorat...