Publications
Dynamics of Eye Dominance Behavior in Virtual Reality
Prior research has shown that sighting eye dominance is a dynamic behavior and dependent on horizontal viewing angle. Virtual reality (VR) offers high flexibility and control for studying eye movement and human behavior, yet eye dominance has not been given significant attention within this domain. In this work, we replicate Khan and Crawford’s (2001) original study in VR to confirm their findings within this specific context. Additionally, this study extends its scope to study alignment with objects presented at greater depth in the visual field. Our results align with previous results, remaining consistent when targets are presented at greater distances in the virtual scene. Using greater target distances presents opportunities to investigate alignment with objects at varying depths, providing greater flexibility for the design of methods that infer eye dominance from interaction in VR.
Robotic Task Complexity and Collaborative Behavior of Children with ASD
Social interactions are essential in the everyday lives of humans. People with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) display shortages of social skills, thus making their day-to-day encounters more difficult. This paper reports on two small-scale studies, investigating whether the use of collaborative robot tasks in an educational setting stimulates the collaborative behavior of children with ASD, and whether robotic task complexity affects collaborative behavior. A total of 24 children participated in robotic tasks of varying complexities. The sessions were videotaped and analyzed. Children’s supervisors completed questionnaires, evaluating the social behavior of participants. Results demonstrate that children collaborated during the robot activities. The influence of robotic task complexity on collaboration skills was not significant, possibly due to the small number of participants. The results show the promise of using robots in education for children with ASD, although further research is needed to investigate the implementation of robots in special education.