In the case of user authentication on the network, most of the existing methods which tell humans and computers apart automatically make use of the difference in perceptual recognition between humans and computers. Researchers point out that it is difficult for visually and/or hearing impaired people to leverage it. In this paper, we propose a method which generates linguistic questions to avoid relying on the specific perceptual ability. Based on the difference of a cognitive ability between humans and computers, we generate linguistic questions such as contextual interpretation. Moreover, we utilize contents on the network to generate almost an infinite number of questions.

Techniques of communication support has a big challenge in visualizing temporal rate of communication between collaborative workers, while situation awareness in wrong direction of discussion and consecutive ignorance of opinions from an individual is often hard from the view of their supervisors. This study argues the potential to evaluate situation of communication by multi-modal dialogue analysis from turn-taking and EEG based estimation of mental workload. In this paper, we propose an index of follows, i.e., collaborative activity by response to an opinion with understanding of their conversation or advice to share knowledge of problem-solving. Causality between temporal distribution of follows in line with work progress of cooperative learners are evaluated in a case study of a qualifying test. From the evaluation results, both frequency of turn-taking and the amount of follows showed significant difference between two situations: stagnation such as less communication with silence at the point the participants tried to read problems and active conversation with more communication at the point they can answer solutions together.

We have developed a novel method controlling robot motions, such as gestures and utterances during a dialogue, based on the listener's understanding and interest. The understanding and interest can be recognized from back-channels and head gestures. "Back-channels" are defined as sounds like 'un' uttered by a listener during a dialogue, and "head gestures" are defined as nod and tilt motions of the listener's head. The back-channels are recognized using sound features such as power and fundamental frequency. The head gestures are recognized using the movement of the skin-color area and the optical flow data. Based on the estimated understanding and interest of the listener, the speed and size of robot motions are changed. This method was implemented in a humanoid robot called SIG2. Experiments with eight participants demonstrated that the proposed method enabled the robot to increase the listener's level of interest against the dialogue.

We assume that Science Communicators (SCs) have a social role; they interactively share their science knowledge with visitors. At National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan), we investigate how visitors learn and experience practices of science with SCs. The purposes of this study are to build a theoretical framework to analyze interactions between SCs and visitors in a semi-opened space like museum, and to create a criterion to evaluate SCs' communication skills of sharing their scientific knowledge with visitors. In this paper, we introduce a research framework that we have used at Miraikan since October 2012 by showing procedures of analyzing one case that was conducted by a senior SC who has seven years and two months of experience. Additionally, we describe our preliminary analyses by using a methodology called, Conversation Analysis (CA). We choose nine interaction strategies in our analyses. These strategies are used to open up interactions with visitors. Then, we discuss whether or not nine other SCs use the same strategies. Since our results show the generality of the strategies, we are able to create a criterion of evaluating and developing SCs' skills.

InterActor is a speech-driven CG-embodied interaction character driven by InterRobot technology (iRT). This technology generates communicative motions and actions on the basis of only speech input for entrained interaction and communication. In this study, we apply iRT to characters in an online chat for expanding the input interface from a voice input to a typing input, and develop a typing-driven embodied entrainment character chat system, InterChat. InterChat generates a character's communicative motions and actions from the user's typing rhythms with an enhanced iRT and the corresponding actions from the meaning of messages in transmission and reception. The effectiveness of this system is demonstrated by conducting a sensory evaluation experiment during a chat communication.

It has been difficult for some people with severe motor function disorders to effectively operate scanning communication aids, because it induces frequent false triggerings due to the involuntary movement. In this report, a framework for automatic cancellation of the false triggering is proposed. The basic idea is to derive the combination of true/false inputs that maximizes a posteriori probability for a given position sequence contaminated by false inputs. It is shown that the maximization can be performed for an alternative property composed of the false triggering position model, the user state model, and the statistical language model. These models were obtained from a simulated text input experiment performed by healthy subjects. The proposed method was evaluated by a computer simulation. As the result, false triggerings could be effectively detected with a performance of F = 0.928, and a great improvement was obtained for the accuracy of output texts.

Deaf people use a visual language, sign language and there are some aspects of their expressions that can be implemented on the design of a universal communication aid.We recorded videos of eight Deaf subjects explaining the contents of short video clips using gestures to hearing people with no background on sign language. Since each subjects' expressions varied, 40 hearing people evaluated the video clips. Based on the results, the expressions were further analyzed to find out what aspects were easy to understand for hearing people. Comparison method was found to be factors that may be useful in the design of pictograms. Based on these factors, moving pictograms were designed and Intelligibility of them was confirmed by 50 hearing people.

In this study, we propose a method to give a personality to a spoken dialogue agent and evaluate its efficiency. We propose a model that explains personality cognition process through dialogue and investigate its validity. Recently, some research studies in Human-Agent Interaction (HAI) showed that controlling non-verbal information gives some personalities to the agents. However, we consider that verbal information sent from an agent might also contribute to give a personality to it self. In this paper, we focus on self-disclosures as an important factor of giving a personality, and analyze the effects of self-disclosures on giving a personality to the agent by evaluation of impressions. We found these things that self-disclosure is effective for making a user cognizes a personality of the agent, self-disclosures of the agent perform the same as those of human, and humanlike self-disclosures does not impede personality cognition even if a agent utters them. In addition, we verified that our proposed approach gave some distinct personalities.

This article aims to examine how proxemics affects interpersonal impression formation among video communication systems users. Ordinary video chat systems and the users tend to compensate directional information with verbal cues. Such unnatural way of communication might affect the speaker's impression. Our experimental results confirmed this phenomenon and interpersonal impression could be different between the party and the bystanders. We propose future design and usage of video communication systems based on our findings.

Variety of real-world situations are beneficial for wearable computing since it provides information services while users are doing other jobs. Currently, GUI is used in computers, thus pointing devices are needed to use computers. However, it is difficult to use conventional pointing devices in wearable computing environments since such devices are not hands-free. Therefore, we propose a new pointing method using simple gestures with two accelerometers. A user wears small accelerometers on his/her body including hands, elbows, wrists, and legs, for adapting various environments. The cursor is positioned at the intersection of two straight lines, which is synchronized with the angles of the accelerometers. A user attaches small accelerometers to his/her body, including both hands, elbows, wrists, and legs, to be able to use in various environments. In addition, we propose several enhancements of pointing such as speed control and locking function.The evaluation results confirmed that our method was effective in wearable computing environments.

The attempt to improve patient satisfaction in hospitals is of increasing importance today. Good doctor-patient communication is a great part of patient satisfaction. Doctors need to know a great deal, not just medical conditions, about their patients, and build good communicative relationships with them. What is in the patient's mind, however, is not easily accessible to them. In this study, we propose, as a contribution to the answer to the question of how to improve doctor-patient communication, a way to use a facial expression manipulating interface in the treatment of patients with facial disorders.In particular, we focus on how the log data registered by patients is to be used by doctors. We have conducted an experiment with 32 patients with jaw deformity. The result has shown that some patients are concerned with the affected area when they do not much manipulate the affected area on the interface. The result disconfirms the received view that one's manifest attentive behaviors, such as gazing and manipulating, positively indicate the degree of one's focus. Hence, in using the interface in the medical care, doctors must take into account the operation amount of the interface and evaluate it properly.

To acquire skill in tooth scaling, students aiming to become dentists and dental hygienists train with instructors and on their own. Although this skill requires controlling the scaler with appropriate force from the hand, most self-training systems cannot help trainees improve upon this. Several systems can teach the appropriate magnitude and angle of force through calculus; however, force control also requires an appropriate magnitude and angle of force on the tooth to support the hand using the scaler. This paper presents an evaluation system for effective self-training of the force control for the tooth scaling skill. This system evaluates the skill according to three parameters that are calculated from the measured force during operation: the direction of the supporting force, magnitude of supporting force, and ratio of the supporting force magnitude to the removing force magnitude. These were determined from the force measurement results of many operations by three experts and eighteen novices. A teaching system that incorporates the evaluation system was built. This system presents three scores calculated from the three evaluation parameters after operations by the trainee. If the skill is evaluated to be immature, information for improvement is displayed. Five testees were trained by performing ten operations with the system. The results showed that four testees improved their skill according to the evaluation parameters by force measurement, and three testees improved their skill based on a subjective evaluation by teachers. These results validate the effectiveness of the oronosed teachine system.

This paper proposes an education support system for one-to-one or face-to-face education environment. In this system, each of teacher and student has his/her own pen tablet PC and uses it as an electronic notebook. Writing and erasing actions of them on the notebook are recorded with timestamp and played back as they want. Furthermore, the proposed system showed the modified area and paused point by the student on the notebook. It should be useful for the teacher to know where his/her student made mistakes or felt difficult to solve a problem. This information might be able to get from erasing and pausing points but it is difficult to grasp all these points from normal paper notebooks. However, with our proposed system, the teacher can grasp easily his/her student's erasing and pausing point and know the reason of such action by using the playback function. The experimental result shows that the proposed method can allow participants to grasp easily and correctly where the student made mistakes and felt difficult.