Sooraj K Babu | Julius-Maximilians - Universität Würzburg (original) (raw)

Papers by Sooraj K Babu

Proceedings of the Companion Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation

This study presents an application that offers an interactive representation of the learning cycl... more This study presents an application that offers an interactive representation of the learning cycle of a learning classifier system (LCS), a rule-based machine learning technique. The research approach utilized a combination of human-computer interaction requirements, design heuristics, and user-centred engineering to scaffold the development of a graphical user interface for an LCS. The evaluation of the application by LCS experts and a novice yielded encouraging results, demonstrating its ability to convey the LCS mechanics to the users. In addition, the experts validated the correctness of the learning cycle. The study's contribution is twofold: it presents an innovative approach to making the user understand the underlying mechanics of LCS and validates the effectiveness of the developed application. Furthermore, this work sets the stage for future research towards design revision and to further develop the application to accommodate different LCS models and custom data. CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing → User studies; Usability testing; • Computing methodologies → Artificial intelligence.

2018 IEEE Distributed Computing, VLSI, Electrical Circuits and Robotics (DISCOVER), 2018

This paper introduces Pepe Jr, a 4 DOF robotic lamp, designed as a cost-effective platform for Hu... more This paper introduces Pepe Jr, a 4 DOF robotic lamp, designed as a cost-effective platform for Human Robot Interaction research. We discuss the mechanical and electronic design aspects of the robot, and the design of the motion patterns associated with each emotion expressed by the robot. We also discuss results from a battery of surveys to gauge user perception of these expressed emotions, which validate the design objectives of the robot.

2019 IEEE Tenth International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E), 2019

We introduce Kappa, an electronic tangible interface development kit designed to promote computat... more We introduce Kappa, an electronic tangible interface development kit designed to promote computational thinking for school students. Kappa enables students to create interactive games, animated stories and musical instruments using physical objects. We discuss the design considerations, the working mechanism and the need for such a toolkit in technology education. We also discuss results and observations from a pilot deployment of the kit in a school in urban India in a project-based learning context.

2019 IEEE Tenth International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E), 2019

Virtual Reality (VR) technology enables students to be trained in new behaviour in an authentic a... more Virtual Reality (VR) technology enables students to be trained in new behaviour in an authentic and situated learning context. The pilot study investigated the effects of a scaffolded five-minutes 360-degree video-based VR training on communication skills, achievement emotions and motivation among university students in India. The results of an experimental trial with repeated measures show, except for a slight rise in positive emotions for the control group, no significant differences in the VR-condition. Nevertheless, students are highly convinced that VR-training has the potential to improve their academic skills and performance. High acceptance of VR-based education and the potential to replace real education settings at university level were observed.

2019 28th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2019

The work presented in this paper reports the influence of a social robot on hand washing behaviou... more The work presented in this paper reports the influence of a social robot on hand washing behaviour on school children in rural India with a significant presence of indigenous tribes. We describe the design choices of our social robot to cater the requirements of the intervention. The custom built wall mounted social robot encouraged 100 children to wash their hand at appropriate time (before meal and after toilet) using the correct handwashing technique via a poster on a wall. The results indicate that the intervention using the robot was found to be effective (40% rise) at increasing levels of hand washing with soap and with a better handwashing technique in ecologically valid settings.

2018 IEEE Tenth International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E), 2018

Technologies for development have great potential in accelerating the socio-economic progress of ... more Technologies for development have great potential in accelerating the socio-economic progress of disadvantaged communities. But these technologies are usually developed by people removed from the daily realities of fieldwork. This paper explores the need and the possibilities of educating rural populations and social workers on the use of technology to create their own digital artifacts. We discuss two workshops, one for villagers in the state of Telangana and the second one for graduate students of a university social work department exploring the use of MIT's Scratch software as a tool for assisting in social interventions. We also discuss the results of an acceptability study among the social work students to gauge the potential for such a tool to be used in the field.

2018 IEEE 18th International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT), 2018

Immersive learning environments are increasingly being adopted as modern alternative presentation... more Immersive learning environments are increasingly being adopted as modern alternative presentation modes in training scenarios. Presently, the improved levels of engagement and interactions offered by these systems are expected to potentially motivate the learners more than conventional 2D interfaces. This study compares the effectiveness of immersive environments with conventional 2D learning content for a motorcycle labeling task by evaluating knowledge retention and recall. The study was conducted with two groups of participants: a VR interaction group and a tablet based 2D interaction group. The enhanced spatial interaction capability of VR was hypothesized to promote knowledge retention and improve the instructional utility of immersive learning solutions.

Frontiers in virtual reality, Mar 23, 2022

In recent years, the applications and accessibility of Virtual Reality (VR) for the healthcare se... more In recent years, the applications and accessibility of Virtual Reality (VR) for the healthcare sector have continued to grow. However, so far, most VR applications are only relevant in research settings. Information about what healthcare professionals would need to independently integrate VR applications into their daily working routines is missing. The actual needs and concerns of the people who work in the healthcare sector are often disregarded in the development of VR applications, even though they are the ones who are supposed to use them in practice. By means of this study, we systematically involve health professionals in the development process of VR applications. In particular, we conducted an online survey with 102 healthcare professionals based on a video prototype which demonstrates a software platform that allows them to create and utilise VR experiences on their own. For this study, we adapted and extended the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The survey focused on the perceived usefulness and the ease of use of such a platform, as well as the attitude and ethical concerns the users might have. The results show a generally positive attitude toward such a software platform. The users can imagine various use cases in different health domains. However, the perceived usefulness is tied to the actual ease of use of the platform and sufficient support for learning and working with the platform. In the discussion, we explain how these results can be generalized to facilitate the integration of VR in healthcare practice.

2019 28th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2019

We introduce “Pepe”, a social robot for encouraging proper handwashing behaviour among children. ... more We introduce “Pepe”, a social robot for encouraging proper handwashing behaviour among children. We discuss the motivation, the robot design and a pilot study conducted at a primary school located in the Western Ghats mountain ranges of Southern India with a significant presence of indigenous tribes. The study included individual & group interviews with a randomly selected sample of 45 children to gauge their perception of the Pepe robot across various dimensions including gender, animacy & technology acceptance. We also discuss some HRI implications for running user studies with rural children.

2016 IEEE Eighth International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E), 2016

— In the face of technological advancements, serious games are becoming more widely recognized as... more — In the face of technological advancements, serious games are becoming more widely recognized as effective educational tools. This paper presents a serious game that teaches a complex subject in a simplified and easy to understand manner—Communication and collaboration during post-disaster operations. The game is multiplayer where each player works through a simulated disaster using an incident management systematic framework that highlights the importance of communication and collaboration. To achieve this, we introduce a unique live audio/video communication system where the players interact with each other to solve problems in a realistic scenario. The game also provides basic training for Rapid Damage Assessments and Incident Command System, two strategies used to carry out post disaster management. The game was piloted to a focus group consisting of students and faculty from Amrita University. Results from the surveys showed the game and proposed frameworks were very effective in providing the players with basic knowledge of post disaster management operations. The need of using such training methods is very much necessary since it will help the disaster response activities to be faster and easier.

Technologies for development have great potential in accelerating the socio-economic progress of ... more Technologies for development have great potential in accelerating the socio-economic progress of disadvantaged communities. But these technologies are usually developed by people removed from the daily realities of fieldwork. This paper explores the need and the possibilities of educating rural populations and social workers on the use of technology to create their own digital artifacts. We discuss two workshops, one for villagers in the state of Telangana and the second one for graduate students of a university social work department exploring the use of MIT's Scratch software as a tool for assisting in social interventions. We also discuss the results of an acceptability study among the social work students to gauge the potential for such a tool to be used in the field.

This paper introduces Pepe Jr, a 4 DOF robotic lamp, designed as a cost-effective platform for Hu... more This paper introduces Pepe Jr, a 4 DOF robotic lamp, designed as a cost-effective platform for Human Robot Interaction research. We discuss the mechanical and electronic design aspects of the robot, and the design of the motion patterns associated with each emotion expressed by the robot. We also discuss results from a battery of surveys to gauge user perception of these expressed emotions, which validate the design objectives of the robot.

—Immersive learning environments are increasingly being adopted as modern alternative presentatio... more —Immersive learning environments are increasingly being adopted as modern alternative presentation modes in training scenarios. Presently, the improved levels of engagement and interactions offered by these systems are expected to potentially motivate the learners more than conventional 2D interfaces. This study compares the effectiveness of immersive environments with conventional 2D learning content for a motorcycle labeling task by evaluating knowledge retention and recall. The study was conducted with two groups of participants: a VR interaction group and a tablet based 2D interaction group. The enhanced spatial interaction capability of VR was hypothesized to promote knowledge retention and improve the instructional utility of immersive learning solutions.

— In the face of technological advancements, serious games are becoming more widely recognized as... more — In the face of technological advancements, serious games are becoming more widely recognized as effective educational tools. This paper presents a serious game that teaches a complex subject in a simplified and easy to understand manner—Communication and collaboration during post-disaster operations. The game is multiplayer where each player works through a simulated disaster using an incident management systematic framework that highlights the importance of communication and collaboration. To achieve this, we introduce a unique live audio/video communication system where the players interact with each other to solve problems in a realistic scenario. The game also provides basic training for Rapid Damage Assessments and Incident Command System, two strategies used to carry out post disaster management. The game was piloted to a focus group consisting of students and faculty from Amrita University. Results from the surveys showed the game and proposed frameworks were very effective in providing the players with basic knowledge of post disaster management operations. The need of using such training methods is very much necessary since it will help the disaster response activities to be faster and easier.

Proceedings of the Companion Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation

This study presents an application that offers an interactive representation of the learning cycl... more This study presents an application that offers an interactive representation of the learning cycle of a learning classifier system (LCS), a rule-based machine learning technique. The research approach utilized a combination of human-computer interaction requirements, design heuristics, and user-centred engineering to scaffold the development of a graphical user interface for an LCS. The evaluation of the application by LCS experts and a novice yielded encouraging results, demonstrating its ability to convey the LCS mechanics to the users. In addition, the experts validated the correctness of the learning cycle. The study's contribution is twofold: it presents an innovative approach to making the user understand the underlying mechanics of LCS and validates the effectiveness of the developed application. Furthermore, this work sets the stage for future research towards design revision and to further develop the application to accommodate different LCS models and custom data. CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing → User studies; Usability testing; • Computing methodologies → Artificial intelligence.

2018 IEEE Distributed Computing, VLSI, Electrical Circuits and Robotics (DISCOVER), 2018

This paper introduces Pepe Jr, a 4 DOF robotic lamp, designed as a cost-effective platform for Hu... more This paper introduces Pepe Jr, a 4 DOF robotic lamp, designed as a cost-effective platform for Human Robot Interaction research. We discuss the mechanical and electronic design aspects of the robot, and the design of the motion patterns associated with each emotion expressed by the robot. We also discuss results from a battery of surveys to gauge user perception of these expressed emotions, which validate the design objectives of the robot.

2019 IEEE Tenth International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E), 2019

We introduce Kappa, an electronic tangible interface development kit designed to promote computat... more We introduce Kappa, an electronic tangible interface development kit designed to promote computational thinking for school students. Kappa enables students to create interactive games, animated stories and musical instruments using physical objects. We discuss the design considerations, the working mechanism and the need for such a toolkit in technology education. We also discuss results and observations from a pilot deployment of the kit in a school in urban India in a project-based learning context.

2019 IEEE Tenth International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E), 2019

Virtual Reality (VR) technology enables students to be trained in new behaviour in an authentic a... more Virtual Reality (VR) technology enables students to be trained in new behaviour in an authentic and situated learning context. The pilot study investigated the effects of a scaffolded five-minutes 360-degree video-based VR training on communication skills, achievement emotions and motivation among university students in India. The results of an experimental trial with repeated measures show, except for a slight rise in positive emotions for the control group, no significant differences in the VR-condition. Nevertheless, students are highly convinced that VR-training has the potential to improve their academic skills and performance. High acceptance of VR-based education and the potential to replace real education settings at university level were observed.

2019 28th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2019

The work presented in this paper reports the influence of a social robot on hand washing behaviou... more The work presented in this paper reports the influence of a social robot on hand washing behaviour on school children in rural India with a significant presence of indigenous tribes. We describe the design choices of our social robot to cater the requirements of the intervention. The custom built wall mounted social robot encouraged 100 children to wash their hand at appropriate time (before meal and after toilet) using the correct handwashing technique via a poster on a wall. The results indicate that the intervention using the robot was found to be effective (40% rise) at increasing levels of hand washing with soap and with a better handwashing technique in ecologically valid settings.

2018 IEEE Tenth International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E), 2018

Technologies for development have great potential in accelerating the socio-economic progress of ... more Technologies for development have great potential in accelerating the socio-economic progress of disadvantaged communities. But these technologies are usually developed by people removed from the daily realities of fieldwork. This paper explores the need and the possibilities of educating rural populations and social workers on the use of technology to create their own digital artifacts. We discuss two workshops, one for villagers in the state of Telangana and the second one for graduate students of a university social work department exploring the use of MIT's Scratch software as a tool for assisting in social interventions. We also discuss the results of an acceptability study among the social work students to gauge the potential for such a tool to be used in the field.

2018 IEEE 18th International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT), 2018

Immersive learning environments are increasingly being adopted as modern alternative presentation... more Immersive learning environments are increasingly being adopted as modern alternative presentation modes in training scenarios. Presently, the improved levels of engagement and interactions offered by these systems are expected to potentially motivate the learners more than conventional 2D interfaces. This study compares the effectiveness of immersive environments with conventional 2D learning content for a motorcycle labeling task by evaluating knowledge retention and recall. The study was conducted with two groups of participants: a VR interaction group and a tablet based 2D interaction group. The enhanced spatial interaction capability of VR was hypothesized to promote knowledge retention and improve the instructional utility of immersive learning solutions.

Frontiers in virtual reality, Mar 23, 2022

In recent years, the applications and accessibility of Virtual Reality (VR) for the healthcare se... more In recent years, the applications and accessibility of Virtual Reality (VR) for the healthcare sector have continued to grow. However, so far, most VR applications are only relevant in research settings. Information about what healthcare professionals would need to independently integrate VR applications into their daily working routines is missing. The actual needs and concerns of the people who work in the healthcare sector are often disregarded in the development of VR applications, even though they are the ones who are supposed to use them in practice. By means of this study, we systematically involve health professionals in the development process of VR applications. In particular, we conducted an online survey with 102 healthcare professionals based on a video prototype which demonstrates a software platform that allows them to create and utilise VR experiences on their own. For this study, we adapted and extended the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The survey focused on the perceived usefulness and the ease of use of such a platform, as well as the attitude and ethical concerns the users might have. The results show a generally positive attitude toward such a software platform. The users can imagine various use cases in different health domains. However, the perceived usefulness is tied to the actual ease of use of the platform and sufficient support for learning and working with the platform. In the discussion, we explain how these results can be generalized to facilitate the integration of VR in healthcare practice.

2019 28th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2019

We introduce “Pepe”, a social robot for encouraging proper handwashing behaviour among children. ... more We introduce “Pepe”, a social robot for encouraging proper handwashing behaviour among children. We discuss the motivation, the robot design and a pilot study conducted at a primary school located in the Western Ghats mountain ranges of Southern India with a significant presence of indigenous tribes. The study included individual & group interviews with a randomly selected sample of 45 children to gauge their perception of the Pepe robot across various dimensions including gender, animacy & technology acceptance. We also discuss some HRI implications for running user studies with rural children.

2016 IEEE Eighth International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E), 2016

— In the face of technological advancements, serious games are becoming more widely recognized as... more — In the face of technological advancements, serious games are becoming more widely recognized as effective educational tools. This paper presents a serious game that teaches a complex subject in a simplified and easy to understand manner—Communication and collaboration during post-disaster operations. The game is multiplayer where each player works through a simulated disaster using an incident management systematic framework that highlights the importance of communication and collaboration. To achieve this, we introduce a unique live audio/video communication system where the players interact with each other to solve problems in a realistic scenario. The game also provides basic training for Rapid Damage Assessments and Incident Command System, two strategies used to carry out post disaster management. The game was piloted to a focus group consisting of students and faculty from Amrita University. Results from the surveys showed the game and proposed frameworks were very effective in providing the players with basic knowledge of post disaster management operations. The need of using such training methods is very much necessary since it will help the disaster response activities to be faster and easier.

Technologies for development have great potential in accelerating the socio-economic progress of ... more Technologies for development have great potential in accelerating the socio-economic progress of disadvantaged communities. But these technologies are usually developed by people removed from the daily realities of fieldwork. This paper explores the need and the possibilities of educating rural populations and social workers on the use of technology to create their own digital artifacts. We discuss two workshops, one for villagers in the state of Telangana and the second one for graduate students of a university social work department exploring the use of MIT's Scratch software as a tool for assisting in social interventions. We also discuss the results of an acceptability study among the social work students to gauge the potential for such a tool to be used in the field.

This paper introduces Pepe Jr, a 4 DOF robotic lamp, designed as a cost-effective platform for Hu... more This paper introduces Pepe Jr, a 4 DOF robotic lamp, designed as a cost-effective platform for Human Robot Interaction research. We discuss the mechanical and electronic design aspects of the robot, and the design of the motion patterns associated with each emotion expressed by the robot. We also discuss results from a battery of surveys to gauge user perception of these expressed emotions, which validate the design objectives of the robot.

—Immersive learning environments are increasingly being adopted as modern alternative presentatio... more —Immersive learning environments are increasingly being adopted as modern alternative presentation modes in training scenarios. Presently, the improved levels of engagement and interactions offered by these systems are expected to potentially motivate the learners more than conventional 2D interfaces. This study compares the effectiveness of immersive environments with conventional 2D learning content for a motorcycle labeling task by evaluating knowledge retention and recall. The study was conducted with two groups of participants: a VR interaction group and a tablet based 2D interaction group. The enhanced spatial interaction capability of VR was hypothesized to promote knowledge retention and improve the instructional utility of immersive learning solutions.

— In the face of technological advancements, serious games are becoming more widely recognized as... more — In the face of technological advancements, serious games are becoming more widely recognized as effective educational tools. This paper presents a serious game that teaches a complex subject in a simplified and easy to understand manner—Communication and collaboration during post-disaster operations. The game is multiplayer where each player works through a simulated disaster using an incident management systematic framework that highlights the importance of communication and collaboration. To achieve this, we introduce a unique live audio/video communication system where the players interact with each other to solve problems in a realistic scenario. The game also provides basic training for Rapid Damage Assessments and Incident Command System, two strategies used to carry out post disaster management. The game was piloted to a focus group consisting of students and faculty from Amrita University. Results from the surveys showed the game and proposed frameworks were very effective in providing the players with basic knowledge of post disaster management operations. The need of using such training methods is very much necessary since it will help the disaster response activities to be faster and easier.