ISPR Presence News

Monthly Archives: November 2020

Japanese inventors create robot girlfriend hand for lonely people to hold and walk with

[The quest to evoke medium-as-social-actor presence continues with a new robot hand that lets users feel like they’re walking while holding hands with their girlfriend. The story is from SoraNews24, where it includes two different pictures and a one-minute video (also available via YouTube); follow the links at the end for more information (in Japanese). –Matthew]

[Image: Source: Tech Times]

Japanese inventors create robot girlfriend hand for lonely people to hold and walk with [Video]

By Casey Baseel
November 3, 2020

A ton of thought went into the clever device, which actually has some heartwarming goals.

Few things in life provide that special mixture of calm reassurance and energizing warmth like going for a long walk hand-in-hand with your sweetheart. But as a group of engineering researchers (Koshiro Shiraki, Toru Notsumata, Moeka Miki, and Takeru Mushika) from Japan’s Gifu University point out, “For some people, finding a girlfriend is very difficult.”… read more. “Japanese inventors create robot girlfriend hand for lonely people to hold and walk with”

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Call: “Horizon of Mixed Reality” issue of International Journal of Digital Art History (DAHJ)

Call for Papers

The International Journal of Digital Art History (DAHJ)
Special issue: Horizon of Mixed Reality
https://dahj.org/cfp/6

Submissions accepted on rolling basis; publication in first quarter of 2021

The International Journal of Digital Art History (DAHJ) responds to cutting edge scholarship concerning extended reality technologies. Today, mixed reality is poised to be just as transformative as analog film and photography, which radically reorganized many domains of modern life (including communication, science, politics, and art). This potential has become increasingly apparent in the face of our current global pandemic, wherein virtual landscapes have begun to serve as critical contact zones for practitioners of social distancing.

Despite an increasing awareness of these technologies (or perhaps, because of it), the role of mixed reality as a tool for art history and cultural heritage poses a series of unanswered questions for our community:

  • Embodied VR’s ability to register phenomenologically significant aspects of visual culture that cannot be relayed by photography (immersion, motion parallax, stereopsis).
read more. “Call: “Horizon of Mixed Reality” issue of International Journal of Digital Art History (DAHJ)”
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New report puts spotlight on presence in the workplace of 2030

[Here’s a short summary of a new Ericsson report on the future of presence-evoking technologies in the workplace; follow the link at the end to read the full 16-page, graphics-filled report. –Matthew]

New report puts spotlight on the future workplace of 2030

The latest Ericsson IndustryLab report, The Dematerialized Office, brings insights about the sentiments of white-collar employees and their expectations for their future workplace.

October 28, 2020

Before the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in early 2020, the idea of working and socializing from home was mainly a theoretical proposition. But less than a year later, that reality is suddenly the new normal for many of the world’s office workers.

In the latest Ericsson IndustryLab study, The Dematerialized Office, early adopter white-collar employees in 16 countries, representing the views of around 133 million employees, were interviewed to gather their expectations about the future workplace.… read more. “New report puts spotlight on presence in the workplace of 2030”

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Call: Social Robots: The Social Potential of a New Communicative Agent (Free online conference)

Call for Participation

Social Robots: The Social Potential of a New Communicative Agent
Free Online Conference – Organized as part of UAI’s Social Media Conference 2020
Tuesday 17th November, 9 AM EDT / 10 AM Chile / 14 PM CET

To receive the Zoom link: https://lnkd.in/et3wNu7

Digital emergent technologies -from social media, apps and artificial intelligence- bring up new possibilities for communication. At the same time, they question paradigms and concepts which make us rethink our forms of imagining and inhabiting the world. Social robots and artificial intelligence emerge as new communicative agents, which open up new possibilities and challenges in different areas, such as education, the labour market and mental health.

Through academic presentations in an online format -given the global sanitary contingency- three international keynotes will present about the social potential of social robots from a Communication Science perspective.… read more. “Call: Social Robots: The Social Potential of a New Communicative Agent (Free online conference)”

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Can virtual reality games lead to violent behavior?

[This short story from ARPost argues for more research on the negative effects of experiencing violence in virtual reality, especially as the technology becomes more effective at evoking presence. For more on this topic, see:

–Matthew]

Can Virtual Reality Games Lead to Violent Behavior?

More research is needed to understand the psychological risks of violence in virtual reality gaming.read more. “Can virtual reality games lead to violent behavior?”

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Call: Enabling Technologies for Next Generation Telehealthcare issue of IEEE JBHI

Call for Papers

IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics
Impact Factor (2019): 5.223

Special Issue on Enabling Technologies for Next Generation Telehealthcare
https://www.embs.org/enabling-technologies-for-next-generation-telehealthcare/

Deadline for Submission: 31 December 2020

Nowadays, all over the world, the number of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) investments in health and well-being is rapidly increasing. In this context, there is a growing interest about telehealthcare that allows the provisioning of various kinds of health-related services and applications over the Internet. The main benefits of telehealthcare are: it reduces the risk of infection because patients can make use of remote healthcare services directly in their homes without the need to physically move in clinical centers; it can optimize healthcare workflows; it pushes down clinical costs; it improves the quality of life of both patients and their families. Telehealthcare solutions are typically aimed at tele-nursing, tele-rehabilitation, tele-dialog, tele-monitoring, tele-analysis, tele-pharmacy, tele-trauma care, tele-psychiatry, tele-radiology, tele-pathology, tele-dermatology, tele-dentistry, tele-audiology, tele-ophthalmology, etc.… read more. “Call: Enabling Technologies for Next Generation Telehealthcare issue of IEEE JBHI”

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Coronavirus: Is virtual reality tourism about to take off?

[This story from BBC News describes how virtual tourism is emerging as an important solution to the challenges created by travel restrictions during the pandemic as well as its value in easing our return to travel when the pandemic ends. See the original version of the story for seven more pictures. –Matthew]

[Image: Microsoft Hololens VR glasses can show potential visitors six of Germany’s most famous castles. Credit: Microsoft/German National Tourist Board (GNTB)]

Coronavirus: Is virtual reality tourism about to take off?

Bernd Debusmann – Business reporter
October 30, 2020

For many people, a trip to Germany’s fairytale-like Neuschwanstein castle, the Republic of Ireland’s stunning Cliffs of Moher, or the pristine waters of the Maldives are a bucket list ambition.

Plans for these and other international trips in 2020 were brought to an abrupt halt by the Covid-19 pandemic. Around the world, once-crowded sights lay dormant, with hotels empty and not a tourist in sight.… read more. “Coronavirus: Is virtual reality tourism about to take off?”

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Call: 15th European Conference on Game Based Learning (ECGBL 2021)

Call for Papers

15th European Conference on Game Based Learning (ECGBL 2021)
The University of Brighton, UK and online
23 – 24th September 2021
http://www.academic-conferences.org/conferences/ecgbl/ecgbl-call-for-papers/

Abstract submission deadline: 03 March 2021

NOTE: After a successful Virtual conference for ECGBL 2020 we are hoping to be able to meet in person for a physical event in Brighton, UK in September 2021. We know however that the events of this year have had a longer lasting impact on participants’ ability and willingness to travel for events. Therefore we are planning for ECGBL 2021 to be a “hybrid” conference, meaning that there will be physical events with virtual elements built into it to create an experience for both those who can attend in person and those able to attend online.

This is the first call for papers for the 15th European Conference on Game Based Learning (ECGBL 2021) hosted by The University of Brighton, UK on 23 – 24th September 2021.… read more. “Call: 15th European Conference on Game Based Learning (ECGBL 2021)”

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Streaming online: Bot Battle to determine which embodied chatbot seems most human

[As this BBC News story says, watching the streaming Bot Battle between Pandorabots’ Kuki and Facebook’s Blenderbot, running continuously through November 3, demonstrates the limitations of current AI, but we’ll likely look back on it as an early-days version of an even more ubiquitous and successful presence-evoking technology. See the original story for four more images and related links, watch the battle and read the press release on the Pandorabots website, and see a related CNN story from August 2020 titled “Robot friends: Why people talk to chatbots in times of trouble.” –Matthew]

Robot Bores: AI-powered awkward first date

By Jane Wakefield, Technology reporter
November 1, 2020

A man with more than a passing resemblance to Mark Zuckerberg (but a bit more pumped) is having the world’s most awkward first date with Kuki, a blue-haired young woman.

He wears a blue baseball cap emblazoned with the words “Make Facebook Great Again”.… read more. “Streaming online: Bot Battle to determine which embodied chatbot seems most human”

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