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paper at ACSE-ICTD conference

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Raman, M., Tang, M.  3D Visualization Development of Urban Environments for Simulated Driving Training and VR Development in Transportation Systems. ASCE ICTD 2023 Conference. Austin. TX. 06. 2023

 

This work is based on a project to develop a physics-based, 3D digital visual environment that is a replication of actual field conditions for over seventy miles of Ohio highways and city roads for use in a driving simulator for the Ohio Department of Transportation. While transportation engineering design traditionally involves 3D design in a 2D workspace to create the built environment in the context of a natural environment, this project required replication of existing natural + built environments in a 3D digital space, thereby presenting a unique challenge to develop a new, repeatable process to create a specific digital end product.

Using industry-specific software comprised of InfraWorks (urban infrastructure design), Civil 3D (terrain modeling), Rhino (3D product modeling), 3ds Max (rendering/animation), Maya (3D animation/simulation), and Python (scripting) that are traditionally dedicated to their fields, the team developed a process to integrate them outside of their intended purposes so that they could connect industry-specific functionalities to deliver a novel product that can now be utilized by multiple markets.

This process utilizes the functionalities of each software to resolve a portion of the puzzle and delivers it as a solution for the next step of development using another software. Using an iterative development cycle approach, the process bridges the gaps between the industries of Transportation Engineering, Visualization, Architecture, and Gaming to deliver the end product.

The resulting 3D digital model of the existing urban environment can now be readily used as a baseline product for any industry that would benefit from such a digital model. In transportation engineering, it can be used in Transportation Systems Planning, Surface Operations, and/or Workforce Development. In outside/connected markets, it can be used in UI-based development, interactive game-based multiplayer virtual meetings, and photo-realistic immersive models for use in VR/multiplayer exploratory environments. This process has been standardized for the digital development of existing site conditions and context for the architectural conceptualization of buildings and public spaces in the Architecture program at the University of Cincinnati. The same process has been carried into the next development phase for the Ohio Department of Transportation.

 

Project link:

Training Simulation for snowplow

paper on IJSW

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Ming Tang and Adekunle Adebisi’s paper titled Using Eye-Tracking for Traffic Control Signage Design at Highway Work Zone is published in the Interdisciplinary Journal of Signage and Wayfinding. 

Tang, M. Adebisib, A. Using Eye-Tracking for Traffic Control Signage Design at Highway Work Zone. Interdisciplinary Journal of Signage and Wayfinding.  Vol. 6, No. 2 (2022)

This paper discusses the application of Eye Tracking (ET) technologies for researchers to understand a driver’s perception of signage at the highway work zone. Combining ET with screen-based motion pictures and a driving simulator, the team developed an analytical method that allowed designers to evaluate signage design. Two experiments were set up to investigate how signage design might affect a driver’s visual attention and interaction under various environmental complexities and glare conditions. The study explores visual perception related to several spatial features, including signage modality, scene complexity, and color schemes. The ET method utilizes total fixation time and time-to-first fixation data to evaluate the effectiveness of signages presented through screen-based video and a driving simulator.

Keywords: Eye-tracking, Signage design, Work zone safety

about the IJSW journal

Signage and wayfinding are critical components of the urban landscape. In spite of their importance, there has been no journal or comprehensive scholarly platform dedicated to this topic. As such, scholars from a variety of academic disciplines (law, planning, engineering, business, art, economics, architecture, landscape architecture, industrial design, and graphic design) publish work in journals within their home disciplines and rarely have a chance to communicate their cross-disciplinary findings. The Interdisciplinary Journal of Signage and Wayfinding seeks to bring them together.

Sponsored by the Academic Advisory Council for Signage Research and Education (AACSRE), this online, open access journal seeks to be the home for scholarship in the field of signage and wayfinding, and to make such scholarship accessible to academics and practitioners alike.

Book Chapter

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Ming Tang wrote a section titled “Design and Development for Virtual Reality-based Driving Simulation” for Chapter 1 of the book Disruptive Emerging Transportation Technologies. Edited by Heng Wei, Yinhai Wang, and Jianming Ma. Published by American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).  2022

Disruptive Emerging Transportation Technologies provides forward-looking overview of the relevant 4IR technologies and their potential impacts on the future disruptive emerging transportation. It is a valuable reference for relevant educators to re-imagine their roles, redesign their curricula, and adopt very different pedagogical strategies to address this inevitability, particularly when they are introducing emerging technologies into transportation planning and development, infrastructure design, and traffic management.

Topics include

• 4IR technologies impacting the future of transportation such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, edge computing, fog computing, cloud computing, fifth generation innovative communications technology, virtual reality, and the Internet of Things (IoT);
• Surface transportation automation including connected vehicle (CV) and autonomous vehicle (AV) technologies, as well as other automation-based vehicles;
• Testing methods and technologies for autonomous vehicles;
• Emerging mobility services such as automated delivery and logistics, mobility as a service (MaaS), and mobility on demand (MOD);
• Shared sustainable mobility such as shared bicycle services, shared vehicle services, and first mile/last mile solutions;
• Cooperative and automated traffic control including self-organized intelligent adaptive control, eco-control and eco-ramp metering, and integrated ramp and corridor control; and
• Major unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technologies and their possible impacts on the future of transportation.

paper @ CAADRIA Conference

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Tian. J., Tang, M., Wang. J., The effect of path environment on pedestrian’s route selection: A case study of University of Cincinnati..  27th International Conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA). Sydney, Australia. April. 2022. 

The present study on the influence of the path environment on pedestrians’ route selection is mostly concentrated on the urban level while rarely discussed from the architectural level. Taking the University of Cincinnati (Ohio, US) as an example, this study aims to investigate whether the difference in the environmental settings of the route will affect pedestrians’ walking experiences and future route selection, with the ultimate goal of ascertaining the underlying relationship between the route environments and the user behavior in the process of route selection and implementation. This study selected three routes from the Langsam library to the CEAS library. The research methods included data analytics, questionnaires, and comparative analysis. Firstly, through surveys and an E4 wristband, psychological and physiological data were collected. Secondly, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to examine whether there was a significant difference in pedestrians’ walking experience among the three routes. Thirdly, through the analysis of questionnaires, the factors that play an important role in pedestrians’ route selection were determined. It can be concluded that the three routes with different environmental settings bring a different experience to participants. More specifically, the level of comfort and openness of the route significantly affects the route selection of pedestrians, while the degree of fatigue during walking does not. To sum up, for the transition space from outdoor to indoor, the factors affecting pedestrian route selection include the route’s degree of comfort and openness.

The paper is based on Jing Tain’s MS Thesis. Please check out the full thesis here.

paper @ 2022 HCI

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Ming Tang’s paper Human and Machine Symbiosis. An experiment of human and robot co-creation of calligraphy-style drawing is published at the HCI INTERNATIONAL 2022, 24th International Conference on  Human-Computer Interaction. HCI International 2022 Proceeding. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1580. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06417-3_62

Tang, M. (2022). Human and Machine Symbiosis – An Experiment of Human and Robot Co-creation of Calligraphy-Style Drawing. In: Stephanidis, C., Antona, M., Ntoa, S. (eds) HCI International 2022 Posters. HCII 2022. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1580. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06417-3_62

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robots impact creative jobs such as art-making. There have been many AI tools assisting average users in imitating the styles of renowned painters from the past. The Convolutional neural network (CNN) and generative adversarial network (GAN) emergence as a method to “hallucinate” and create expressions of styled drawings. This paper discussed an experiment to study how AI, Automation, and Robots (AAR) will interact with humans and form a unique symbiotic relationship in art-making. Our project, called “robot painter,” established a co-creation in calligraphy-style painting with the following steps:  (1) Use CNN tools to translate a raster image into a calligraphy-style image. (2) Develop an algorithm in Grasshopper and Rhino program for the Kuka robot. This generative tool allowed the artist to translate the image into a parametrically controlled 3D toolpath for a robotic arm. (3) A KUKA robot executed the art-making by holding a paintbrush and completing the painting with customized stoke, force, and angle on a canvas.

In conclusion, the paper discussed that AAR makes human intervention and co-creation possible. The ability of A. I and robots to mimic artists’ expressions have undoubtedly achieved a convincing level and will affect art-making in the years to come.

Project detail. Robotic Art