Welcome to the November 2019 SIGCHI edition of ACM TechNews.

ACM TechNews - SIGCHI Edition is a sponsored special edition of the ACM TechNews news-briefing service focused on issues in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). This service serves as a resource for ACM-SIGCHI Members to keep abreast of the latest news in areas related to HCI and is distributed to all ACM SIGCHI members the first Tuesday of every month. ACM TechNews is a benefit of ACM membership and is distributed three times per week on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays to over 100,000 ACM members from over 100 countries around the world. ACM TechNews provides timely coverage of established and emerging areas of computer science, the latest trends in information technology, and related science, society, and technology news. For more information on ACM TechNews and joining the ACM, please click. The Interactions mobile app is available for free on iOS, Android, and Kindle platforms. Download it today and flip through the full-color magazine pages on your tablet or view it in a simplified low-bandwidth text mode on your phone. And be sure to check out the Interactions website, where you can access current and past articles and read the latest entries in our ever-expanding collection of blogs.

Scientists Demonstrate Direct Brain-to-Brain Communication in Humans
Scientific American
Robert Martone
October 29, 2019

Miguel Nicolelis and colleagues at Duke University developed a system that directly links the activity of three human brains, describing it as the first "organic computer." Three individuals sitting in separate rooms collaborated to correctly orient a block so that it could fill a gap between other blocks in a video game. Two participants acting as "senders" were equipped with electroencephalographs (EEGs) that recorded their brain's electrical activity and focused on two different lights, one flashing slowly and the other quickly, to signal instructions. The differences in the flashing frequencies caused disparate brain responses in the senders, which were captured by the EEGs and sent, via computer interface, to a receiver blinded to the correct answer. After gathering instructions from both senders, the receiver decided whether to rotate the block. The receiver was also equipped with an EEG, to signal that choice to the computer. Overall, five groups of individuals were tested using this network, called the “BrainNet.” On average, they achieved greater than 80% accuracy in completing the task.

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China's Efforts to Lead the Way in AI Start in Classrooms
The Wall Street Journal
Yifan Wang; Shen Hong; Crystal Tai
October 24, 2019

China is incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into classrooms, in its push to make AI a driver of economic growth. A pilot project in Jinhua uses wearable headbands to measure students' attention—one of many deployments designed to build a massive database on pupils—that scientists can tap to develop advanced algorithms and achieve global AI leadership. Beijing iBingo's AI robots are used in kindergartens to take attendance, teach, and analyze student behavior, as well as feeding government research gauging children's mental and physical health. AI is often set up in Chinese classrooms without parents' consent, but Beijing Hanwang Education Technology's Zhang Haopeng argues such technology ultimately will improve Chinese education. Critics warn such initiatives are uncomfortably similar to government surveillance of citizens, while AI companies say parents' worries about their children's safety and intense focus on academic achievement makes Chinese market penetration easier.

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Encroaching Drones Usually Go Unseen by Pilots, New Study Confirms
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Ginger Pinholster
October 30, 2019

A study by researchers at Oklahoma State University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University found pilots approaching a runway failed to notice drones invading their airspace about 30% of the time, and virtually never spotted stationary drones. In a best-case scenario, if a pilot saw a drone at the study's maximum detection range of 2,324 feet, they would only have about 21 seconds to avoid collision, which Oklahoma State's Matt Vance said is inadequate if the drone is in flight. Oklahoma State's Jon M. Loffi said an encounter during final approach would be particularly dangerous, as the pilot would have little time to react and safely evade the drone. A reliable method for tracking drone flights in the U.S. is currently lacking. One proposal suggests leveraging drone remote identification data to lower the risk of aircraft-drone collisions.

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Augmented Reality System Lets Smartphone Users Get Hands-on with Virtual Objects
News from Brown
Kevin Stacey
October 16, 2019

Brown University researchers have developed an augmented reality (AR) system that overlays virtual objects within real-world backgrounds on cellphone screens, enabling realistic object interaction. Brown's Jeff Huang said Portal-ble was designed for more natural user interaction than the screen swiping typical of most smartphone AR apps. The platform utilizes an infrared sensor on the phone to track the position of people's hands in relation to virtual objects, so users can pick up, turn, stack, or drop objects; the sensor also allows users to virtually "paint" on real-world backdrops. The researchers fine-tuned Portal-ble via testing with students, tweaking its physics and user interface, and adding sensory feedback to improve interaction.

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Vatican Launches 'eRosary' Bracelet
BBC News
October 17, 2019

The Vatican is hoping to attract tech-savvy young people with the launch of an "eRosary" bracelet. The gadget, which is connected to the "Click to Pray eRosary" app, can be worn as a bracelet and is activated by making the sign of a cross. The app is designed to help Catholic users pray for world peace and contemplate the gospel. The app tracks a user's progress and contains visual and audio explanations of the rosary. Users can choose to pray the standard rosary, a contemplative rosary, or a thematic rosary.

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The New Gods of eSports are Paralyzed from the Neck Down
CNet
Jackson Ryan
October 14, 2019

Esports, competitive video game tournaments, have grown in popularity over the past five years. David Putrino, a physical therapist and neuroscientist at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital, helped establish the Quad Gods, an esports team made up of eight quadriplegic people who play the video games using a mouth-operated joystick, called a QuadStick. John Krakauer, a neurologist at Johns Hopkins Medical in Baltimore, meanwhile, put out the call for animators, programmers, and software engineers to build his "I Am Dolphin" game several years ago. The game is now being used by stroke patients to improve movement quality, and preliminary findings suggest it may be more beneficial than conventional stroke therapy.

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Children Engage in Designing Full-Body Interactive Experiences
Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Spain)
October 21, 2019

Researchers at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) in Spain and the University of Aarhus in Denmark have developed a user-driven design technique for the creation of interactive experiences using full-body interaction that engages children. UPF's Narcis Pares said, "Our aim is to involve children in the processes of participatory design to give them a say in the design process and to benefit from their natural playfulness and expertise in movement." FUBImethod (Full-Body Interaction co-design method) is rooted in contrasting the perspectives of adults and children in the planning of a guided museum tour, which revealed sharp differences in designers and educators' expectations. FUBImethod lets designers transcend the surface level of content-based ideas, add body/spatial sensitization, and propose methods to help understand and incorporate specific qualities forming full-body interaction. Children serve as “expert users” whose views feed into the creative process to realize interactive experience design goals and options with the design team.

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A RoboCop, a Park, a Fight: Expectations About Robots Clash with Reality
NBC News
Katie Flaherty
October 4, 2019

An altercation in a Los Angeles park highlights the gap between expectations and reality concerning robots, when a citizen's attempts to alert a patrol robot failed to help. Pushing the robot's alert button did nothing, because it was not yet connected to the local police department; the alert was instead routed to Knightscope, the company that creates and leases the robots. KnightScope said its "crime-fighting autonomous data machines" combine self-driving, robotics, and artificial intelligence. Experts said people tend to anthropomorphize robots, ascribing to them traits derived from movies and other media portrayals, creating a false sense of security. Cornell University's Ross Knepper said, "As researchers, we are very eager to employ all these new technologies...in a socially competent way, but if we don't have this other side of setting expectations of awareness of how people will interpret these behaviors, we run the risk of actually making an interaction with the robot worse and not better."

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Teens with Autism Can Master Living Skills When Parents Use iPads
Florida Atlantic University
Gisele Galoustian
October 29, 2019

Researchers at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) found children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) substantially improved correct and independent completion of their daily living skills after receiving video prompting interventions using an iPad. The researchers targeted parents of children between the ages of 12 and 17 years old with ASD who would be transitioning into adulthood in the near future and who needed to cultivate independent living skills to decrease their dependency on others. Each child had to complete a skill selected by the parents: make a bed, cook pasta, or tie shoelaces. The parents received guidance on using an iPad and implementing the intervention; they learned how to guide their child to watch the instructional video, imitate what they viewed, and then provide appropriate feedback.

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Researchers Harness AI Creativity
University of Waterloo News
October 9, 2019

Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada have developed a method of combining human creativity and artificial intelligence (AI) creativity to improve the performance of deep learning programs. The researchers created a new type of compact family of neural networks that could run on mobile devices. The networks, called AttoNets, can be used for image classification and object segmentation. They can also serve as building blocks for video action recognition, video pose estimation, image generation, and other visual perception tasks. A key part of the AttoNets system is that human designers work cooperatively with AI in the design of new networks, resulting in compact, yet high-performing networks that can run on portable devices. The technology, called Generative Synthesis, has been shown to accelerate deep learning design for autonomous driving.

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At Domino's Biggest Franchisee, a Chatbot Named ‘Dottie’ Speeds Up Hiring
IEEE Spectrum
Michelle V. Rafter
October 30, 2019

At RPM Pizza, Domino's largest U.S. franchisee, a chatbot nicknamed "Dottie" uses text messaging and live chats to speed up multiple aspects of the hiring process, including identifying promising job candidates and scheduling initial interviews. Dottie is a cloud-based recruiting chatbot app developed by TextRecruit, which can be programmed to provide natural-language responses to common hiring questions in English and Spanish. The system works in conjunction with RPM's existing application tracking system software. Said RPM’s Merrin Mueller, “People who apply here are applying at Taco Bell and McDonald’s too, and if we don’t get to them right away and hire them faster, they’ve already been offered a job somewhere else.”

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Multiplayer Bouncing Exercise Brings Extra Motivation
Aalto University
October 23, 2019

Researchers at Aalto University in Finland have found that computer-game-augmented trampolines motivate people to exercise. The game Super Stomp gives players an empowering experience using custom computer vision, movement exaggeration, and game design techniques. In the game, two players on separate trampolines try to squash each other's avatars, who are moving on a screen that is tracking how they jump in reality. The game exaggerates each player’s virtual jumps while maintaining precise control of the game characters, making the player feel like an actual superhero within the game world. The team found the game scores very high on psychological measures of physical activity motivation and enjoyment. Super Stomp also scored high in a survey measuring engagement with the game and how enjoyable playing it was.

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Using Technology to Inspire Creativity Boosts Student Outcomes
THE Journal
Sara Friedman
October 31, 2019

A Gallup study of 1,036 K-12 teachers found educators who use technology in transformative ways can boost students' problem-solving outcomes, while using technology in a substitutional manner was 10% less likely to improve outcomes. Transformative uses of technology include using computers to create multimedia projects, conduct research, and analyze information; substitutional uses include using a computer instead of pen and paper. Gallup found the school environment also plays a role in outcomes: 53% of educators in supportive school environments said pupils frequently have opportunities to try new things, and 43% offer students the chance to create a project to express what they have learned.

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