Affective Design Course

A true gentlemen is one who is never unintentionally rude. Oscar Wilde

Emotions are important for cognitive processes, decision-making, guiding actions and controlling resources. They play an important role in human-machine interaction since people tend to tread technology as social actors. It is impossible to not communicate emotions, since absence of affect in communication may be perceived as not caring. It is therefore necessary to carefully design the affective communication between humans and artifacts.The interaction cycle consists of first sensing the environment including the affective state of the user. Next, the artifact needs to reason about its own affective state before it can express it and adjust its behavior accordingly. Evaluating the artifact’s affective system is crucial to guarantee successful communication. Continue reading “Affective Design Course”

Step-by-step tutorial on how to install and run iText with Eclipse to create PDFs

This tutorial will show you how to install and run all the software necessary for you to create PDF files in Java. We will be using the Eclipse editor to write the Java code. Of course there are many other Java editors, but we consider Eclipse to be particularly convenient. This tutorial focuses on the Windows platform. You will work through the following five steps: Continue reading “Step-by-step tutorial on how to install and run iText with Eclipse to create PDFs”

Tutorial on how to install and run Java on Lego Mindstorms NXT using Eclipse

This tutorial will show you how to install and configure all the software necessary for you to develop Java programs for the LEGO Mindstorms NXT. Java is much more powerful and flexible than the original NXT-G software that LEGO provides. We will be using the Eclipse editor to write the actual Java code and to download this into the NXT. This combination enables you to conveniently write software and to quickly test it on the NXT. Of course there are many other Java editors, but we consider this combination to be particularly convenient. This tutorial focuses on the Windows XP platform, A Mac OS X tutorial is also available. We have two additional steps for Windows Vista. You will work through the following five steps: Continue reading “Tutorial on how to install and run Java on Lego Mindstorms NXT using Eclipse”