Strategic Growth Area: Creativity and Innovation (C&I)
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C&I is the refinement of two early SGAs: Creative Technologies and Experiences and Innovation and Entrepreneurship. C&I melds the exploration of innovative technologies and the design of creative experiences with best practices for developing impact-driven and meaningful outcomes and solutions. C&I builds and strengthens creative communities; supports economic development; and enhances quality of life through self-sustaining and entrepreneurial activities.
The Creative Technologies and Experiences (CT+E) Strategic Growth Area develops 21st-century transdisciplinarians who are well-versed in the unique processes of collaborative environments and whose creative portfolios and capstone projects generate new, or address an existing, real-world opportunity. CT+E exists at the technology-mediated intersection of the arts, design, science, and engineering. Participants are uniquely empowered to focus on and to holistically explore opportunities while developing an integrative approach to thinking and problem solving.
The Innovation and Entrepreneurship SGA was described as Working across all disciplines, we strive to address problems, innovate solutions, and make an impact through entrepreneurial ventures... We create an atmosphere and culture that unleashes creativity, sparks vision and innovation, and teaches the governing principles that are the foundation of every successful progressive enterprise. Our training, investments, and activities include discovery science, applied science, and processes related to commercialization/implementation and management – all in a global context and consistent with ethical principles.
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Browsing Strategic Growth Area: Creativity and Innovation (C&I) by Department "Electrical and Computer Engineering"
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- An Architecture for Electronic TextilesJones, Mark T.; Martin, Thomas L.; Sawyer, Braden (ICST, 2008)This paper makes a case for a communication architecture for electronic textiles (e-textiles). The properties and re- quirements of e-textile garments are described and analyzed. Based on these properties, the authors make a case for em- ploying wired, digital communication as the primary on- garment communication network. The implications of this design choice for the hardware architecture for e-textiles are discussed.
- Communications in Electronic Textile SystemsNakad, Z.; Jones, M.; Martin, T. (2003)Electronic textiles (e-textiles) are emerging as a novel method for constructing electronic systems in wearable and large area applications. This new type of processing system merges textile and electronic technologies. This paper studies the communication requirements between the computing and sensing elements of an e-textile. This communication is studied through the construction of a prototype as well as through modeling and simulation. A new algorithm based on token grid schemes is presented that takes advantage of the e-textile physical configuration.
- Comparative Dimensions of Disciplinary CultureMartin, Thomas L.; McNair, Lisa D.; Paretti, Marie C. (ASEE, 2015)Despite calls to promote creativity as “an indispensable quality for engineering” [1], the U.S. engineering educational system has been slow to develop pedagogies that successfully promote innovative behaviors. Engineers need more creativity and interdisciplinary fluency, but engineering instructors often struggle to provide such skills without sacrificing discipline-specific problem-solving skills. At the same time, engineering programs continue to struggle with attracting and retaining members of underrepresented populations—populations whose diversity could greatly contribute to innovation. Interestingly, the lack of diversity in engineering is often attributed to cultural traits of the field, which is often characterized as masculine, individualistic, and function-oriented. To address these issues, we have undertaken a 3-year study to investigate patterns of cultural traits in students across disciplines, and to build an actionable theory of engineering culture that can support pedagogies of inclusive and collaborative innovation as well as strategies for recruiting and retention efforts. In this paper, we present preliminary results from our survey in order to define how Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture map to 14 majors in a research university. Specifically, we are applying Hofstede’s original four dimensions of national business cultures (power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, masculinity) [2] to academic disciplines to explain how students develop skills to operate within and across disciplinary boundaries. To do so, we are addressing the following research questions: 1. How do Hofstede’s dimensions of national cultures map to academic disciplines? 2. Do different majors have different disciplinary cultures according to Hofstede’s dimensions? This research purpose is to understand how students in different disciplines behave and perceive their majors. The information presented builds up on a pilot study where we applied Hofstede’s instrument with no major findings. However, we improved the survey based on the responses and expanded it outside engineering majors.
- e-TAGs: e-Textile Attached GadgetsLehn, David I.; Neely, Craig W.; Schoonover, Kevin; Martin, Thomas L.; Jones, Mark T. (Society for Computer Simulation, 2004)The integration of wires and electronics into textiles (e-textiles) has many potential applications for wearable and pervasive computing. Textiles are an integral part of everyday life, from clothing we wear to the carpet we walk upon. Being able to combine electronics with textiles would enable pervasive computing to blend into the background so that the user can go about a normal routine. One of the challenges in e-textile implementation is connecting the electronic components to the fabric cheaply and reliably. This paper describes the design and implementation issues of e-Textile Attached Gadgets (e-TAGs). E-TAGs can use a variety of methods to connect to wires in an etextile. This design allows for e-textile electronics modules that are easily attachable, removable, replaceable, and interchangeable. This paper presents the system architecture, connection techniques, communication alternatives, and experiences from the construction of a prototype wearable e-textile with multiple e-TAGs.
- Electronic textiles for in situ biomechanical measurementsMartin, Thomas L.; Lockhart, Thurmon E.; Jones, Mark T.; Edmison, Joshua N. (Defense Technical Information Center, 2004)This paper describes the benefits of and issues in designing and building an integrated, body-worn electronic textile (e-textile) system capable of assessing a suite of biomechanical measures. Unlike laboratory based systems, this system would be worn by a soldier and could be used in a range of environmental conditions. A prototype e-textile developed at Virginia Tech has already shown promising results in the area of gait analysis.
- Extracting Behavioral Information from Electronic StoryboardsForsyth, Jason; Martin, Tom (ACM, 2014-06)In this paper we outline methods for extracting behavioral descriptions of interactive prototypes from electronic storyboards. This information is used to help interdisciplinary design teams evaluate potential ideas early in the design process. Using electronic story- boards provides a common descriptive medium where team members from diff erent disciplinary backgrounds can collectively express the intended behavior of their prototype. The behavioral information is extracted by a combination of visual tags applied to elements of the storyboard, analysis of storyboard layout, and natural language processing of text written in the frames. We describe this process, provide a proof of concept example, and discuss design choices in developing this tool.
- Modeling and Simulating Electronic Textile ApplicationsMartin, Thomas L.; Jones, Mark T.; Edmison, Joshua N.; Sheikh, Tanwir (ACM, 2004-07-11)This paper describes our design of a simulation environment for electronic textiles (e-textiles) and our experiences with that environment. This simulation environment, based upon Ptolemy II, enables us to model a diverse range of areas related to the design of electronic textiles, including the physical environment they will be used in, the behavior of the sensors incorporated into the fabric, the on-fabric network, the power consumption of the system, and the execution of the application and system software. This paper focuses on two aspects of the system, modeling the motion of a person wearing the e-textile and modeling the effect of faults in the e-textile system. To partially validate this environment, we compare simulation results against results from two different physical prototypes, a large-scale acoustic beamformer and a pair of shape-sensing pants.
- Motion Inference Using Sparse Inertial Sensors, Self-Supervised Learning, and a New Dataset of Unscripted Human MotionGeissinger, Jack H.; Asbeck, Alan T. (MDPI, 2020-11-06)In recent years, wearable sensors have become common, with possible applications in biomechanical monitoring, sports and fitness training, rehabilitation, assistive devices, or human-computer interaction. Our goal was to achieve accurate kinematics estimates using a small number of sensors. To accomplish this, we introduced a new dataset (the Virginia Tech Natural Motion Dataset) of full-body human motion capture using XSens MVN Link that contains more than 40 h of unscripted daily life motion in the open world. Using this dataset, we conducted self-supervised machine learning to do kinematics inference: we predicted the complete kinematics of the upper body or full body using a reduced set of sensors (3 or 4 for the upper body, 5 or 6 for the full body). We used several sequence-to-sequence (Seq2Seq) and Transformer models for motion inference. We compared the results using four different machine learning models and four different configurations of sensor placements. Our models produced mean angular errors of 10–15 degrees for both the upper body and full body, as well as worst-case errors of less than 30 degrees. The dataset and our machine learning code are freely available.
- Piezoelastic PVDF/TPU Nanofibrous Composite Membrane: Fabrication and CharacterizationElnabawy, Eman; Hassanin, Ahmed H.; Shehata, Nader; Popelka, Anton; Nair, Remya; Yousef, Saifallah; Kandas, Ishac (MDPI, 2019-10-10)Poly (vinylidene fluoride) nanofibers (PVDF NFs) have been extensively used in energy harvesting applications due to their promising piezoresponse characteristics. However, the mechanical properties of the generated fibers are still lacking. Therefore, we are presenting in this work a promising improvement in the elasticity properties of PVDF nanofibrous membrane through thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) additives. Morphological, physical, and mechanical analyses were performed for membranes developed from different blend ratios. Then, the impact of added weight ratio of TPU on the piezoelectric response of the formed nanofibrous composite membranes was studied. The piezoelectric characteristics were studied through impulse loading testing where the electric voltage had been detected under applied mass weights. Piezoelectric characteristics were investigated further through a pressure mode test the developed nanofibrous composite membranes were found to be mechanically deformed under applied electric potential. This work introduces promising high elastic piezoelectric materials that can be used in a wide variety of applications including energy harvesting, wearable electronics, self-cleaning filters, and motion/vibration sensors.
- Reimagining Human Capacity For Location-Aware Aural Pattern Recognition: A Case For Immersive Exocentric SonificationBukvic, Ivica Ico; Earle, Gregory D. (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018-06)The following paper presents a cross-disciplinary snapshot of 21st century research in sonification and leverages the review to identify a new immersive exocentric approach to studying human capacity to perceive spatial aural cues. The paper further defines immersive exocentric sonification, highlights its unique affordances, and presents an argument for its potential to fundamentally change the way we understand and study the human capacity for location-aware audio pattern recognition. Finally, the paper describes an example of an externally funded research project that aims to tackle this newfound research whitespace.
- Studies In Spatial Aural Perception: Establishing Foundations For Immersive SonificationBukvic, Ivica Ico; Earle, Gregory D.; Sardana, Disha; Joo, Woohun (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-06)The Spatial Audio Data Immersive Experience (SADIE) project aims to identify new foundational relationships pertaining to human spatial aural perception, and to validate existing relationships. Our infrastructure consists of an intuitive interaction interface, an immersive exocentric sonification environment, and a layer-based amplitude-panning algorithm. Here we highlight the system’s unique capabilities and provide findings from an initial externally funded study that focuses on the assessment of human aural spatial perception capacity. When compared to the existing body of literature focusing on egocentric spatial perception, our data show that an immersive exocentric environment enhances spatial perception, and that the physical implementation using high density loudspeaker arrays enables significantly improved spatial perception accuracy relative to the egocentric and virtual binaural approaches. The preliminary observations suggest that human spatial aural perception capacity in real-world-like immersive exocentric environments that allow for head and body movement is significantly greater than in egocentric scenarios where head and body movement is restricted. Therefore, in the design of immersive auditory displays, the use of immersive exocentric environments is advised. Further, our data identify a significant gap between physical and virtual human spatial aural perception accuracy, which suggests that further development of virtual aural immersion may be necessary before such an approach may be seen as a viable alternative.