Research blog of Mikko J. Rissanen, Ph.D.

On these pages I have collected all my research topics from years 2003-2013, all the way from my Master thesis done in Finland to my last academic position in Singapore. I've included short abstracts as well as complete list of related papers, presentations and patents for each project. I also list some of the related works that have truly inspired me to study these topics in depth.

Since those years my only involvement in research forums have been through my Ph.D. students and peer-reviewing international top-tier conferences such as IEEE VR, some of the conferences organized by SIGCHI (e.g. CHI), and my personal favorite ISMAR.

Mobile social telepresence 2012-2013

In this student project we studied the role of telepresence, social presence and copresence and develop a qualitative approach for evaluating social telepresence in mobile context. Our approach aims to meet the need of rapidly growing industries of mixed reality, social media, video broadcasting services and wearable devices. Read more

Assistive technologies for the elderly 2012-2013

This project developed assistive technologies for the elderly in Singapore together with NTU’s School of Art, Design & Media with focus on subtle wearable user interfaces that are easier to learn and more convenient to use than current smartphones. Specifically, we are developed proof-of-concept devices called UbiRing and UbiBracelet that enable smartphone use by just taking photos. Read more

Wearable & mobile computing for industrial service 2010-2012

The state-of-the-art work on repairing and maintaining industrial devices in the field or in large production facilities suffers from slow adaptation of the latest ICT technology. Work orders and guides often follow the repairman on paper. We identified several scenarios about industrial service work which would benefit from wearable/ubiquitous computing and augmented reality solutions. We developed fundamental concept designs and demos that show the potential of these technologies in industrial...Read more

Industrial user experience 2009-2011

Almost all of the scientific literature on user experience (UX) focuses on the consumer domain, e.g. design of mobile phones. Because of the lack of scientific knowledge that would be easily adaptable to heavy industry we started the academic discussion on industrial user experience, which combines software user experience and best practices of user-centered design (UCD) with industrial design, human factors and engineering in heavy industry. First we started fitting industrial development...Read more

Power grid visualization 2008-2010

Smart living environments for senior citizens 2008

The Smart Living Environment for Senior Citizen (SESC) was one of the MOBI research group's projects that combined ICT, architecture, medical technology and senior citizen services as a new type of ubiquitous services that enable senior citizens to lead an independent life. Specifically, we developed an overall system architecture a smart shopping cart enabled by RFID and head-mounted devices technologies which help elders suffering from memory disorders (such as dementia) to do their running...Read more

VR-based teaching of psychomotor skills in medicine 2004-2007

My doctoral thesis project is one of the few attempts of creating a record-and-replay type of skill-transfer using virtual reality based training simulators. The conventional way of teaching psychomotor skills in complex domains such as medicine is limited to visual replay of experts performing example cases. The examples are supplemented with inaccurate verbal guidance and feedback describing physical manipulation. We developed a multimodal annotation model for dynamic virtual environments...Read more

Mobile worker support environments 2004

As a response to the recent advances in ICT and especially mobile technologies the European Union project Mobile Worker Support Environments aimed at identifying human-centric scenarios and technologies that enable seamless mobile work in the future. The project focused on 1) mobile work roadmap development, R&D strategy and agenda, 2) domain specific innovation in mobile workspace (e.g. healthcare, manufacturing, construction, rural work, 3) network, communication and dissemination, and 4)...Read more

Coordination support in online virtual worlds 2003

My master thesis project examined differences in system support in online virtual worlds for leisure-oriented coordination activities in comparison to collaborative virtual environments (CVEs) designed for work. I found out, for instance, that when skillful users become famous (e.g. for being able to make good-looking avatars for other users) their requirements for coordination support become quite different from other users and users of work-oriented CVEs. This has clear implications to the...Read more