Design Of A New PumaPaint Interface And Its Use in One Year of Operation

Michael Coristine Undergraduate Student Matthew Stein Associate Professor of Engineering

Roger Williams University Bristol, RI

ICRA2004 April 28, 2004

What is PumaPaint?

Online robot that does one thing Java interface to let users do it Demonstration of remote telerobotic control Not a plotter WWW site for creating and receiving a physical artifact

Origins

Wilkes University 1998-2000 Roger Williams University 2002-Present Roughly 40,000 users to date

The Java Interface

Original Interface English text predominant Somewhat flat, gray Not entirely intuitive

This project

Develop a new interface using Java2/Swing Move from English text to icons Provide a warmer feel Undergraduate independent study for two semesters

The New Java2 Interface

OK, it’s still kind of flat and gray

Some key improvements

Camera windows A. Ryan Tiebout WinTV card CGI interface and controls Near live video

Some key improvements

Context sensitive mouse Brush Colors

Some key improvements

Animated buttons Grayed out when invalid Shows current color

Some key improvements

Slider animations

Unintended consequences

Slider animations can be confused with actions Return “Dip” button Do you move the slider to paint?

May be misleading indication of contact

One year usage

Main Page PumaPaint class “Class not found” Intersection

Total Distinct

9391 4848 2720 2472 1716 239 Source: httpd log August ’02 August ‘03 Roughly 2500 people connected up About 40% of potential users did not have Java2 Of those, 14% apparently bothered to obtain the plug in and return to download the interface

What did they do with it?

Typical canvas Lots of text Lots of scribble

What did they do with it?

Some nice pieces Some mailed to users Not all

Recent Phenomenon

Dedicated vandal

Recent Phenomenon

Metronome like strokes Automated issuance of commands?

Hundreds of hours connected

Recent Phenomenon

Likes to tear down the paper Metronome strokes on easel AOL user from New Jersey Asked for canvases but ignored repeated requests to explain techniques or motivation

Summary

Site continues as a vehicle for undergraduate projects Online 5 years and counting* Still interested in paintings Dedicated vandal something new Currently developing 3D manipulation using anthropomorphic hands to model clay