Stories of gesture and sign language, HCI, perception and robots
Paro, a present for some Dutch elderly people (source)
In the local Dutch news I read that another Paro, a robot baby seal, had reached our shores. More specifically, a Paro seal entered the homes and hearts of the good people of verpleeghuis Van Wijckerslooth in Oegstgeest.
It is altogether fitting that Paro has come to Oegstgeest. [...]
Thanks to Alexis Heloir, a fellow PhD working on gestures, for sending me this story: Wild Vervet Monkeys Wreak Havoc in Kenya (or check the BBC which is the source).
The most interesting part of this nice story (which tells of a group of vervets monkeys stealing food from a village and threatening specifically the women) [...]
It may be stereotyped, genetically programmed behaviour (as my friend GL felt obliged to point out), but the link my roomie Jenneke sent me is still the best case of gesturing fish I have seen (see earlier observations about the John Dory and the Octopus). In a spectacular study Redouan Bshary, Andrea Hohner, Karim Ait-el-Djoudi, [...]
Pointing appears ever so natural to us. Everyone points (even though most of us feel it’s rude to point at someone) and you don’t need to learn it, right?
As a young father of two I wonder: Could finger-pointing be innate?
Well, an interesting point is raised by animal studies. Even though chimpanzees follow our gaze it [...]
In a world full of wonders, it is but a small step from a fish called Saint Peter, to the town of St Petersburg, where the G8 is now being held. And joining the online readers today with a nice analysis of the G8 summit body language is Dr Peter Bull of York University (for [...]
There are many fish in the sea. And when divers come to admire them, it may not just the divers that gesture. There are some, like octopi, squids and cuttlefish that signal through colour changes. Or they blow themselves up in response to perceived threats, like terrorists pufferfish.
But I once heard a very nice story
About [...]
There are many fish in the sea. And when divers come to admire them, it may not just be the divers that gesture. There are some, like octopi, squids and cuttlefish that signal through colour changes. Or they blow themselves up in response to perceived threats, like terrorists pufferfish.
But I once heard a very nice [...]
Behold the Octopus. The James Bond of the sea. Ringo Starr once wrote:
I’d like to be
Under the sea
In an Octopus’s garden
In the shade
They pinned a romantic story on him about Octopi being aesthetic collectors. But an Octopus’s garden is no more than the leftovers, the bones, spines and shells, outside a den. Of course, a [...]
If you’re something of a gesture fan you probably heard about diving signals aka underwater hand signals. The Active Divers Association (ADA) keeps pictures of the essentials. Other than that there’s not a lot to check out on the web.
(img source: ADA)
Now here’s the story. Some Dutch divers put up their own creative contributions [...]
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