Annonces de stages

Title : Master Level Intership offer

Research profile : junior researcher (R1) (0-3 year of research experience)

Offer description

Topic : Perception of art works by visually impaired people: design & production of an informative and aesthetic accessibility tool.

One of the aspects of our research follows the precept stated by the painter Eugène Fromentin (1820-1876) which we transpose in the vision and tactile domains : "To make painting accessible to those who do not see it, it is a question of making the image represented understand but also of accounting for the aesthetic emotion that the painting arouses, and this, by mobilizing all the senses ”.

Also, within the framework of the project “Museum Guide” we seek to create the most relevant tactile (and audio-tactile) representations of elements constituting a painting / an embroidery / a tapestry which allow people with visual impairments (VIP) to apprehend them.

These elements can be of different types, depending on the target accessibility:

• informative (the ability to recognize geometric shapes through a direct transposition of the visual to the tactile, e.g. a knight, a squire),
• aesthetics (the ability to induce unprecedented sensory repercussions that solicit thought and imagination, e.g. simultaneous, tactile and audio stimuli, of sea waves breaking on the hulls of boats).

This internship focuses on aesthetic museum accessibility, and in particular, accessibility to elements of different scenes of the Bayeux Tapestry via the F2T, a specific tactile (force-feedback) touch (haptic) pad being developed at LITIS (Museal Guide, ACCESSPACE).

During the internship different scenes of the Bayeux Tapestry will be investigated and the most relevant elements will be presented to VIP in audio-tactile way using F2T system. This requires:

• image segmentation and detected objects simplification (approximation) and relevant to haptic exploration;
• experimental evaluations of the proposed representations with human participants (VIP, museums’ staff, etc.) in simulated environments and in ecological settings (experimental protocol design, collected data processing/analysis).

Bibliography

1. Gay, S., Rivière, M-A., Pissaloux, E., Toward a haptic surface devices with force feedback for visually impaired people, ICCHP 2018, July 9-13, 2018, Linz, Austria, LNCS II 258- 266
2. Pizenberg, M., Carlier, A., Faure, E. , Charvillat, V., Outlining objects for interactive segmentation on touch devices, ACM, MM2017, Mountain View, USA, 2017 link
3. Souradi, A., Lecomte, Ch., Romeo, K., Gay, S., Rivière, M-A., Elmoataz A., Pissaloux E., Towards the tactile discovery of cultural heritage with multi-approach segmentation, ICISP 2020, Marrakech, Maroc
4. Pissaloux E., Toward the ACCESSPACE or an intuitive tactile device for the autonomous mobility of the Visually Impaired People, RSS2019 Workshop on Haptic Assistance and Augmented Sensing for Enhancing Autonomy of Visually Impaired People, (invited talk), Freiburg 22 June 2019
5. Pawluk, D. T., Adams, R. J., & Kitada, R. (2015), Designing haptic assistive technology for individuals who are blind or visually impaired, IEEE Transactions on Haptics, 8(3), 258-278.

Requirements (Skills/Qualifications)

Master degree in Computer Science, Robotics or closely related field.

Good theoretical and practical background in

• Computer Vision, Image processing, (multimodal) Perception (& sensing), Interaction
• AI, computer engineering, embedded systems (GPU, FPGA)
• Good knowledge of fundamentals in mechatronics, and robotics.

Good programming skills in Java, python (C/C++ )

Knowledge of 3D modelling and 3D printing (e.g. Maya, Blender, SolidWorks)

Know to work in a team

Be persevering

Specific Requirement

• experience with real robotic hardware (programming, electronics & mechanics)
• experience with Ubuntu/Linux
• open mind towards cognitive science and visually impaired sciences & technologies
• good communication skills (at least in English)
• the candidate must be enrolled in an European University.

Required languages: French, English

Required Research Experience : not requested

Website for additional job details : please send your questions to prof. Edwige.Pissaloux@univ-rouen.fr

Benefits The employment will take place with respect to national regulations (Labor code) ( a “gratification », a bonus of around 600€/month).

Eligibility criteria The position will remain open until satisfactory candidate is found.

Selection process Please send via email to Edwige.Pissaloux@univ-rouen.fr (in .pdf format with scanned signature) your application including :

• A letter of intent specifying research experience and intended contributions and the starting date
• The curriculum vitae including a complete list of publications and scientific achievements and interests
• Master degree marks
• Names and email addresses of at least two permanent staff acquainted with research activities of the candidate to be contacted for letter of recommendation

The name of each file should start with candidate-name followed by applied position (post-doc) and nickname of the content.

The candidate may be asked by email for an e-interview (skype, zoom, BBB,…) with the appointment international committee.

Additional comments

The LITIS lab is located in the city named Saint Etienne du Rouvray, with tramway access from the center of Rouen. A room in student dormitory of a reasonable cost can be obtained. Female and disabled applicants, and people with immigration background with equivalent qualifications will be given preferential consideration. Since we will not return your documents, please submit their e-copy only.