Anxiety toward robots is a pre-conditioned emotion that might inhibit the formation of positive attitudes about interactions with robots. In the context of consumer robotics, this study operationalizes anxiety toward robots as consumers’ anxious feelings and fears about robots in frontline retail encounters. The study evaluates item quality of the anxiety toward robots construct and showcases the benefits of using Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT) for developing and assessing a scale measurement. The findings of this study suggest that the five items comprising the anxiety toward robots scale demonstrate high measurement quality, indicating their accurate representation of the intended construct. By integrating CTT and IRT analytic techniques, the study successfully builds a reliable scale for measuring anxiety toward robots in a and contributes to the use of an alternative statistical method for facilitating the construction of valid research instruments in consumer robotics.

We develop a theoretical framework for a two-sided market structure to model the competition between a Preferred Provider organization (PPO) and a Health Maintenance organization (HMO). Both health plans compete to attract policyholders and providers. Our game-theoretical framework examines the consequences of risk segmentation on providers and the network effect on policyholders based on market information and network size. The outcome of the competition depends mostly on two effects: a market share effect and an adverse selection effect, captured by policyholders' surplus expectations on both policies and copayments. If the adverse selection effect is strong enough, the HMO plan gets higher profits. On the other hand, if the market share effect dominates, the PPO profit is higher despite the unfavorable risk segmentation and higher premium. The twosided nature of the health insurance market can explain the preference of higher flexibility that has been observed during the last 15 years in the US health insurance market. However, PPO plans were drastically reduced in HealthCare.gov's 2016 lineup since many insurers claimed to be losing money on these plans and opted not to offer them in the health insurance exchange market. Our analysis shows that to be profitable, the PPO has to maintain an appropriate ratio between in-network copayment and out-of-network copayment. One conjecture is that HMO can offer more attractive remuneration to the physicians' side and premium to the policyholders' side. This may explain the gradual gain in the HMO market.

SpaceTop is a concept that fuses spatial 2D and 3D interactions in a single workspace. It extends the traditional desktop interface with interaction technology and visualization techniques that enable seamless transitions between 2D and 3D manipulations. SpaceTop allows users to type, click, draw in 2D, and directly manipulate interface elements that float in the 3D space above the keyboard. It makes it possible to easily switch from one modality to another, or to simultaneously use two modalities with different hands. We introduce hardware and software configurations for co-locating these various interaction modalities in a unified workspace using depth cameras and a transparent display. We describe new interaction and visualization techniques that allow users to interact with 2D elements floating in 3D space. We present the results from a preliminary user study that indicates the benefit of such hybrid workspaces.

Recent research in 3D user interfaces pushes towards immersive graphics and actuated shape displays. Our work explores the hybrid of these directions, and we introduce sublimation and deposition, as metaphors for the transitions between physical and virtual states. We discuss how digital models, handles and controls can be interacted with as virtual 3D graphics or dynamic physical shapes, and how user interfaces can rapidly and fluidly switch between those representations. To explore this space, we developed two systems that integrate actuated shape displays and augmented reality (AR) for co-located physical shapes and 3D graphics. Our spatial optical see-through display provides a single user with head-tracked stereoscopic augmentation, whereas our handheld devices enable multi-user interaction through video seethrough AR. We describe interaction techniques and applications that explore 3D interaction for these new modalities. We conclude by discussing the results from a user study that show how freehand interaction with physical shape displays and co-located graphics can outperform wand-based interaction with virtual 3D graphics.

This paper presents ZeroN, a new tangible interface element that can be levitated and moved freely by computer in a three dimensional space. ZeroN serves as a tangible rep-resentation of a 3D coordinate of the virtual world through which users can see, feel, and control computation. To ac-complish this, we developed a magnetic control system that can levitate and actuate a permanent magnet in a pre-defined 3D volume. This is combined with an optical tracking and display system that projects images on the levitating object. We present applications that explore this new interaction modality. Users are invited to place or move the ZeroN object just as they can place objects on surfaces. For example, users can place the sun above physical objects to cast digital shadows, or place a planet that will start revolving based on simulated physical conditions. We describe the technology and interaction scenarios, discuss initial observations, and outline future development.