This paper assesses the perception of Augmented Reality (AR) by People with Intellectual Disabilities (IDs) when using assistive technologies in preparation for a museum visit. We designed and developed an application to test how AR can provide support and is perceived in this context. We organized a user study with 20 participants with IDs, all members of the same association. Three research visits, including focus groups, enabled us to assess the memorability of the contents before introducing AR technology and collect information about users' habits and preferences. Later, we assessed users' perception of AR individually during a test session and conducted a task-oriented hands-on session. Finally, we went to the museum with our users and gathered information about their preferences and choices when using AR in situ, constantly analyzing verbal and non-verbal feedback. We describe all our findings and discuss their implications in terms of guidelines for future design.

This paper assesses the perception of Augmented Reality (AR) by People with Intellectual Disabilities (IDs) when using assistive technologies in preparation for a museum visit. We designed and developed an application to test how AR can provide support and is perceived in this context. We organized a user study with 20 participants with IDs, all members of the same association. Three research visits, including focus groups, enabled us to assess the memorability of the contents before introducing AR technology and collect information about users' habits and preferences. Later, we assessed users' perception of AR individually during a test session and conducted a task-oriented hands-on session. Finally, we went to the museum with our users and gathered information about their preferences and choices when using AR in situ, constantly analyzing verbal and non-verbal feedback. We describe all our findings and discuss their implications in terms of guidelines for future design.

This paper concerns the work carried out within the Interreg Italia-Malta IAccess project, dedicated to the accessibility of Cultural Heritage. The technologies adopted for the improvement of the fruition of the artistic and cultural heritage within the historical centers of Palermo and Valletta (Malta) are described, with particular reference to the possibilities oered by Virtual and Augmented Reality and technological advances in geomatics.

The ARETE project experienced for the first time the use of XR technologies to promote positive behaviour at school. The aim is to extend the results of this project into a European dimension by creating an ecosystem that is sustainable, innovative and promotes well-being at school.

Augmented reality (AR) is rapidly emerging as an increas- ingly useful technology in educational settings. In the ARETE (Aug- mented Reality Interactive Educational System) H2020 project, consor- tium members designed and implemented an ecosystem aimed at sup- porting teachers in building a collaborative learning environment through the use of AR in order to improve educational experiences. In particu- lar, one of the pilot projects aims to introduce AR into school behavior lessons for the first time, leveraging the Positive Behaviour Interven- tion and Support (PBIS) methodology. Specifically, in this paper we will discuss the proposed architecture within the ARETE project that incorporates AR technology into the learning process of behavior lessons to support the teaching, practice and reinforcement phases of expected behaviors. Through the combination of different technologies and sys- tems, it is possible to create an example of a technological and innovative ecosystem designed for creating behavioral lessons in AR.

Augmented reality applications for Cultural Heritage have been implemented in the last years. The use of AR is currently diffused for many purposes, from technical and managing activities to dissemination. On the communication side, the main potential of such an approach is the extension of human sight as to cover simultaneously the current situation of a point of interest (monuments, archaeological sites, artifacts, etc.) and the reconstruction of its ancient condition in different historical periods. Moreover, it allows us to compare different possible hypotheses and evaluate the reliability of each of them in the general context of the known data. Despite the current limits of AR (due to the approximation in device positioning), which still influence the use of applications for mobile use, such technology is very promising in the fields of tourism, education, and entertainment; it allows to enrich 3D scenarios with different types of content. In the next future, it is reasonable to imagine a huge amount of information, in different formats, potentially reachable by people simply having a look at the remains of the ancient past and choosing their favorite topics. At the same time, the connection of AR with other emerging technological infrastructures (such as IoT) will allow us to collect, view, and manage simultaneously lots of real-time diagnostic data in the same framework. This will foster the research activity toward the definition of new communication metaphors and cognitive solutions.

In recent years, educational researchers and practitioners have become increasingly interested in new technologies for teaching and learning, including augmented reality (AR). The literature has already highlighted the benefit of AR in enhancing learners' outcomes in natural sciences, with a limited number of studies exploring the support of AR in social sciences. Specifically, there have been a number of systematic and scoping reviews in the AR field, but no peer-reviewed review studies on the contribution of AR within interventions aimed at teaching or training behavioral skills have been published to date. In addition, most AR research focuses on technological or development issues. However, limited studies have explored how technology affects social experiences and, in particular, the impact of using AR on social behavior. To address these research gaps, a scoping review was conducted to identify and analyze studies on the use of AR within interventions to teach behavioral skills. These studies were conducted across several intervention settings. In addition to this research question, the review reports an investigation of the literature regarding the impact of AR technology on social behavior. The state of the art of AR solutions designed for interventions in behavioral teaching and learning is presented, with an emphasis on educational and clinical settings. Moreover, some relevant dimensions of the impact of AR on social behavior are discussed in more detail. Limitations of the reviewed AR solutions and implications for future research and development efforts are finally discussed.

Recent advances in wearable augmented reality devices foster the vision of ubiquitous interaction in an immersive, digitally augmented, physical world. Assuming that such devices could one day replace smartphones for accessing information, creating interfaces safeguarding face-to-face communication is challenging. This work presents the design of an interface that adapts the information visualisation to the presence of a possible interlocutor while allowing a high level of user control. The aim was to define an interface for wearable devices adaptive to interactions coming from the surrounding environment and expressly thought for application domains in which it will be necessary to continuously monitor information. For instance, those applications that require monitoring patient data in medical applications or the progress of a production process in an industrial environment. We focused on human-to-human communication, minimising the use of mid-air interaction to hide the synthetic information that might interrupt the conversation flow. Two different visualisation modalities allowing the coexistence of real and virtual worlds are proposed and evaluated in a preliminary study with six participants who showed a generalised appreciation for the solution which maximises the display of information requiring less user intervention.

Industry 4.0 is pushing forward the need for symbiotic interactions between physical and virtual entities of production environments to realize increasingly flexible and customizable production processes. This holds especially for human–robot collaboration in manufacturing, which needs continuous interaction between humans and robots. The coexistence of human and autonomous robotic agents raises several methodological and technological challenges for the design of effective, safe, and reliable control paradigms. This work proposes the integration of novel technologies from Artificial Intelligence, Control and Augmented Reality to enhance the flexibility and adaptability of collaborative systems. We present the basis to advance the classical human-aware control paradigm in favor of a user-aware control paradigm and thus personalize and adapt the synthesis and execution of collaborative processes following a user-centric approach. We leverage a manufacturing case study to show a possible deployment of the proposed framework in a real-world industrial scenario.

This Deliverable D7.10 namely "Website and Social Media-UPDATE 2" presents the updated results of the strategy, roadmap, and timeline for the activities and tasks related to promoting the ARETE Project branding. This includes the overall updated plan for 2021 as well as the results of the Social Media and Website. Activities also include the use of collaborative and communications tools (e.g. blogs, etc.), as well as communications on traditional channels, social channels and networks. According to the plan and activities introduced, all consortium partners will utilise outreach opportunities to demonstrate the project results and promote outreach opportunities.

Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are recognized among the most important technologies enabling the digital transformation of companies. In particular, Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME)s can exploit many opportunities of AR/VR solutions, especially in extending their innovative potential and transforming their customer value proposition. Nevertheless, the implications of AR/VR adoption in innovation processes has received little attention to date, with the need to explore the issues facilitating a systematic implementation in SMEs context. Considering the related challenges in terms of resources, skills and commitment, this study explores drivers, innovation sources and organisational issues of AR/VR solutions entailed in the innovation process of a set of Italian SMEs. Results show that SMEs are adopting AR or VR solutions for innovating their product or service offering, a business process or even their business model when integrating these solutions into the value proposition. They all show having a cultural propensity towards innovation, an important top management involvement and a low resistance to adoption of new technologies from employees. Conversely, the engagement of external innovation actors and the perceived need of training vary according to the innovation outcome.

This paper deals with innovative fruition modalities of cultural heritage sites. Based on two ongoing experiments, four pillars are considered, that is, User Localization, Multimodal Interaction, User Understanding and Gamification. A survey of the existing literature regarding one or more issues related to the four pillars is proposed. It aims to put in evidence the exploitation of these contributions to cultural heritage. It is discussed how a cultural site can be enriched, extended and transformed into an intelligent multimodal environment in this perspective. This new augmented environment can focus on the visitor, analyze his activity and behavior, and make his experience more satisfying, fulfilling and unique. After an in-depth overview of the existing technologies and methodologies for the fruition of cultural interest sites, the two experiments are described in detail and the authors' vision of the future is proposed.

ARETE (Augmented Reality Interactive Educational System) is a European project, which aims to develop an interactive toolkit for Augmented Reality (AR) content. In this work in progress paper, we describe the system which is currently being developed. The ARETE system follows human-centered interaction design practices and has a strong focus in interactive, multi-user and multi-lingual technologies. On completion, the system will be evaluated across three pilot studies. The three pilots will involve more than 3000 students across ten European countries and they will assess the impact of usage of the ARETE system and the educational value of AR for English literacy skills, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) skills and in the implementation of Positive Behaviour Support in Schools (PBIS). ARETE will also be involved in the implementation of new standards for the creation of cross platform content and services as well as the creation of learning experience data repositories.

Virtual and augmented reality technologies can support the process of clinical rehabilitation, making therapy more engaging, challenging and measurable for people with disabilities or injury, encouraging them to continue their rehabilitation outside of the clinical environment [1]. Although these technologies are used in some rehabilitation-related fields [2, 3], their extensive application in the clinical field is still limited.

The ArkaeVision project is aimed at enabling a new way of enjoying Cultural Heritage through a more engaging and culturally-qualified user experience. The main goal is the creation of a technological infrastructure for the permanent enhancement of cultural resources. Hence, ArkaeVision represents a user-centric integrated system able to offer different modalities of exploitation of Cultural Heritage assets, including virtual representations of monuments, works of art and objects, as well as the stories associated to them. ArkaeVision therefore introduces a new communication paradigm, made of game-alike exploration of a 3D environment, virtually reconstructed, with elements of digital fiction and an engaging stortytelling, applied to two case studies: the exploration of the Hera II Temple of Paestum with Virtual Reality (VR) technology, and the exploration of the slab of the Swimmer Tomb with Augmented Reality (AR). The emotional component is fundamental in ArkaeVision, because it generates the motivation and leads people to use immersive viewers, as the HTC Vive, which allow the learning process to be activated more quickly, as many cognitivists and psychologists reported in the latest researches. Also the involvement of users through gamification is well expressed in ArkaeVision. This model of action (and interaction) designed for the public allows to emphasize the role of users through a system that is "guided" by their choices and times, in order to increase users' engagement within the virtual exploration, and favour the content understanding by direct experience. Evaluations conducted on a preliminary prototype suggested that the communicative approach is very promising for education and engagement into cultural heritage experiences.

Obiettivo del progetto Augmented-ADHD (AHA), finanziato dalla Commissione Europea, è creare e testare l' efficacia di un' applicazione supportata dalla Realtà Aumentata per migliorare le abilità di reading e spelling in lingua inglese e i processi di autoregolazione attentiva in bambini con diagnosi di ADHD. Il sistema integra la realtà aumentata con il programma WordsWorthLearning (WWL) e l'applicazione Web Health Application for Adhd Monitoring (WHAAM). Lo studio mira a corroborare l'ipotesi che l'integrazione della realtà aumentata nei processi tradizionali di apprendimento possa migliorare la performance attentiva dei bambini con ADHD.

In recent years augmented reality applications have been increasingly demonstrating the requirement for an interaction with information related to and directly shown in the surrounding environment. Situated information is visualized in its semantic and spatial context, building up an environment enhanced by an information level that dynamically adapts to the production of the information and to the actions of the user. The exploration and manipulation of this type of data through see-through augmented reality devices still represents a challenging task. The development of specific interaction strategies capable to mitigating the current limitations of augmented reality devices is essential. In this context, our contribution has been to design possible solutions to address some of these challenges allowing a dynamic interaction with situated information. Following the visual "information-seeking mantra" proposed by Shneiderman and introducing some "superpowers" for the users, in this work we present different strategies aimed at obtaining an overview and filtering, and acquiring details of a collection of situated data.

Nell'ambito del progetto "God Save The Nerd!", in partnership con ll Museo del Tesoro del Duomo di Vercelli e Bepart (azienda che si occupa di installazioni in realtà aumentata), l'ITD di Palermo sta ideando e realizzando un percorso di gamificazione che arricchirà l'esperienza dei visitatori all'interno del suddetto museo. Nello specifico stiamo sviluppando un videogame educativo, un Serious Game, che coinvolgerà i visitatori in un esperienza di gioco/apprendimento nella quale il museo diventa lo scenario di gioco e i suoi tesori gli strumenti utili a far progredire le sequenze narrative di cui il gioco si compone. Il fulcro della storia è il Vercelli Book, un manoscritto redatto nel sud-est dell'Inghilterra verso la fine del X secolo e contentente omelie in prosa e componimenti poetici. Il visitatore verrà condotto dalla voce narrante del poeta Cynewulf (autore attestato di alcuni componimenti poetici del Vercelli Book) all'interno di unavventura che ha come protagonista un personaggio anch'esso tratto dalle vicende narrate nel manoscritto. Il giocatore vivrà le vicende del protagonista della storia portando a termine una serie di missioni attraverso la risoluzione di rompicapo, enigmi e giochi che stimoleranno le sua capacità di problem-solving, gli forniranno, nella trama narrativa del gioco stesso, diversi spunti di conoscenza legati alle opere del museo e lo condurranno all'epilogo narrativo della storia che vivrà virtualmente. All'interno del progetto "God Save the Nerd!" si è scelto di evidenziare la grande importanza letteraria e storica del Vercelli Book risiedente nel fatto che, insieme a soli altri tre codici coevi conservati nel Regno Unito (Codex Exoniensis della Cathedral Chapter Library di Exeter, Cotton Vitellius della British Library di Londra e Junius XI della Bodleian Library di Oxford) contiene gran parte della produzione poetica in antico inglese. In futuro, infatti, anche in ottica di sostenibilità del progetto stesso, prevediamo di coinvolgere gli enti presso i quali sono conservati gli altri manoscritti e sfruttare l'esperienza del progetto in corso come primo passo verso una più ampia collaborazione internazionale per dare avvio ad un'esperienza di gamification europea a tema che potenzialmente potrà coinvolgere un consistente numero di soggetti museali interessati.

Questo deliverable (3.1.1), "Stato dell'arte della AR applicata ai Beni Culturali", è stato elaborato nell'ambito per progetto On The Way, finanziato dal MISE sul Bando "Grandi Progetti R&S - PON Imprese e competitività FESR 2014/2020 (contratto tra CNR ITABC e Digital Comedia Prot. n. 407 del 28.06.2019). E' stato consegnato dagli autori all'azienda Digital Comedia di Napoli, nel mese di giugno 2019. Esso vuole fornire un quadro il più possibile completo e chiaro delle modalità in cui viene applicata la Augmented Reality (AR) nell'ambito dei beni culturali. Il primo argomento che viene trattato è la definizione del termine AR e i relativi ambiti di applicazione. È noto come l'AR, spesso connessa direttamente alle tecnologie con cui viene sviluppata, subisca a una rapida evoluzione semantica e una conseguente ambiguità in talune sue accezioni. Nel deliverable vengono poi descritte le modalità di integrazione tra reale e virtuale e i device maggiormente utilizzati nelle diverse casistiche. Si passa poi ad una descrizione di casi d'uso reali per la maggior parte relativi all'ultimo decennio in modo da dare un panorama abbastanza ampio della varietà dell'impiego del AR. L'analisi e la comparazione tra questi casi d'uso si offre come occasione per trarre delle conclusioni di carattere generale sui punti di forza e di debolezza sia da un punto di vista comunicativo che tecnologico che di mercato. Il deliverable tratta infine le potenzialità e le possibili direzioni e prospettive future dell'AR applicata ai beni culturali. Chiude il documento una sezione di bibliografia ragionata divisa per argomenti e che si pone come strumento per approfondire e ampliare il percorso conoscitivo della AR.

AHA is a pilot project funded by the European Commission Directorate-General for Communications Network Content and Technology for Technologies and Tools for Children and Young People with ADHD. The acronym AHA means ADHD-Augmented. The AHA pilot project investigates the efficacy of Augmented Reality (AR) in strengthening reading and spelling abilities in children with ADHD adopting an evidence-based intervention approach. Specifically, the AHA project involves the integration of a series of AR objects with WordsWorthLearning© Programme (WWL), a web-based educational tool previously created to improve reading and spelling skills in individuals aged 6 years and over, and the Web Health Application for ADHD Monitoring (WHAAM). The integration process produced the AHA web-based service that allows parents, teachers, and other professionals to monitor the behaviour of children engaged in the reading and spelling activities provided by the system. Overall, the AHA project represents an effort to evaluate whether AR can support children diagnosed with ADHD in improving their reading and spelling literacy and sustaining their attention and engagement with the task.