This paper describes Minerva, an interactive tour-guide robot that was successfully deployed in a Smithsonian museum. Minerva's software is pervasively prob-abilistic, relying on explicit representations of uncertainty in perception and control. This article describes Minerva's major software components, and provides a comparative analysis of the results obtained in the Smithsonian museum. Duri...

We present our basic philosophy and concept of Tokyo University Digital Museum. The main goal of our activity is to propose new forms of museums of the future in which digital technologies support all kinds of museum activities such as gathering, preserving, researching, exhibiting, and educating about collections. Further, we report our novel digital technologies for the digital museum such as...

An intuitive technique for managing three-dimensional objects by shape is presented. This technique is applied to the Virtual Museum in the framework of heritage applications. The Virtual Museum is a virtual reality-based museum that allows the public to visualise, compare, manipulate and search the collection with an intuitive query by shape paradigm. The artefacts and the museum are virtualis...

As long as there have been museum collections they have been interpreted and displayed according to the prevailing philosophy of their time. In the post-modern period many schools of thought have influenced museum interpretation, amongst them Constructivism. The model of the Constructivist Museum is one where visitors are involved in the process of interpretation and the construction of knowled...

An Introduction to the Hunterian Museum. I passed through the regal Roman columns that grace the front entrance of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, England and collected my dark yellow “Museum Visitor” badge from a security guard at the front desk. Upon walking up the stairs to the second floor and then entering the museum, I was greeted by a volunteer working at the desk to the right, ...

The use of mobile devices for informal learning has gained attention over recent years. Museum learning is also regarded as an important research topic in the field of informal learning. This study explored a blended mobile museum learning environment (BMMLE). Moreover, this study applied three blended museum learning modes: (a) the traditional museum visit accompanied by a learning website, (b...

This paper describes an experimental augmented reality based system for overlaying computer generated information on the real world. Museum artefacts are digitised; 3D models are then created and rendered in an augmented reality environment providing the opportunity for museum visitors to visualise virtual artefacts in the context of real artefacts and other contextual information. Viewing 3D m...

This paper describes the museum wearable: a wearable computer which orchestrates an audiovisual narration as a function of the visitor’s interests gathered from his/her physical path in the museum and length of stops. The wearable is made by a lightweight and small computer that people carry inside a shoulder pack. It offers an audiovisual augmentation of the surrounding environment using a sma...

In many cases, museum visitors come to the museum in small groups of friends or families. Their level of ‘togetherness’ may be implied by their proximity and interaction. Position proximity is a basic requirement to enable quiet face to face conversation in a museum, while voice communication is an example of interaction. Group ‘togetherness’ may be measured to serve two purposes: (1) on the mi...

In Western literature, there is evidence that museum explainers offer significant potential for enhancing visitors' learning through influencing their knowledge, content, action, behaviour and attitudes. However, little research has focused on the role of explainers in other cultural contexts. This study explored interactions between visitors and museum explainers within the setting of Thailand...