Tell me, show me, involve me: Supercharging Collaborative Diagnosis with Augmented Reality

Augmented reality has been broadly employed to help remote individuals communicate and coordinate. In this study, we develop and test a model that explains how augmented reality can facilitate collaborative diagnosis on an unexpected technical breakdown involving two complete strangers. Drawing on the affordance theory, we integrate the dual-task interference literature to reveal frustration valence and arousal as the underlying mechanisms. We tested our hypothesis in a laboratory experiment involving a custom-built augmented reality environment and physiological measurements. Overall, this study contributes to information system literature, human-computer interaction literature, and dual-task interference research by unearthing the effects of augmented reality characteristics on enhancing collaborative diagnosis performance

Mobile, collaborative augmented reality using cloudlets

The evolution in mobile applications to support advanced interactivity and demanding multimedia features is still ongoing. Novel application concepts (e.g. mobile Augmented Reality (AR)) are however hindered by the inherently limited resources available on mobile platforms (not withstanding the dramatic performance increases of mobile hardware). Offloading resource intensive application components to the cloud, also known as "cyber foraging", has proven to be a valuable solution in a variety of scenarios. However, also for collaborative scenarios, in which data together with its processing are shared between multiple users, this offloading concept is highly promising. In this paper, we investigate the challenges posed by offloading collaborative mobile applications. We present a middleware platform capable of autonomously deploying software components to minimize average CPU load, while guaranteeing smooth collaboration. As a use case, we present and evaluate a collaborative AR application, offering interaction between users, the physical environment as well as with the virtual objects superimposed on this physical environment

Collaborative Content Generation Architectures for the Mobile Augmented Reality Environment

The increasing adoption of smartphones by the society has created a new research area in mobile collaboration. This new domain offers an interesting set of possibilities due to the introduction of augmented reality techniques, which provide an enhanced collaboration experience. As this area is relatively immature, there is a lack of conceptualization, and for this reason, this paper proposes a new taxonomy called Collaborative Content Generation Pyramid that classifies the current and future mobile collaborative AR applications in three different levels: Isolated, Social and Live. This classification is based on the architectures related to each level, taking into account the way the AR content is generated and how the collaboration is carried out. Therefore, the principal objective of this definition is to clarify terminology issues and to provide a framework for classifying new researches across this environment

Communication Capability for a Simulation-Based Test and Evaluation Framework for Autonomous Systems

The design and testing process for collaborative autonomous systems can be extremely complex and time-consuming, so it is advantageous to begin testing early in the design. A Test & Evaluation (T&E) Framework was previously developed to enable the testing of autonomous software at various levels of mixed reality. The Framework assumes a modular approach to autonomous software development, which introduces the possibility that components are not in the same stage of development. The T&E Framework allows testing to begin early in a simulated environment, with the autonomous software methodically migrating from virtual to augmented to physical environments as component development advances. This thesis extends the previous work to include a communication layer allowing collaborative autonomous systems to communicate with each other and with a virtual environment. Traversing through the virtuality-reality spectrum results in different communication needs for collaborative autonomous systems, namely the use of different communication protocols at each level of the spectrum. For example, testing in a fully simulated environment might be on a single processor or allow wired communication if distributed to different computing platforms. Alternatively, testing in a fully physical environment imposes the need for wireless communication. However, an augmented environment may require the concurrent use of multiple protocols. This research extends the Test & Evaluation Framework by developing a heterogeneous communication layer to facilitate the implementation and testing of collaborative autonomous systems throughout various levels of the virtuality-reality spectrum. The communication layer presented in this thesis allows developers of the core autonomous software to be shielded from the configuration of communication needs, with changes to the communication environment not resulting in changes to the autonomous software

User Interface and Interaction Design Considerations for Collaborative Learning Using Augmented Reality Learning Object

Abstract. Most education is too often about teaching and not enough about learning. It is because students are forced to take whatever it is given to them without considering what they think about it, in other words, they passively take the given knowledge. This paper presents early investigation about interface and interaction design considerations for effective collaborative learning by taking account individual learning preferences and collaborative learning characteristics of engineering students. In our investigation, we follow Felder Silverman Learning Style Model and conducted a test measured using Index Learning Style. As a result, we discovered that engineering students tend to be active, sensory, visual, and sequential. Therefore, we implement augmented reality views to satisfy students’ learning preferences toward content presentation (visual learner). It is also because augmented reality can give rich information toward real objects/environment. For collaborative characteristics, we studied past research on collaborative learning regarding its characteristics that affects learning effectiveness. Besides, our proposed design also considered the user interface principle which provides a guidance to effectively implement our consideration into an interface

Exploring context-sensitive collaborative augmented reality applications

In smart spaces limited amount of physical resources are available. Also, system should be able to offer relevant information according to user’s personal preferences. At the same time smart environments could serve many users with same requirement of relevancy and operate on limited resources. Sometimes it may not be possible to share resource in a way that respects all users without compromising collaboration. This thesis is focused on solving the problem of shared resource from the perspective of augmented reality. Selected standpoint is on mobile collaborative augmented reality and context-awareness. A small user study has been arranged as part of thesis to bring out information about user’s thoughts and emotions while using a simple prototype application. In addition, a small literature review about main concepts is conducted. There is a short analysis of some collaborative augmented reality applications presented based on recent literature. Results of the thesis show that even with small experiments it is possible to discover new information from users. Results also provide tentative answers to presented research questions. Main findings are that users have high expectations towards context-awareness and augmented reality technologies. They also expect applications to offer relevant, validated and also surprising information in each situation. This thesis has some evidence about suitability of augmented reality in context-aware applications that are targeted to support human-to human collaboration. With augmented reality it is possible to offer individual standpoints for users while they are inspecting limited, shared resources. Endorsement of user’s ability to monitor their environment is one challenge in large smart environments. Finally, software engineer can take user’s expectations into account when designing context-aware systems for smart environments. Also, developer could implement system that takes advantage of different human sensory modalities

Collaborative Augmented Reality

Over the past number of years augmented reality (AR) has become an increasingly pervasive as a consumer level technology. The principal drivers of its recent development has been the evolution of mobile and handheld devices, in conjunction with algorithms and techniques from fields such as 3D computer vision. Various commercial platforms and SDKs are now available that allow developers to quickly develop mobile AR apps requiring minimal understanding of the underlying technology. Much of the focus to date, both in the research and commercial environment, has been on single user AR applications. Just as collaborative mobile applications have a demonstrated role in the increasing popularity of mobile devices, and we believe collaborative AR systems present a compelling use-case for AR technology. The aim of this thesis is the development a mobile collaborative augmented reality framework. We identify the elements required in the design and implementation stages of collaborative AR applications. Our solution enables developers to easily create multi-user mobile AR applications in which the users can cooperatively interact with the real environment in real time. It increases the sense of collaborative spatial interaction without requiring complex infrastructure. Assuming the given low level communication and AR libraries have modular structures, the proposed approach is also modular and flexible enough to adapt to their requirements without requiring any major changes

Collaborative Augmented Reality

Over the past number of years augmented reality (AR) has become an increasingly pervasive as a consumer level technology. The principal drivers of its recent development has been the evolution of mobile and handheld devices, in conjunction with algorithms and techniques from fields such as 3D computer vision. Various commercial platforms and SDKs are now available that allow developers to quickly develop mobile AR apps requiring minimal understanding of the underlying technology. Much of the focus to date, both in the research and commercial environment, has been on single user AR applications. Just as collaborative mobile applications have a demonstrated role in the increasing popularity of mobile devices, and we believe collaborative AR systems present a compelling use-case for AR technology. The aim of this thesis is the development a mobile collaborative augmented reality framework. We identify the elements required in the design and implementation stages of collaborative AR applications. Our solution enables developers to easily create multi-user mobile AR applications in which the users can cooperatively interact with the real environment in real time. It increases the sense of collaborative spatial interaction without requiring complex infrastructure. Assuming the given low level communication and AR libraries have modular structures, the proposed approach is also modular and flexible enough to adapt to their requirements without requiring any major changes

Integration of georegistered information on a virtual globe

In collaborative augmented reality (AR) missions, much georegis-tered information is collected and sent to a command and control center. This paper describes the concept and prototypical imple-mentation of a mixed reality (MR) based system that integrates georegistered information from AR systems and other sources on a virtual globe. The application can be used for a command and control center to monitor the field operation where multiple AR users are engaging in a collaborative mission. Google Earth is used to demonstrate the system, which integrates georegistered icons, live video streams from field operators or surveillance cameras, 3D models, and satellite or aerial photos into one MR environment

Multiplayer RC-car Driving System in a Collaborative Augmented Reality Environment

We developed a prototype system for multiplayer RC-car driving in a collaborative Augmented Reality (AR) environment. The tele-existence environment is constructed by superimposing digital data onto images captured by a camera on an RC-car, enabling players to experience an augmented coexistence of the digital content and the real world. Marker-based tracking was used for estimating position and orientation of the camera. The plural RC-cars can be operated in a field where square markers are arranged. The video images captured by the camera are transmitted to a PC for visual tracking. The RC-cars are also tracked by using an infrared camera attached to the ceiling, so that the instability is reduced in the visual tracking. Multimedia data such as texts and graphics are visualized to be overlaid onto the video images in the geometrically correct manner. The prototype system allows a tele-existence sensation to be augmented in a collaborative AR environment