Remote Monitoring and Teleoperation of Autonomous Vehicles −- Is Virtual Reality an Option?

While the promise of autonomous vehicles has led to significant scientific and industrial progress, fully automated, SAE level 5 conform cars will likely not see mass adoption anytime soon. Instead, in many applications, human supervision, such as remote monitoring and teleoperation, will be required for the foreseeable future. While Virtual Reality (VR) has been proposed as one potential interface for teleoperation, its benefits and drawbacks over physical monitoring and teleoperation solutions have not been thoroughly investigated. To this end, we contribute three user studies, comparing and quantifying the performance of and subjective feedback for a VR-based system with an existing monitoring and teleoperation system, which is in industrial use today. Through these three user studies, we contribute to a better understanding of future virtual monitoring and teleoperation solutions for autonomous vehicles. The results of our first user study (n=16) indicate that a VR interface replicating the physical interface does not outperform the physical interface. It also quantifies the negative effects that combined monitoring and teleoperating tasks have on users irrespective of the interface being used. The results of the second user study (n=24) indicate that the perceptual and ergonomic issues caused by VR outweigh its benefits, like better concentration through isolation. The third follow-up user study (n=24) specifically targeted the perceptual and ergonomic issues of VR; the subjective feedback of this study indicates that newer-generation VR headsets have the potential to catch up with the current physical displays

VocabulARy : learning vocabulary in AR supported by keyword visualizations

This research was supported by European Commission through the InnoRenew CoE project (Grant Agreement 739574) under the Horizon2020 Widespread-Teaming program and the Republic of Slovenia (investment funding of the Republic of Slovenia and the European Union of the European Regional Development Fund). We also acknowledge support from the Slovenian research agency ARRS (program no. BI-DE/20-21-002, P1-0383, J1-9186, J1-1715, J5-1796, and J1-1692).Learning vocabulary in a primary or secondary language is enhanced when we encounter words in context. This context can be afforded by the place or activity we are engaged with. Existing learning environments include formal learning, mnemonics, flashcards, use of a dictionary or thesaurus, all leading to practice with new words in context. In this work, we propose an enhancement to the language learning process by providing the user with words and learning tools in context, with VocabulARy. VocabulARy visually annotates objects in AR, in the user's surroundings, with the corresponding English (first language) and Japanese (second language) words to enhance the language learning process. In addition to the written and audio description of each word, we also present the user with a keyword and its visualisation to enhance memory retention. We evaluate our prototype by comparing it to an alternate AR system that does not show an additional visualisation of the keyword, and, also, we compare it to two non-AR systems on a tablet, one with and one without visualising the keyword. Our results indicate that AR outperforms the tablet system regarding immediate recall, mental effort and task-completion time. Additionally, the visualisation approach scored significantly higher than showing only the written keyword with respect to immediate and delayed recall and learning efficiency, mental effort and task-completion time.PostprintPeer reviewe

Breaking the Screen: Interaction Across Touchscreen Boundaries in Virtual Reality for Mobile Knowledge Workers.

Virtual Reality (VR) has the potential to transform knowledge work. One advantage of VR knowledge work is that it allows extending 2D displays into the third dimension, enabling new operations, such as selecting overlapping objects or displaying additional layers of information. On the other hand, mobile knowledge workers often work on established mobile devices, such as tablets, limiting interaction with those devices to a small input space. This challenge of a constrained input space is intensified in situations when VR knowledge work is situated in cramped environments, such as airplanes and touchdown spaces. In this paper, we investigate the feasibility of interacting jointly between an immersive VR head-mounted display and a tablet within the context of knowledge work. Specifically, we 1) design, implement and study how to interact with information that reaches beyond a single physical touchscreen in VR; 2) design and evaluate a set of interaction concepts; and 3) build example applications and gather user feedback on those applications

Interactive Molecular Graphics for Augmented Reality Using HoloLens

Immersive technologies like stereo rendering, virtual reality, or augmented reality (AR) are often used in the field of molecular visualisation. Modern, comparably lightweight and affordable AR headsets like Microsoft’s HoloLens open up new possibilities for immersive analytics in molecular visualisation. A crucial factor for a comprehensive analysis of molecular data in AR is the rendering speed. HoloLens, however, has limited hardware capabilities due to requirements like battery life, fanless cooling and weight. Consequently, insights from best practises for powerful desktop hardware may not be transferable. Therefore, we evaluate the capabilities of the HoloLens hardware for modern, GPU-enabled, high-quality rendering methods for the space-filling model commonly used in molecular visualisation. We also assess the scalability for large molecular data sets. Based on the results, we discuss ideas and possibilities for immersive molecular analytics. Besides more obvious benefits like the stereoscopic rendering offered by the device, this specifically includes natural user interfaces that use physical navigation instead of the traditional virtual one. Furthermore, we consider different scenarios for such an immersive system, ranging from educational use to collaborative scenarios

Worksite tobacco prevention in the Canton of Zurich: stages of change, predictors, and outcomes

OBJECTIVES: This study provides information about the prevalence of tobacco prevention (TP) and the stages of change with respect to the introduction of TP among companies in the Canton of Zurich (n = 1,648). It explores the factors that predict restrictiveness of smoking policies, number of individual support measures, interest in services to promote TP, and the relationship between TP and health outcomes. METHODS: Data were gathered by means of a written questionnaire and analysed using ordinal regression models. RESULTS: Whereas many companies maintain smoke-free policies, only few provide cessation-courses. Health and welfare organisations have strictest, and building and hospitality companies have least strict policies. Company size predicts number of individual support measures but not policy restrictiveness. Both measures are predicted by personal concern of the representative. Interest in services is predicted by tobacco-related problems and medium stages of change. Finally, stricter policies are associated with lower proportion of smokers and less tobacco-related problems. CONCLUSIONS: Health professionals should support less advanced companies in their endeavour to implement TP. The findings provide a baseline to evaluate the implementation of the forthcoming smoke-free legislation