Too Hot to Handle: An Evaluation of the Effect of Thermal Visual Representation on User Grasping Interaction in Virtual Reality

Influence of interaction fidelity and rendering quality on perceived user experience have been largely explored in Virtual Reality (VR). However, differences in interaction choices triggered by these rendering cues have not yet been explored. We present a study analysing the effect of thermal visual cues and contextual information on 50 participants' approach to grasp and move a virtual mug. This study comprises 3 different temperature cues (baseline empty, hot and cold) and 4 contextual representations; all embedded in a VR scenario. We evaluate 2 different hand representations (abstract and human) to assess grasp metrics. Results show temperature cues influenced grasp location, with the mug handle being predominantly grasped with a smaller grasp aperture for the hot condition, while the body and top were preferred for baseline and cold conditions

Road Stakeout In Wearable Outdoor Augmented Reality

This thesis advances wearable outdoor augmented reality (WOAR) research by proposing novel visualisations, by consolidating previous work, and through several formal user studies. Wearable outdoor augmented reality combines augmented reality (AR) and wearable computing to enable novel applications. AR allows the user to perceive virtual objects as part of their real environment. Using wearable computers as a platform for AR allows users to see the real and the virtual world combined in a mobile environment. This combination enables new and exciting applications that bring with them new challenges for interface and usability research. The research described in this thesis advances the field of WOAR research by developing a WOAR version of a commercial road stakeout application. This case study makes possible the first formal direct comparison of the performance of a WOAR application and its conventional counterpart. Road stakeout is the process of locating points in the real world and marking them with stakes. This process is not only relevant for road construction, but also to construction and surveying in general. AWOAR stakeout application can visualise stakeout targets on their location in the real world, while conventional stakeout systems can only guide users to these locations using indirect displays. The formal comparison found significant differences in performance, and showed that the WOAR system performed twice as fast at the same accuracy level as the conventional system. The study also identified a number of usability issues and technical problems related to WOAR systems that still need to be overcome. The thesis examines usability problems of the WOAR road stakeout application in detail, proposes solutions, and compares their efficiency in formal user studies. The basic stakeout tasks are navigating to a target location and then placing a stakeout pole on that location. Original research in the fields of directional interfaces and depth cues determined solutions for efficient navigation and pole placement in the WOAR stakeout application. Further, the presented work includes explorative implementations of obscured information visualisations. The thesis proposes interaction with artificially transparent stakeout poles and hands, and examines their feasibility with respect to perceptual and technical issues. A visualisation of a road model investigated the preservation of context while automatically providing detail when needed. The thesis presents working WOAR implementations of navigation and depth cue support, a road model visualisation, and an artificially transparent stakeout pole. In conclusion, the thesis consolidated WOAR interface research and extended the field with empirical research. The presented research is the first that allows a WOAR application to compete directly with a commercial conventional system, demonstrating the strong potential that WOAR systems already have

Interaction with Partially Transparent Hands and Objects

Visual concealment of important objects and information by hands or tools can make many tasks more di#cult. To alleviate this problem, hands and tools can be made partially transparent, allowing users to see their tools and work area simultaneously. This paper describes our experience with a system that can control the level of transparency of hands, tools and objects. We describe how users performed with uniform transparency across objects and with selective transparency where important details of objects are made less transparent. We identify several perceptual issues with this interface and propose possible solutions

Information programming for personal user interfaces

With widespread access to e-mail, the world-wide web, and other information sources, people now use computers more for managing information than for managing applications. To support how people naturally and routinely organize information, computers ought to be able to reflect the categories, relationships, and cues that people rely on when thinking about and remembering facts. Toward this end, we created an Information Programming Toolkit (IPtk) that collects application-independentproperties, indexes documents along many dimensions to create a personal record of information use, and provides convenient means for information access. The IPtk enables the development of smart user interfaces that automatically tailor information to a user’s history and context of information use