arXiv subjects

Barrett Ens

Publications and source records attributed to Barrett Ens.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Draped Surfaces: A Contour-Adaptive Interface Overlaid on the Physical Environment for Mixed Reality Workspaces

Conventional Mixed Reality (MR) workspaces are frequently organized in cockpit-like layouts, where multiple floating windows surround the user. While this configuration facilitates access to digital content, it often induces occlusion, reducing understanding of the physical environment and limiting access to real-world objects. To overcome this challenge, we present the Contour-Adaptive Mixed Environment Overlays (CAMEO), a contour-adaptive MR interface that drapes virtual windows onto physical surfaces. This design integrates digital content with nearby items, thereby improving users' visual access to background objects and supporting interaction with them. We evaluate CAMEO in two controlled studies. The first demonstrates that draping reduces hand-movement detours relative to flat mid-air surfaces, enabling more direct interaction with nearby items. The second shows that controlled window deformation does not significantly impair text legibility when compared to flat surfaces. Together, these findings contribute a novel design paradigm for MR workspaces that balances immersion, readability, and environmental understanding.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2026

MarioChart: Autonomous Tangibles as Active Proxy Interfaces for Embodied Casual Data Exploration

We introduce the notion of an Active Proxy interface, i.e. tangible models as proxies for physical data referents, supporting interactive exploration of data through active manipulation. We realise an active proxy data visualisation system, "MarioChart", using robot carts relocating themselves on a tabletop, e.g., to align with their data referents in a map or other visual layout. We consider a casual-data exploration scenario involving a multivariate campus sustainability dataset, using scale models as proxies for their physical building data referents. Our empirical study (n=12) compares active proxy use with conventional tablet interaction, finding that our active proxy system enhances short-term spatial memory of data and enables faster completion of certain data analytic tasks. It shows no significant differences compared to traditional touch-screens in long-term memory, physical fatigue, mental workload, or user engagement. Our study offers an initial baseline for active proxy techniques and advances understanding of tangible interfaces in situated data visualisation.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2025

An Exploratory Study on AI-driven Visualisation Techniques on Decision Making in Extended Reality

The integration of extended reality (XR) with artificial intelligence (AI) introduces a new paradigm for user interaction, enabling AI to perceive user intent, stimulate the senses, and influence decision-making. We explored the impact of four AI-driven visualisation techniques -- `Inform,' `Nudge,' `Recommend,' and `Instruct' -- on user decision-making in XR using the Meta Quest Pro. To test these techniques, we used a pre-recorded 360-degree video of a supermarket, overlaying each technique through a virtual interface. We aimed to investigate how these different visualisation techniques with different levels of user autonomy impact preferences and decision-making. An exploratory study with semi-structured interviews provided feedback and design recommendations. Our findings emphasise the importance of maintaining user autonomy, enhancing AI transparency to build trust, and considering context in visualisation design.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2025

AlphaPIG: The Nicest Way to Prolong Interactive Gestures in Extended Reality

Mid-air gestures serve as a common interaction modality across Extended Reality (XR) applications, enhancing engagement and ownership through intuitive body movements. However, prolonged arm movements induce shoulder fatigue, known as "Gorilla Arm Syndrome", degrading user experience and reducing interaction duration. Although existing ergonomic techniques derived from Fitts' law (such as reducing target distance, increasing target width, and modifying control-display gain) provide some fatigue mitigation, their implementation in XR applications remains challenging due to the complex balance between user engagement and physical exertion. We present AlphaPIG, a meta-technique designed to Prolong Interactive Gestures by leveraging real-time fatigue predictions. AlphaPIG assists designers in extending and improving XR interactions by enabling automated fatigue-based interventions. Through adjustment of intervention timing and intensity decay rate, designers can explore and control the trade-off between fatigue reduction and potential effects such as decreased body ownership. We validated AlphaPIG's effectiveness through a study (N=22) implementing the widely-used Go-Go technique. Results demonstrated that AlphaPIG significantly reduces shoulder fatigue compared to non-adaptive Go-Go, while maintaining comparable perceived body ownership and agency. Based on these findings, we discuss positive and negative perceptions of the intervention. By integrating real-time fatigue prediction with adaptive intervention mechanisms, AlphaPIG constitutes a critical first step towards creating fatigue-aware applications in XR.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2024

NICER: A New and Improved Consumed Endurance and Recovery Metric to Quantify Muscle Fatigue of Mid-Air Interactions

Natural gestures are crucial for mid-air interaction, but predicting and managing muscle fatigue is challenging. Existing torque-based models are limited in their ability to model above-shoulder interactions and to account for fatigue recovery. We introduce a new hybrid model, NICER, which combines a torque-based approach with a new term derived from the empirical measurement of muscle contraction and a recovery factor to account for decreasing fatigue during rest. We evaluated NICER in a mid-air selection task using two interaction methods with different degrees of perceived fatigue. Results show that NICER can accurately model above-shoulder interactions as well as reflect fatigue recovery during rest periods. Moreover, both interaction methods show a stronger correlation with subjective fatigue measurement (r = 0.978/0.976) than a previous model, Cumulative Fatigue (r = 0.966/ 0.923), confirming that NICER is a powerful analytical tool to predict fatigue across a variety of gesture-based interactive applications.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2021

Digital Twin of a Cloud Data Centre: OpenStack Cluster Visualisation

Data centres in contemporary times are essential as the supply of data increases. Data centres are areas where computing systems are concentrated for facilitating data processing, transfer and storage. At present traditional data centres have moved more towards the cloud model thereby making the processing, storage and harnessing of data more manageable and more accessible via the utility and subscription-based model of computing services. From the administrative point of view, cloud data centres are complex systems, hard to grasp and require large amounts of time to analyse different aspects of the cloud data centre such as maintenance and resource management. For a cloud data centre admin, this could be a challenging problem and a highly time-consuming task. Accordingly, there is a need to improve the useability of cloud data centre monitoring and management tools, and the digital twin could fulfil this need. This paper's primary objective is to construct a digital twin - a 3D visualisation and monitoring tool - of a cloud data centre managed by OpenStack, the well-known open-source cloud computing infrastructure software. To evaluate our proposed tool, we garner feedback on the digital twin's useability compared to the OpenStack dashboard. The input will be received from cloud data centres experts as they test the digital twin and answer various questions in an interview. The study results show that our proposed Digital Twin will help data centre admins better monitor and manage their data centres. It also will facilitate further research and implementation of the digital twin of data centres to improve usability.

cs.DC↗