arXiv subjects

Jens Grubert

Publications and source records attributed to Jens Grubert.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

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.

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arXiv2023

Video Analysis of Behavioral Patterns During Prolonged Work in VR

VR has recently been promoted as a tool for knowledge workers and studies have shown that it has the potential to improve knowledge work. However, studies on its prolonged use have been scarce. A prior study compared working in VR for one week to working in a physical environment, focusing on performance measures and subjective feedback. However, a nuanced understanding and comparison of participants' behavior in VR and the physical environment is still missing. To this end, we analyzed video material made available from this previously conducted experiment, carried out over a working week, and present our findings on comparing the behavior of participants while working in VR and in a physical environment.

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arXiv2022

VocabulARy replicated: comparing teenagers to young adults

A critical component of user studies is gaining access to a representative sample of the population researches intend to investigate. Nevertheless, the vast majority of human-computer interaction (HCI)studies, including augmented reality (AR) studies, rely on convenience sampling. The outcomes of these studies are often based on results obtained from university students aged between 19 and 26 years. In order to investigate how the results from one of our studies are affected by convenience sampling, we replicated the AR-supported language learning study called VocabulARy with 24 teenagers, aged between 14 and 19 years. The results verified most of the outcomes from the original study. In addition, it also revealed that teenagers found learning significantly less mentally demanding compared to young adults, and completed the study in a significantly shorter time. All this at no cost to learning outcomes.

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arXiv2022

Content Transfer Across Multiple Screens with Combined Eye-Gaze and Touch Interaction -- A Replication Study

In this paper, we describe the results of replicating one of our studies from two years ago which compares two techniques for transferring content across multiple screens in VR. Results from the previous study have shown that a combined gaze and touch input can outperform a bimanual touch-only input in terms of task completion time, simulator sickness, task load and usability. Except for the simulator sickness, these findings could be validated by the replication. The difference with regards to simulator sickness and variations in absolute scores of the other measures could be explained by a different set of user with less VR experience.

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arXiv2022

Improving Understanding of Biocide Availability in Facades through Immersive Analytics

The durability of facades is heavily affected by multiple factors like microbial growth and weather conditions among others. Biocides are often used to resist these factors and protect the facades. However, the biocides get washed out due to rains and other factors like geometric structure of the facade, orientation of the building. It is therefore, important to understand how these factors affect the durability of facades, leading to a requirement of expert analysis. In this paper, we propose a technical pipeline and a set of interaction techniques to support data analysis within the immersive environment for our case study. Our technical pipeline mainly consists of three steps: 3D reconstruction, embedding sensor data and visualization and interaction techniques. We made a formative evaluation of our prototype to get insights from microbiology, biology and VR experts. The remarks from the experts and the results of the evaluation suggest that an immersive analytic system in our case study could be beneficial for both experts and non-expert users.

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arXiv2022

VocabulARy: Learning Vocabulary in AR Supported by Keyword Visualisations

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.

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arXiv2022

Quantifying the Effects of Working in VR for One Week

Virtual Reality (VR) provides new possibilities for modern knowledge work. However, the potential advantages of virtual work environments can only be used if it is feasible to work in them for an extended period of time. Until now, there are limited studies of long-term effects when working in VR. This paper addresses the need for understanding such long-term effects. Specifically, we report on a comparative study (n=16), in which participants were working in VR for an entire week -- for five days, eight hours each day -- as well as in a baseline physical desktop environment. This study aims to quantify the effects of exchanging a desktop-based work environment with a VR-based environment. Hence, during this study, we do not present the participants with the best possible VR system but rather a setup delivering a comparable experience to working in the physical desktop environment. The study reveals that, as expected, VR results in significantly worse ratings across most measures. Among other results, we found concerning levels of simulator sickness, below average usability ratings and two participants dropped out on the first day using VR, due to migraine, nausea and anxiety. Nevertheless, there is some indication that participants gradually overcame negative first impressions and initial discomfort. Overall, this study helps lay the groundwork for subsequent research, by clearly highlighting current shortcomings and identifying opportunities for improving the experience of working in VR.

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arXiv2022

PoVRPoint: Authoring Presentations in Mobile Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality (VR) has the potential to support mobile knowledge workers by complementing traditional input devices with a large three-dimensional output space and spatial input. Previous research on supporting VR knowledge work explored domains such as text entry using physical keyboards and spreadsheet interaction using combined pen and touch input. Inspired by such work, this paper probes the VR design space for authoring presentations in mobile settings. We propose PoVRPoint -- a set of tools coupling pen- and touch-based editing of presentations on mobile devices, such as tablets, with the interaction capabilities afforded by VR. We study the utility of extended display space to, for example, assist users in identifying target slides, supporting spatial manipulation of objects on a slide, creating animations, and facilitating arrangements of multiple, possibly occluded, shapes. Among other things, our results indicate that 1) the wide field of view afforded by VR results in significantly faster target slide identification times compared to a tablet-only interface for visually salient targets; and 2) the three-dimensional view in VR enables significantly faster object reordering in the presence of occlusion compared to two baseline interfaces. A user study further confirmed that the interaction techniques were found to be usable and enjoyable.

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arXiv2021

Extended Reality for Knowledge Work in Everyday Environments

Virtual and Augmented Reality have the potential to change information work. The ability to modify the workers senses can transform everyday environments into a productive office, using portable head-mounted displays combined with conventional interaction devices, such as keyboards and tablets. While a stream of better, cheaper and lighter HMDs have been introduced for consumers in recent years, there are still many challenges to be addressed to allow this vision to become reality. This chapter summarizes the state of the art in the field of extended reality for knowledge work in everyday environments and proposes steps to address the open challenges.

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arXiv2021

Accuracy Evaluation of Touch Tasks in Commodity Virtual and Augmented Reality Head-Mounted Displays

An increasing number of consumer-oriented head-mounted displays (HMD) for augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) are capable of finger and hand tracking. We report on the accuracy of off-the-shelf VR and AR HMDs when used for touch-based tasks such as pointing or drawing. Specifically, we report on the finger tracking accuracy of the VR head-mounted displays Oculus Quest, Vive Pro and the Leap Motion controller, when attached to a VR HMD, as well as the finger tracking accuracy of the AR head-mounted displays Microsoft HoloLens 2 and Magic Leap. We present the results of two experiments in which we compare the accuracy for absolute and relative pointing tasks using both human participants and a robot. The results suggest that HTC Vive has a lower spatial accuracy than the Oculus Quest and Leap Motion and that the Microsoft HoloLens 2 provides higher spatial accuracy than Magic Leap One. These findings can serve as decision support for researchers and practitioners in choosing which systems to use in the future.

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arXiv2021

Mixed Reality Interaction Techniques

This chapter gives an overview of interaction techniques for mixed reality including augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR). Various modalities for input and output are discussed. Specifically, techniques for tangible and surface-based interaction, gesture-based, pen-based, gaze-based, keyboard and mouse-based, as well as haptic interaction are discussed. Furthermore, the combination of multiple modalities in multisensory and multimodal interaction, as well as interaction using multiple physical or virtual displays, are presented. Finally, interaction with intelligent virtual agents is considered.

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arXiv2020

Back to the Future: Revisiting Mouse and Keyboard Interaction for HMD-based Immersive Analytics

With the rise of natural user interfaces, immersive analytics applications often focus on novel forms of interaction modalities such as mid-air gestures, gaze or tangible interaction utilizing input devices such as depth-sensors, touch screens and eye-trackers. At the same time, traditional input devices such as the physical keyboard and mouse are used to a lesser extent. We argue, that for certain work scenarios, such as conducting analytic tasks at stationary desktop settings, it can be valuable to combine the benefits of novel and established input devices as well as input modalities to create productive immersive analytics environments.

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arXiv2020

Towards a Practical Virtual Office for Mobile Knowledge Workers

As more people work from home or during travel, new opportunities and challenges arise around mobile office work. On one hand, people may work at flexible hours, independent of traffic limitations, but on the other hand, they may need to work at makeshift spaces, with less than optimal working conditions and decoupled from co-workers. Virtual Reality (VR) has the potential to change the way information workers work: it enables personal bespoke working environments even on the go and allows new collaboration approaches that can help mitigate the effects of physical distance. In this paper, we investigate opportunities and challenges for realizing a mobile VR offices environments and discuss implications from recent findings of mixing standard off-the-shelf equipment, such as tablets, laptops or desktops, with VR to enable effective, efficient, ergonomic, and rewarding mobile knowledge work. Further, we investigate the role of conceptual and physical spaces in a mobile VR office.

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arXiv2020

Pen-based Interaction with Spreadsheets in Mobile Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality (VR) can enhance the display and interaction of mobile knowledge work and in particular, spreadsheet applications. While spreadsheets are widely used yet are challenging to interact with, especially on mobile devices, using them in VR has not been explored in depth. A special uniqueness of the domain is the contrast between the immersive and large display space afforded by VR, contrasted by the very limited interaction space that may be afforded for the information worker on the go, such as an airplane seat or a small work-space. To close this gap, we present a tool-set for enhancing spreadsheet interaction on tablets using immersive VR headsets and pen-based input. This combination opens up many possibilities for enhancing the productivity for spreadsheet interaction. We propose to use the space around and in front of the tablet for enhanced visualization of spreadsheet data and meta-data. For example, extending sheet display beyond the bounds of the physical screen, or easier debugging by uncovering hidden dependencies between sheet's cells. Combining the precise on-screen input of a pen with spatial sensing around the tablet, we propose tools for the efficient creation and editing of spreadsheets functions such as off-the-screen layered menus, visualization of sheets dependencies, and gaze-and-touch-based switching between spreadsheet tabs. We study the feasibility of the proposed tool-set using a video-based online survey and an expert-based assessment of indicative human performance potential.

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arXiv2020

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.

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arXiv2020

C-D Ratio in multi-display environments

Research in user interaction with mixed reality environments using multiple displays has become increasingly relevant with the prevalence of mobile devices in everyday life and increased commoditization of large display area technologies using projectors or large displays. Previous work often combines touch-based input with other approaches, such as gesture-based input, to expand the possible interaction space or deal with limitations of other two-dimensional input methods. In contrast to previous methods, we examine the possibilities when the control-display (C-D) ratio is significantly smaller than one and small input movements result in large output movements. To this end one specific multi-display configuration is implemented in the form of a spatial-augmented reality sandbox environment, and used to explore various interaction techniques based on a variety of mobile device touch-based input and optical marker tracking-based finger input. A small pilot study determines the most promising input candidate, which is compared to traditional touch-input based techniques in a user study that tests it for practical relevance. Results and conclusions of the study are presented.

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arXiv2020

Above Surface Interaction for Multiscale Navigation in Mobile Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality enables the exploration of large information spaces. In physically constrained spaces such as airplanes or buses, controller-based or mid-air interaction in mobile Virtual Reality can be challenging. Instead, the input space on and above touch-screen enabled devices such as smartphones or tablets could be employed for Virtual Reality interaction in those spaces. In this context, we compared an above surface interaction technique with traditional 2D on-surface input for navigating large planar information spaces such as maps in a controlled user study (n = 20). We find that our proposed above surface interaction technique results in significantly better performance and user preference compared to pinch-to-zoom and drag-to-pan when navigating planar information spaces.

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arXiv2019

Effects of Depth Layer Switching between an Optical See-Through Head-Mounted Display and a Body-Proximate Display

Optical see-through head-mounted displays (OST HMDs) typically display virtual content at a fixed focal distance while users need to integrate this information with real-world information at different depth layers. This problem is pronounced in body-proximate multi-display systems, such as when an OST HMD is combined with a smartphone or smartwatch. While such joint systems open up a new design space, they also reduce users' ability to integrate visual information. We quantify this cost by presenting the results of an experiment (n=24) that evaluates human performance in a visual search task across an OST HMD and a body-proximate display at 30 cm. The results reveal that task completion time increases significantly by approximately 50 % and the error rate increases significantly by approximately 100 % compared to visual search on a single depth layer. These results highlight a design trade-off when designing joint OST HMD-body proximate display systems.

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