Abstract
With the introduction of new devices, industries are turning to virtual reality to innovate their product development processes. However, before the technology’s possibilities can be fully harnessed, certain constraints must be overcome. This study identifies the benefits and challenges of virtual-reality-based usability testing and design reviews in industry through a patents and articles review. We searched Derwent Innovation, Scopus, and Web of Science and identified 7 patent filings and 20 articles. We discovered an increase in patent filings since 2016 and strong development in the technology space, offering opportunities to enter an area while it is still young. The most frequently researched field is the automotive industry and the most used device is the HTC VIVE head-mounted display, which is frequently paired with motion capture systems and Unity 3D game engines. Virtual reality benefits design reviews and usability testing by providing the visualization of new angles that stimulate novel insights, increasing team engagement, offering more intuitive interactions for non-CAD specialists, saving redesign cost and time, and increasing participants’ safety. The challenges faced by virtual-reality-based prototypes are a lack of realism due to unnatural tactile and visual interactions, latency and registration issues, communication difficulties between teams, and unpleasant symptoms. While these constraints prevent virtual reality from replacing conventional design reviews and usability testing in the near future, it is already a valuable contribution to the industrial product development process.
Highlights
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutralGiven the complexity of products that are under development, designers must perform a number of procedures to guarantee that the finished product fits customer demands and is accepted by the market [1]
The research questions Q1, Q2, and Q3 were addressed in order to identify the opporThe research questions Q1, Q2, and Q3 were addressed in order to identify the optunities, benefits, and constraints of using virtual reality for usability testing and design portunities, benefits, and constraints of using virtual reality for usability testing and dereviews in industry
In terms of the methods and metrics used, we identified that the studies focused on the accuracy of experimental results when compared to testing with conventional computer-aided design (CAD)
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutralGiven the complexity of products that are under development, designers must perform a number of procedures to guarantee that the finished product fits customer demands and is accepted by the market [1]. In standard ISO-9241 of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), usability is defined as “the extent to which a system, product or service can be used by specified users to achieve specific goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use” [4]. The usability level assesses how enjoyable and simple the product is to use based on the customer’s experience. The usability attribute is influenced by the customer’s perception of how the product is used. An example of this would be a satisfactory level of perceived experience when a simple operation, such as turning on a radio system, followed by an attempt to set up a specific radio station, is completed as expected by the with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations
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