StARboard &amp; TrACTOr: Actuated Tangibles in an Educational TAR Application

Emanuel Vonach,Christoph Schindler,Hannes Kaufmann

doi:10.3390/mti5020006

Abstract

We explore the potential of direct haptic interaction in a novel approach to Tangible Augmented Reality in an educational context. Employing our prototyping platform ACTO, we developed a tabletop Augmented Reality application StARboard for sailing students. In this personal viewpoint environment virtual objects, e.g., sailing ships, are physically represented by actuated micro robots. These align with virtual objects, allowing direct physical interaction with the scene. When a user tries to pick up a virtual ship, its physical robot counterpart is grabbed instead. We also developed a tracking solution TrACTOr, employing a depth sensor to allow tracking independent of the table surface. In this paper we present concept and development of StARboard and TrACTOr. We report results of our user study with 18 participants using our prototype. They show that direct haptic interaction in tabletop AR scores en-par with traditional mouse interaction on a desktop setup in usability (mean SUS = 86.7 vs. 82.9) and performance (mean RTLX = 15.0 vs. 14.8), while outperforming the mouse in factors related to learning like presence (mean 6.0 vs 3.1) and absorption (mean 5.4 vs. 4.2). It was also rated the most fun (13× vs. 0×) and most suitable for learning (9× vs. 4×).

Highlights

Tangible User Interfaces (TUI) match virtual data with a physical form for interaction, which brings numerous benefits, e.g., intuitive direct interaction and immediate feedback [1,2]
We propose a novel approach of employing actuated micro robots to provide haptic feedback in immersive Augmented Reality (AR) and investigate the potential of Tangible Augmented Reality (TAR) with active physical tangibles in an educational context (Figure 1)
In this chapter we present the results from the experiment, employing a Bonferroni corrected alpha level of significance to account for the number of pairwise comparisons

Summary

Introduction

Tangible User Interfaces (TUI) match virtual data with a physical form for interaction, which brings numerous benefits, e.g., intuitive direct interaction and immediate feedback [1,2]. If the computer can actively move the tangible objects, this is usually called Actuated TUI [3]. Augmented Reality (AR), introducing the concept of Tangible Augmented Reality (TAR). Mapping physical object manipulations directly to virtual objects removes the extra step of mapping to logical functions, which can make interaction extremely intuitive and fast. Previous works repeatedly presented results of a traditional desktop setup with mouse interaction outperforming TAR setups [7,8]. Upon a closer look most previous work in this area is based on desktop

Methods

Results

Conclusion