The Schematization of XR Technologies in the Context of Collaborative Design

Abstract

Recently, the concept of Industry 5.0 has been introduced to complement, among other things, Industry 4.0’s focus on efficiency and productivity with a focus on humans in digital design and production processes. The inclusion of human interaction with digital realities, extended reality (XR) technologies, such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), can play an essential role in Industry 5.0. While rapid advances in XR technologies are solidifying and finding their place in the product and production development process, terminology and classification scheme remain under-determined. As a result, there have been numerous classifications of XR technologies from different perspectives, but little widespread agreement. They have been classified by their level of immersion or how well they meet a specific purpose (such as training). In addition to that, the classifications are usually made for one particular field (e.g. marketing, healthcare, engineering, architecture, among others). Therefore, to set the basis for future research, it is essential to identify and outline the dimensions that intervene in product and production design in regards to XR facilitated collaboration. With the ideas proposed in this paper, we want to identify basic concepts that classify a collaborative XR system by analyzing how users interact with the environment and other users. Our motivation is that collaborative design involves not only the physical dimension but also a social dimension. Defining when an XR system contributes to increasing social and/or physical presence could clarify and simplify its categorization.