Augmented Environments Lab

Abstract

An ongoing research problem in Augmented Reality (AR) is to improve tracking and display technology in order to minimize registration errors. However, perfect registration is not always necessary for users to understand the intent of an augmentation. This paper describes the results of an experiment to evaluate the effects of graphical context in a Lego block placement task when the graphics are located outside of the task area. Four conditions were compared: fully registered AR; non-registered AR; a heads-up display (HUD) with the graphics always visible in the field of view; and a HUD with the graphics not always visible in the field of view. The results of this experiment indicated that registered AR outperforms both non-registered AR and graphics displayed on a HUD. The results also indicated that non-registered AR does not offer any significant performance advantages over a HUD, but is rated as less intrusive and can keep non-registered graphics from cluttering the task space.

Reference

Cindy Robertson, Blair MacIntyre, and Bruce Walker. “An Evaluation of Graphical Context in Registered AR, Non-Registered AR, and Heads-Up Displays”  In Proceedings of International Symposium on Augmented and Mixed Reality (ISMAR08), Sept 15-18, 2008, Cambridge, England.  pages-73-76.

Members of the lab attended the International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality 2008 (ISMAR08) in Cambridge, England.  

Duy Nguyen, a PhD student in the CS program, presented two demonstrations, one a game created by Duy and others in the lab (“Art of Defense”) and the second a project done at Nokia Research.

Cindy Robertson, a former PhD student in the CS program, presented a short paper from her dissertation research, “An Evaluation of Graphical Context in Registered AR, Non-Registered AR, and Heads-Up Displays.”

Blair MacIntyre (along with Mark Billinghurst of HitlabNZ, and Daniel Wagner of Graz University) presented a half-day tutorial on Handheld Augmented Reality.  MacIntyre presented the section on design for handheld AR, with a focus on location-based experiences and games.

Abstract

Registration errors between the physical world and computer-generated objects are a central problem in Augmented Reality (AR) systems. Some existing AR systems have demonstrated how to dynamically estimate registration errors based on estimates of spatial errors in the system. Using these error estimates, these systems also demonstrated a number of ways of ameliorating the effects of registration error. One central part of this previous work was the creation and use of error regions around objects; unfortunately, the analytic methods used only created accurate regions for simple convex objects. In this paper, we present a simple and stable algorithm for generating the uncertainty regions for complex objects, including non-convex objects and objects with interior holes. We demonstrate how our approach can be used to create a set of more accurate error-based highlights in the presence of registration error, and also be used as a general highlighting mechanism.

Correct boundary for complex objects: a teapot and bunny

Reference

Jiajian Chen, Blair MacIntyre, Uncertainty Boundary for Complex Objects in Augmented Reality, In Proc of IEEE Virtual Reality (VR08), Reno NV, March 2008 [poster]