Understanding User Behavior in Remote-Collaborative Augmented Reality Scenarios Under Network Impairments

Abstract

Remote collaboration is an important use case for Augmented Reality (AR) technology, with applications focusing on distance learning, remote therapy, and remote troubleshooting, to name a few. However, existing studies that have looked at remote collaboration through AR, assume perfect network conditions even though the internet is a best effort service, and network impairments are inevitable.

In this talk, I will highlight how a specific kind of network impairment (an outage) affects users’ collaborative behavior, while they are using a networked AR application. The results of an IRB approved user study, involving a collaborative task using the Microsoft HoloLens, will be shared. I will also discuss how outages may affect users with varying degrees of severity, based on the role they play within the collaborative task, and the various coping strategies that users develop in order to mitigate the effects of outages. Finally, we will briefly discuss the design of future user interfaces that could potentially mitigate the adverse effects of network impairments.

Zoom link:

https://tufts.zoom.us/rec/share/yM50caDO52xLbY3E7EDAWYt9OYbleaa823cX_voOmUxFPzYyiRbdj4f-zCXZnFAW?startTime=1587657980000