Remote collaboration in virtual reality: asymmetrical effects of task distribution on spatial processing and mental workload

Abstract

International audienceIn the context of a remote collaboration task in virtual reality, this study aimed to analyze the effects of task distribution on the processing of spatial information and mental workload in spatial dialogs. Pairs of distant participants with specific roles (a guide and a manipulator) had to collaboratively move a virtual object in a plane factory mock-up. The displays allowed the participants to be immersed together in the virtual environment. We analyzed the dialogs that took place according to the frames of reference and the mental transformations required to produce the spatial statements. We also measured the associated mental workload. Results showed that when participants took a perspective, the manipulator’s point of view was preferred. Perspective-taking only yielded a moderate increase in mental rotations, which may explain a specifically high mental demand score for the guides’ NASA-TLX. Overall, this is in accordance with the least collaborative effort principle. This study reinforces the idea that, in collaboration, operators do not need the same aids as each other. Thus, it is not necessary to develop symmetrical tools, i.e., the same tools for all co-workers; instead, the needs of each operator should be taken into account, according to the task he has to perform. In our case, the guides would be helped with perspective-taking aids, while the manipulators would be helped with action-oriented tools

Point-cloud avatars to improve spatial communication in immersive collaborative virtual environments

“…Therefore, he/she can more or less easily use the listener's egocentric reference system by projecting him/herself into the partner's body and locating objects according to the listener's perspective (for example, "the object on your left/right"). This is referred to as spatial perspective-taking [9]. The speaker can also enrich a spatial verbal description by using additional nonverbal cues such as pointing gestures, gaze, and head orientation.…”

“…In the literature, some studies have investigated spatial communication in CVEs [4,11,9,12]. Instead of focusing on the use of avatars, some of these studies have proposed new interaction metaphors to improve spatial communication.…”

Effect of Body Representation Level of an Avatar on Quality of AR-Based Remote Instruction

“…The workload is the amount of effort a user must spend to accomplish a task. No standard method to evaluate the workload in a task performed using a remote collaboration system exists; some researchers have employed a self-designed questionnaire [5], although most studies have used an existing questionnaire, such as the NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) [29,30,[40][41][42], SMEQ [20,39], or SEQ [20]. The performance is a fundamental aspect in evaluating a remote instruction system.…”

Challenges and Design Considerations for Multimodal Asynchronous Collaboration in VR

“…In the field of collaborative virtual environments (CVEs), researchers have focused on harnessing VR to provide more effective means in supporting communication and information sharing [74]. Most research, however, focuses on applications of synchronous collaboration, such as joint-tasks [24,65], giving instructions via a ghost-hand metaphor [78,85], tele-presence [59], or review & feedback [56]. Our study aims to discover the design considerations specific to asynchronous VR collaboration.…”