User Centered Design of Interaction Techniques for VR-Based Automotive Design Reviews

Abstract

The exterior design is one of the most important selling propositions in the automotive premium market. Because of progressing digitization in the automotive industry, it is increasingly assessed using virtual 3D models. In this context, Virtual Reality (VR) is a key technology of continuously growing importance. However, complicated interaction in VR proves to be a major drawback in industrial settings. In this paper, we report insights of our user centered approach aiming at appropriate VR interaction techniques supporting designers, engineers, and management executives optimally in design assessment. Our approach splits into two iterations according to the main interaction tasks Visual Inspection and Model Comparison. In each iteration, alternative interaction techniques were conceptualized, implemented as prototypes, and evaluated in a user study in terms of Usability, User Experience, Intuitiveness and Task Load. In the first iteration six interaction techniques for Visual Inspection, two speech-based, two gesture-based, and two touch-based variants, were studied. Incorporating the results, the second iteration explores three interaction techniques for Model Comparison utilizing (1) a portable touch remote, (2) hand and body gestures, and (3) a multimodal mix of both. The final concepts yielded high ratings by the participants, but showed significant differences between rational and emotional aspects. We conclude that the acceptance of VR in automotive design could be facilitated by refining and applying these interaction techniques.

Benefits and Challenges of Virtual-Reality-Based Industrial Usability Testing and Design Reviews: A Patents Landscape and Literature Review

“…Figure 4 shows the distribution of papers in each category. The automotive industry was the subject of seven articles (37%) [43,46,48,50,52,54,55] It was expected that a substantial number of virtual reality studies would be conducted in the vehicle industry. These findings are congruent with those of [56].…”

“…The importanc of the automobile industry may be related to the fact that virtual technologies have long been utilized in this sector in a range of specialties and applications, such as manufactur ing, training, and maintenance, to mention a few [13,57,58]. Departments such as design engineering, maintenance, and assembly are already using the technology to suppor The automotive industry was the subject of seven articles (37%) [43,46,48,50,52,54,55]. It was expected that a substantial number of virtual reality studies would be conducted in the vehicle industry.…”

“…Hardware Category [15,16,19,20,45,48,[51][52][53]55] HTC Vive HMD [46] Oculus Rift [43,50] Microsoft Kinect…”

“…Software [15,16,19,45,46,48,[51][52][53]55] Unity3D [43,50] 3DVIA Virtools [43,50] Microsoft Kinect SDK [15,16,45,54] CATIA; Siemens JACK [15,16,45] Autodesk 3DsMax [43,50] Microsoft Speech API Game engines are the most often used virtual reality software. The authors of [54] also found that gaming engines have been used in virtual manufacturing in recent years.…”

MIND-VR: Design and Evaluation Protocol of a Virtual Reality Psychoeducational Experience on Stress and Anxiety for the Psychological Support of Healthcare Workers Involved in the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Regarding virtual reality, it has been demonstrated that, by optimizing the virtual environment's architecture, the use of UCD in the development of virtual experiences offers a more efficient, satisfying, user-friendly experience (Gabbard et al, 1999;Jerald, 2015;Barbieri et al, 2018;Gladden, 2018). It has been employed to design and evaluate virtual experiences in museums (Barbieri et al, 2018), tourism (Poux et al, 2020), automotive industries (de Clerk et al, 2019), and military (Hix et al, 1999), and medical fields (Vailland et al, 2019). Furthermore, it has been used to develop virtual reality content for mental health (Fidopiastis et al, 2010;Koenig et al, 2012;Boger et al, 2018;Eisapour et al, 2018;Flobak et al, 2019;Pizzoli et al, 2019), particularly virtual environments for cognitive assessment and rehabilitation (Fidopiastis et al, 2010;Koenig et al, 2012), and to promote physical activity among people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (Boger et al, 2018;Eisapour et al, 2018).…”