This thesis describes the design, development, and evaluation of an interactive Microsoft HoloLens application that projects landscape models in Augmented Reality. The application was developed using the Unity framework and 3D models created in Sketchup. Using the application, students can not only visualize the models in real space but can also interact with the models using gestures. The students can interact with the models using gaze and air-tap gestures. Application testing was conducted with 21 students from the Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning department at Utah State University. To evaluate the application, students completed a usability survey after using the application. Students also participated in a focus group. Results indicate that students were excited to use the application and found it helpful for learning landscape construction concepts. Some of the students found the application and the HoloLens device cumbersome to use, and they offered suggestions for how to improve the application. The thesis concludes with recommendations for future work.

Les recherches menées au cours de cette thèse de Doctorat s'inscrivent dans les activités du laboratoire commun OPERA (OPtique EmbaRquée Active) impliquant ESSILOR-LUXOTTICA et le CNRS. L’objectif est de contribuer au développement des “lunettes du futur” intégrant des fonctions d'obscurcissement, de focalisation ou d'affichage qui s’adaptent en permanence à la scène et au regard de l’utilisateur. Ces nouveaux dispositifs devront être dotés de capacités de perception, de décision et d’action, et devront respecter des contraintes d'encombrement, de poids, de consommation énergétique et de temps de traitement. Ils présentent par conséquent des connexions évidentes avec la robotique. Dans ce contexte, les recherches ont consisté à investiguer la structure et la construction de tels systèmes afin d’identifier leurs enjeux et difficultés. Pour ce faire, la première tâche a été de mettre en place des émulateurs de divers types de lunettes actives, qui permettent de prototyper et d’évaluer efficacement diverses fonctions. Dans cette phase de prototypage et de test, ces émulateurs s’appuient naturellement sur une architecture logicielle modulaire typique de la robotique. La seconde partie de la thèse s'est focalisée sur le prototypage d’un composant clé des lunettes du futur, qui implique une contrainte supplémentaire de basse consommation : le système de suivi du regard, aussi appelé oculomètre. Le principe d’un assemblage de photodiodes et d’un traitement par réseau de neurones a été proposé. Un simulateur a été mis au point, ainsi qu’une étude de l'influence de l'agencement des photodiodes et de l’hyper-paramétrisation du réseau sur les performances de l'oculomètre. / The research carried out during this doctoral thesis takes place within the OPERA joint laboratory (OPtique EmbaRquée Active) involving ESSILOR-LUXOTTICA and the CNRS. The aim is to contribute to the development of "glasses of the future", which feature obscuration, focus or display capabilities that continuously adapt to the scene and the user gaze. These new devices will be endowed with perception, decision and action capabilities, and will have to respect constraints of space, weight, energy consumption and processing time. They therefore show obvious connections with robotics. In this context, the structure and building of such systems has been investigated in order to identify their issues and difficulties. To that end, the first task was to set up emulators of various types of active glasses, which enable the prototyping and effective testing of various functions. In this prototyping and testing phase, these emulators naturally rely on a modular software architecture typical of robotics. The second part of the thesis focused on the prototyping of a key component which implies an additional constraint on low consumption, namely the eye tracking system, also known as gaze tracker. The principle of a photodiode assembly and of a neural network processing has been proposed. A simulator has been developed, as well as a study of the influence of the arrangement of photodiodes and the hyper-parametrization of the network on the performance of the oculometer.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In immersive eLearning environments, it has been demonstrated that incorporating haptic feedback improves the software's pedagogical effectiveness. Due to this and recent advancements in virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) environments, more immersive, authentic, and viable pedagogical tools have been created. However, the advanced manufacturing industry has not fully embraced mixed reality training tools. There is currently a need for effective haptic feedback techniques in advanced manufacturing environments. The MR-AVML, a proposed CNC milling machine training tool, is designed to include two forms of haptic feedback, thereby providing users with a natural and intuitive experience. This experience is achieved by tasking users with running a virtual machine seen through the Microsoft HoloLens and interacting with a physical representation of the machine controller. After conducting a pedagogical study on the environment, it was found that the MR-AVML was 6.06% more effective than a version of the environment with no haptic feedback, and only 1.35% less effective than hands-on training led by an instructor. This shows that the inclusion of haptic feedback in an advanced manufacturing training environment can improve pedagogical effectiveness.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Although current augmented, virtual, and mixed reality (AR/VR/MR) systems are facing advanced and immersive experience in the entertainment industry with countless media forms. Theses systems suffer a lack of correct direct and indirect illumination modeling where the virtual objects render with the same lighting condition as the real environment. Some systems are using baked GI, pre-recorded textures, and light probes that are mostly accomplished offline to compensate for precomputed real-time global illumination (GI). Thus, illumination information can be extracted from the physical scene for interactively rendering the virtual objects into the real world which produces a more realistic final scene in real-time. This work approaches the problem of visual coherence in AR by proposing a system that detects the real-world lighting conditions in dynamic scenes, then uses the extracted illumination information to render the objects added to the scene. The system covers several major components to achieve a more realistic augmented reality outcome. First, the detection of the incident light (direct illumination) from the physical scene with the use of computer vision techniques based on the topological structural analysis of 2D images using a live-feed 360-degree camera instrumented on an AR device that captures the entire radiance map. Also, the physics-based light polarization eliminates or reduces false-positive lights such as white surfaces, reflections, or glare which negatively affect the light detection process. Second, the simulation of the reflected light (indirect illumination) that bounce between the real-world surfaces to be rendered into the virtual objects and reflect their existence in the virtual world. Third, defining the shading characteristic/properties of the virtual object to depict the correct lighting assets with a suitable shadow casting. Fourth, the geometric properties of real-scene including plane detection, 3D surface reconstruction, and simple meshing are incorporated with the virtual scene for more realistic depth interactions between the real and virtual objects. These components are developed methods which assumed to be working simultaneously in real-time for photo-realistic AR. The system is tested with several lighting conditions to evaluate the accuracy of the results based on the error incurred between the real/virtual objects casting shadow and interactions. For system efficiency, the rendering time is compared with previous works and research. Further evaluation of human perception is conducted through a user study. The overall performance of the system is investigated to reduce the cost to a minimum.

Dieser Beitrag stellt die Mixed-Reality-in-the-Loop Simulation (MRiLS) zur Schulung technischer Fachkräfte im Maschinen- und Anlagenbau vor. Die MRiLS koppelt die aus dem Engineering bereits vorhandenen Modelle der Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation (HiLS) mit Visualisierungs- und Interaktionsmethoden der Mixed Reality (MR) und integriert dadurch den Nutzenden und dessen Verhalten sowie die reale Umgebung vollständig in den Simulationskreislauf. Der Beitrag thematisiert neben der notwendigen Middleware zur Kopplung der HiLS mit der MR-Umgebung auch die Steuerungsbelastung durch Multiuser-Zugriffe. Die Funktionsfähigkeit des vorgestellten Konzepts wird anhand eines ausgewählten beispielhaften Automatisierungssystems belegt. Für das Automatisierungssystem wird der Aufbau der MRiLS sowie das Konzept für den Ablauf einer Schulung mittels MRiLS vorgestellt.

Tekniken utvecklas ständigt inom alla delar av samhället. Inom byggbranschen så ställsdet allt högre och högre krav på byggnadstekniken. Man bygger höga men smalabyggnader men även långa och komplexa byggnader för att besvara kraven som ställsutifrån ett hållbarhetsperspektiv (Linneuniversitetet, u.å). Inför detta arbete så fanns detett intresse för att ta reda på vad som kommer att bli nästa “stora” teknologiskahjälpmedel.Vi tror att VR har stor potential inom byggbranschen och därav frågeställningen “Ärbyggbranschen redo för VR-Teknik?”. Efter ett handledarmöte så var vi eniga om att detfinns en hel mängd fördelar med tekniken. Metoder som har använts i detta arbete är detbåde kvalitativa och kvantitativ datainsamling. För att besvara frågeställningen såkontaktades byggbolag över hela Sverige för att sedan kunna skicka enkäter till dem.Intervjuer genomfördes med två personer på Högskolan i Gävle som hade relevantkunskap inom området VR, under intervjun med Torsten Jonsson och Stefan Seipel såvar dialogen kring ämnet öppen för att få en bättre bild av hur det ser ut i dagsläget.Resultatet visade att byggbranschen i dagsläget var redo att använda sig utav teknikenmen tekniken måste fortfarande utvecklas. I dagsläget så finns det stora kostnader medatt skapa en simulering vilket kan vara kostnadseffektivt i stora projekt men i mindreprojekt så kan det vara svårt att motivera ekonomiskt.Slutsatsen är att byggbranschen är redo för VR. / Technology is constantly evolving in every aspect of society. The requirements forbuilding are constantly growing. Buildings have been built thinner and higher but wehave also seen advances in width and complexity to fulfill the need for buildingsustainable buildings. With this study there has been an interest in finding what the next“ big” technology will be within the construction industry.We think VR has great potential in the construction industry which led to the question “Is the construction industry ready for VR-technology?”. After an interesting discussionwith our supervisor we agreed that this subject had lots of interesting benefits for theindustry. Within this study we have used both qualitative and quantitative research. Toanswer the issue we contacted construction companies all over Sweden in order to sendsurveys. The interviews were conducted with two persons from University of Gävle, thepeople contacted for the interview were chosen because they had relevant knowledgewithin the issue. The interviews were formed as diskussion to get a clear understandingof the subject.The results of the studies showed that the industry was ready to use the technology butit still must develop for the smaller projects. With VR today there is a massive cost ofusing it which can be beneficial in bigger projects but for smaller projects the cost is too big.The conclusion that can be drawn is that the industry is ready for VR

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This study discusses Augmented Reality (AR) as a digital marketing tool in online retail, with a special focus on the perceptions and attitudes which consumers hold towards the tool. The project, aims to give insights on how to study AR in online retail settings and also touches upon how different characteristics of augmented reality can impact the consumers attitudes towards products displayed or demonstrated with AR tools. The conceptual framework is based on literature and case studies in the fields of augmented reality, consumer experience and, customer value creation. The data for this research project was obtained through in-depth interviews with participants who have had previous experiences with Augmented Reality. After analysing and categorising their answers, the findings suggest that the participants have an overall positive attitude towards the tool and that they are already keen to engage with the technology. Their answers also suggested that the use of AR tools in online retail could positively affect the consumers attitudes towards the promoted services or products which are displayed with the tool. Moreover, depending on certain factors, the tool could potentially have a positive effect on the purchasing decision. On the negative side, the participants consider the technology is not there yet and needs to be improved to deliver meaningful value for them. Other valuable findings of the project are related to the customer journeys and the value the tool provides to the users. / Denna studie diskuterar Augmented Reality (AR) som ett digitalt marknadsföringsverktyg inom onlinehandeln, med ett särskilt fokus på de uppfattningar och attityder som konsumenterna har gentemot verktyget. Projektet syftar till att ge insikter om hur man studerar AR i online-butiksmiljöer och berör också hur olika egenskaper hos AR kan påverka konsumenternas attityder till produkter som visas eller demonstreras med AR-verktyg. Den konceptuella ramen är baserad på litteratur och fallstudier inom AR, konsumentupplevelse och kundvärdeskapande. Data för detta forskningsprojekt erhölls genom fördjupade intervjuer med deltagare som tidigare haft erfarenheter av AR. Efter att ha analyserat och kategoriserat sina svar föreslår resultatet att deltagarna har en övergripande positiv inställning till verktyget och att de redan är angelägna om att engagera sig i tekniken. Deras svar föreslog också att användningen av AR-verktyg i online-detaljhandeln positivt kunde påverka konsumenternas attityder till de marknadsförda tjänsterna eller produkterna som visas med verktyget. Beroende på vissa faktorer kan verktyget dessutom ha en positiv effekt på inköpsbeslutet. Bland de negativa aspekterna anser deltagarna att tekniken inte Einns där ännu och måste förbättras för att ge ett meningsfullt värde för dem. Andra värdefulla insikter från projektet är relaterade till kundresan och det värde verktyget ger användarna.

Navigation systems are commonly used in our daily lives. Research has shown that spatial audio presents one opportunity for more effectively communicating to the driver the direction of the next manoeuvre. This thesis project proposes a new feature for the spatialisation of the audio cues triggered by a mobile navigation system by using a virtualised vector-based panning (VVBP) architecture for the encoding and decoding. The prototype developed during this thesis enables the spatialisation using headphones- or speakers- based systems. This study aims to promote a new sound experience to the user, which can be used to increase the safety and performance of driving. Based on an expert review and a user test, the application was tested on different scenarios. The participants selected during these sessions were part of HERE Technologies, which made possible to reach design experts who knew the current application provided by the company beforehand, making easier the comparison with the proposal. This selection could also present a limitation on the study since the users might have a personal bias for seeing new features in a product which have already worked on. Analysis of the results obtained during the testing session demonstrated high satisfaction with the feature by the users and a better understanding of their surroundings. Consequently, this indicates that spatial audio can improve the performance of driving by introducing a new source of information for positioning the next turn or obstacle. Further research is needed to identify other factors that could strengthen the effectiveness of the product. / Navigationssystem används ofta i våra dagliga liv. Forskning har visat att rumsligt ljud ger ett tillfälle att effektivare kommunicera till föraren i riktningen för nästa manöver. Detta avhandlingsprojekt föreslår en ny funktion för spatialisering av ljudkoder som utlöses av ett mobilnavigeringssystem med hjälp av en virtualiserad vektorbaserad panorering (VVBP) arkitektur för kodning och avkodning. Prototypen som utvecklats under denna avhandling möjliggör spatialisering med hörlurar eller högtalarbaserade system. Denna studie syftar till att främja en ny ljudupplevelse för användaren, som kan användas för att öka säkerheten och prestandan vid körning. Baserat på en expertgranskning och ett användartest testades applikationen på olika scenarier. Deltagarna som valdes ut under dessa sessioner var en del av HERE Technologies, som gjorde det möjligt att nå konstruktionsexperter som kände till den nuvarande applikationen från företaget i förväg, vilket underlättar jämförelsen med förslaget. Detta val kan också utgöra en begränsning av studien eftersom användarna kan ha en personlig fördom för att se nya funktioner i en produkt som redan har arbetat med. Analys av resultaten som erhölls under testperioden visade hög tillfredsställelse med funktionen hos användarna och en bättre förståelse för deras omgivning. Konsekvensen indikerar att rumsligt ljud kan förbättra körförmågan genom att införa en ny informationskälla för positionering av nästa sväng eller hinder. Ytterligare forskning behövs för att identifiera andra faktorer som kan stärka produktens effektivitet.

<p>Crowd simulations have been a part of crowd research since the 1980s. This document focuses on understanding how study participants interact and perceive a virtual crowd in an immersive virtual environment. Specifically, avoidance proximity variations (i.e., low, medium, and high avoidance proximity [defined as avoidance radius]) were explored when assigned to crowd agents impacted participants’ interaction with the virtual crowd. During the study, participants were instructed to walk in a virtual environment. At the same time, a virtual crowd was scripted to move toward participants’ starting position following a straight path. During the participants’ walking task, movement data was collected (i.e., trajectory length and completion time) and immediately after each experimental condition, participants were asked to self-report their experience (i.e., presence, co-presence, behavioral independence, crowd realism, crowd interaction realism, perceived politeness, and emotional reactivity). Based on the collected data, it was found that when participants were exposed to the high avoidance proximity condition, they: 1) followed longer paths, 2) spent more time reaching the target goal, 3) rated the virtual crowd less polite, 4) rated the virtual crowd and their interaction with the virtual crowd less realistic, 5) rated the behavior independence of the virtual crowd lower, 6) self-reported higher emotional reactivity, and 7) positive correlations were found between trajectory length and behavioral independence, trajectory length and crowd interaction realism, and completion time and perceived politeness. Suggestions for further research on human-virtual crowd interaction are also discussed.</p>