As Mixed Reality (MR) technologies become more prevalent, it is important for researchers to design and prototype the kinds of user interface and user interactions that are most effective for end-user consumers. Creating these standards now will aid in technology development and adoption in MR overall. In the current climate of this domain, however, the interface elements and user interaction styles are unique to each hardware and software vendor and are generally proprietary in nature. This results in confusion for consumers. To explore the MR interface and interaction space, this research employed a series of standard user-centered design (UCD) methods to rapidly prototype 3D head-worn display (HWD) systems in the first responder domain. These methods were performed across a series of 13 experiments, resulting in an in-depth analysis of the most effective methods experienced herein and providing suggested paths forward for future researchers in 3D MR HWD systems. Lessons learned from each individual method and across all of the experiments are shared. Several characteristics are defined and described as they relate to each experiment, including interface, interaction, and cost. / Ph. D. / Trends in technology development have shown that the inclusion of virtualized objects and worlds will become more popular in both professional workflows and personal entertainment. As these synthetic objects become easier to build and deploy in consumer devices, it will become increasingly important for a set of standard information elements (e.g., the “save” operation disk icon in desktop software) and user interaction motifs (e.g., “pinch and zoom” on touch screen interfaces) to be deployed in these types of futuristic technologies. This research effort explores a series of rapid design and prototype methods that inform how a selection of common interface elements in the first responder domain should be communicated to the user. It also explores how users in this domain prefer to interact with futuristic technology systems. The results from this study are analyzed across a series of characteristics and suggestions are made on the most effective methods and experiments that should be used by future researchers in this domain.

It was analyzed if instructions on a head-worn Augmented Reality display (AR-HWD) are better for manual industrial assembly tasks than instructions on a stationary screen. A prototype was built which consisted of virtual instruction screens for two example assembly tasks. In a comparison study participants performed the tasks with instructions through an AR-HWD and alternatively through a stationary screen. Questionnaires, interviews and observation notes were used to evaluate the task performances and the user experience. The study revealed that the users were excited and enjoyed trying the technology. The perceived usefulness at the current state was diverse, but the users saw a huge potential in AR-HWDs for the future. The task accuracy with instructions on the AR-HWD was equally good as with instructions on the screen. AR-HWDs are found to be a better approach than a stationary screen, but technological limitations need to be overcome and workers need to train using the new technology to make its application efficient.