This paper presents results of a study measuring user performance in a procedural task using Spatial Augmented Reality (SAR). The task required participants to press sequences of buttons on two control panel designs in the correct order. Instructions for the task were shown either on a computer monitor, or projected directly onto the control panels. This work was motivated by discrepancies between the expectations from AR proponents and experimental findings. AR is often promoted as a way of improving user performance and understanding. With notable exceptions however, experimental results do not confirm these expectations. Reasons cited for results include limitations of current display technologies and misregistration caused by tracking and calibration errors. Our experiment utilizes SAR to remove these effects. Our results show that augmented annotations lead to significantly faster task completion speed, fewer errors, and reduced head movement, when compared to monitor based instructions. Subjectively, our results show augmented annotations are preferred by users.

This demonstration presents an adaptive visual marker optimised to improve tracking performance in Spatial Augmented Reality environments. The adaptive marker uses a color light sensor to capture the projected light color from a SAR system. The color information is used to select the optimal tracking color that is displayed on a diffused Red, Green, Blue Light Emitting Diode marker attached to a user's finger. We have selected to use the visible light spectrum for the marker since it can be leveraged to present visual feedback to support user interface interactions in addition to the tracking system operation. Our initial results have shown a performance improvement compared to a fixed color passive marker.

This paper investigates the use of Spatial Augmented Reality in the prototyping of new human-machine interfaces, such as control panels or car dashboards. The prototyping system uses projectors to present the visual appearance of controls onto a mock-up of a product. Finger tracking is employed to allow real-time interactions with the controls. This technology can be used to quickly and inexpensively create and evaluate interface prototypes for devices. In the past, evaluating a prototype involved constructing a physical model of the device with working components such as buttons. We have conducted a user study to compare these two methods of prototyping and to validate the use of spatial augmented reality for rapid iterative interface prototyping. Participants of the study were required to press pairs of buttons in sequence and interaction times were measured. The results indicate that while slower, users can interact naturally with projected control panels.

Most of today's mobile internet devices contain facilities to display maps of the user's surroundings with points of interest embedded into the map. Other researchers have already explored complementary, egocentric visualizations of these points of interest using mobile mixed reality. Being able to perceive the point of interest in detail within the user's current context is desirable, however, it is challenging to display off-screen or occluded points of interest. We have designed and implemented space-distorting visualizations to address these situations. While this class of visualizations has been extensively studied in information visualization, we are not aware of any attempts to apply them to augmented or mixed reality. Based on the informal user feedback that we have gathered, we have performed several iterations on our visualizations. We hope that our initial results can inspire other researchers to also investigate space-distorting visualizations for mixed and augmented reality.

This paper presents a new user interface methodology for Spatial Augmented Reality systems. The methodology is based on a set of physical tools that are overloaded with logical functions. Visual feedback presents the logical mode of the tool to the user by projecting graphics onto the physical tools. This approach makes the tools malleable in their functionality, with this change conveyed to the user by changing the projected information. Our prototype application implements a two handed technique allowing an industrial designer to digitally airbrush onto an augmented physical model, masking the paint using a virtualized stencil.

Throughout the last decade, mobile information browsing has become a widely-adopted practice. Most of today's mobile Internet devices contain facilities to display maps of the user's surroundings with points of interest embedded into the map. Other researchers have already explored complementary, egocentric visualizations of these points of interest using mobile mixed reality. However, it is challenging to display off-screen or occluded points of interest. We have designed and implemented space-distorting visualizations to address these situations. Based on the informal user feedback that we have gathered, we have performed several iterations on our visualizations. We hope that our initial results can inspire other researchers to also investigate space-distorting visualizations for mixed and augmented reality.