Designing VR and AR Systems with Large Scale Adoption in Mind

Abstract

Large scale adoption of novel solutions is the ultimate goal in many domains, and numerous factors need to be addressed to reach that success. This process is even more challenging when those systems are intended for human operators. Not only the technical performance of the system needs to be of the desired quality, but a range of other characteristics also gets scrutinized as well. The design and development of learning and training solutions will be encumbered by additional factors characteristic of learning and training processes. Current adoption of learning and training solutions is far from the desired state: the extent to which learning and training solutions became an every-day practice of their intended users is still much lower than the investment made in this domain. Our research suggests that a good part of that blame can be laid on elements of system design that did not match users’ needs, skills, and expectations. In this paper, we report the results and lessons learned in multiple efforts focused on design and prototyping of a diverse set of training systems that used both immersive and non-immersive virtual reality technologies and a variety of 3D user interface solutions. Approaches discussed and suggested in this paper are equally applicable to the design of systems intended for other human activities in both civilian and military domains.