Excuse me! Perception of Abrupt Direction Changes Using Body Cues and Paths on Mixed Reality Avatars

TL;DR

This paper compares two mixed reality avatar methods for signaling abrupt robot direction changes, finding that visual paths are more accurate while body cues are preferred by users.

Contribution

It introduces and evaluates two novel avatar-based signaling methods for robotic direction changes in mixed reality environments.

Findings

Path method is more accurate in communicating direction changes.

Participants preferred the Body method despite lower accuracy.

Each method has situational strengths.

Abstract

We evaluate two methods of signalling abrupt direction changes of a robotic platform using a Mixed Reality avatar. The "Body" method uses gaze, gesture and torso direction to point to upcoming waypoints. The "Path" method visualises the change in direction using an angled path on the ground. We compare these two methods using a controlled user study and show that each method has its strengths depending on the situation. Overall the "Path" method was slightly more accurate in communicating the direction change of the robot but participants overall preferred the "Body" method.