Design, Assembly, Calibration, and Measurement of an Augmented Reality Haploscope

TL;DR

This paper details the design, assembly, calibration, and measurement procedures of an augmented reality haploscope, a device used for perceptual studies of AR phenomena, developed over 10 years in a research lab.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive, systematic description of an AR haploscope's construction and calibration, filling a gap in detailed methodological literature.

Findings

Validated AR perceptual measurements with the device

Improved calibration methods over 10 years

Facilitated multiple perceptual studies in AR

Abstract

A haploscope is an optical system which produces a carefully controlled virtual image. Since the development of Wheatstone's original stereoscope in 1838, haploscopes have been used to measure perceptual properties of human stereoscopic vision. This paper presents an augmented reality (AR) haploscope, which allows the viewing of virtual objects superimposed against the real world. Our lab has used generations of this device to make a careful series of perceptual measurements of AR phenomena, which have been described in publications over the previous 8 years. This paper systematically describes the design, assembly, calibration, and measurement of our AR haploscope. These methods have been developed and improved in our lab over the past 10 years. Despite the fact that 180 years have elapsed since the original report of Wheatstone's stereoscope, we have not previously found a paper that describes these kinds of details.