360 Degree Mixed Reality Environment to Evaluate Interaction Design for Industrial Vehicles Including Head-Up and Head-Down Displays

Abstract

Designing and testing new information and safety features for industrial vehicles do not need to involve the realization of high-fidelity and expensive simulators. We propose a low-cost mixed reality environment which allows for rapid development and rearrangement of a virtual and physical setup of a simulator for industrial vehicles. Our mixed reality simulator allows for safe testing of controls, information, and safety features to support drivers of industrial vehicles. In this paper, we test the implications of showing extra digital information to excavator drivers through a virtual environment, an external head-up display as well as a head-down display. Through user tests we have seen first indications that projected information through our mixed reality system and content on a head-up display is perceived as more helpful and intuitive than using head-down displays, when controlling our industrial vehicle simulator. Moreover, we have seen that the fear of overseeing an obstacle or other important information is lower when using a head-up display, in comparison to other tested visualization options.