Evaluation of Direct Manipulation Methods in Augmented Reality Environments Using Google Glass

Abstract

This paper presents a study examining interaction methods for manipulating objects in augmented reality (AR) environments using Google Glass (Glass). We compared five interaction methods; three of them were implemented on Glass (virtual buttons, swipe pad of Glass, remote control via the touchscreen of a smartwatch) and two on a smartphone (virtual buttons and the touch interaction). 32 participants were asked to scale and rotate a virtual 3D object created from a physical sculpture of the Museum Günter Grass-Haus in Luebeck using the AR-App InfoGrid4Glass. We studied the interaction methods by measuring effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction of the users. The results of the study showed that smartphone interaction is superior to any Google Glass interaction methods. Of the interaction methods implemented for Glass, a combination of Glass with a smartwatch shows the highest usability. Our findings suggest that if users have a smartwatch available, it offers them a higher usability for interacting with virtual objects rather than using the touch pad of Glass or virtual buttons on Glass.