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Autonomous robotic vehicles (i.e., drones) are potentially transformative for search and rescue (SAR). This paper works toward wearable interfaces, through which humans team with multiple drones. We introduce the Virtual Drone Search Game as a first step in creating a mixed reality simulation for humans to practice drone teaming and SAR techniques. Our goals are to (1) evaluate input modalities for the drones, derived from an iterative narrowing of the design space, (2) improve our mixed reality system for designing input modalities and training operators, and (3) collect data on how participants socially experience the virtual drones with which they work. In our study, 17 participants played the game with two input modalities (Gesture condition, Tap condition) in counterbalanced order. Results indicated that participants performed best with the Gesture condition. Participants found the multiple controls challenging, and future studies might include more training of the devices and game. Participants felt like a team with the drones and found them moderately agentic. In our future work, we will extend this testing to a more externally valid mixed reality game.
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Designing Future Disaster Response Team Wearables from a Grounding in Practice
Wearable computers are poised to impact disaster response, so there is a need to determine the best interfaces to support situation awareness, decision support, and communication. We present a disaster response wearable design created for a mixed reality live-action role playing design competition, the Icehouse Challenge. The challenge, an independent event in which the authors were competitors, offers a simulation game environment in which teams compete to test wearable designs. In this game, players move through a simulated disaster space that requires team coordination and physical exertion to mitigate virtual hazards and stabilize virtual victims. Our design was grounded in disaster response and team coordination practice. We present our design process to develop wearable computer interfaces that integrate physiological and virtual environmental sensor data and display actionable information through a head-mounted display. We reflect on our observations from the live game, discuss challenges, opportunities, and design implications for future disaster response wearables to support collaboration.
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- PAR ID:
- 10564904
- Publisher / Repository:
- ACM
- Date Published:
- ISBN:
- 9781450354202
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 6
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- wearable head-mounted display mixed reality augmented reality LARP team coordination collaboration disaster response
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Washington DC USA
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1145/3183654.3183662
