Usability Study for Environment-Aware Avatar Interactions in Augmented Reality (AR)

Abstract: This Ericsson project investigates avatar interactions in Augmented Reality (AR) and allows users to interact with a full-sized 3D avatar that is aware of the user’s local environment. This project aimed to evaluate the system's usability and identify potential use cases where users might want to interact with an avatar. The tests were conducted with the main objectives to find out issues in usability and how factors affect the user experience when interacting with an avatar. The prototype for this was adapted for NReal glasses and the testing method used combined quantitative and qualitative approaches. 21 Ericsson employees tested the application and used augmented reality glasses to interact with the avatar. The participants were not guided and instead asked to interact intuitively with the avatar – some even tried to shake hands or talk to the avatar. The data was collected by transcribing notes from each session, noting observations and the responses to the questionnaire. The results from this usability study helped to understand usability issues such as restrictive avatar movements and lack of facial expressions and distinct features when interacting with the avatar. It also highlighted the problems with the current chosen device which has a restrictive Field of View that obstructed the experience for over 60% of the participants. The future scope of this project would focus on making the user experience more realistic by adding expressions, audio, etc., and allowing users to imagine the potential of interacting through a holographic communication application. Overall, the study provides user insights and analysis that could help to develop this application further and make it more engaging, thus bringing the possibility of holographic communication and avatar interaction closer to reality.