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This study explores the anticipated changes in team collaboration driven by the rise of AI-reliant businesses in the metaverse. The research is motivated by the rapid technological advancements and increasing interest from major tech companies in creating shared virtual environments for distributed teams. The main objective is to investigate how team collaboration will evolve in this new context, providing insights for future metaverse team members and leaders. The qualitative study employs semi-structured, in-depth interviews in January-February 2022 with team members from the virtual world of Second Life, focusing on payment satisfaction, globalized team culture, training and learning, and fictional identities. This research period is contemporary, reflecting current trends and capabilities. The primary methods include thematic analysis of interview data to identify emerging patterns. Data is analyzed using "Dedoose", a web application for mixed methods research, and collected in several codes and subcodes that will eventually form a "code tree". Descriptive validity, interpretative validity, theoretical validity and generalizable validity were confirmed. Key findings reveal that metaverse-native teams need innovative payment methods and a focus on authentic self-expression. A globalized team culture will require balancing work and social life in virtual environments, with Corporate Social Responsibility being vital to attracting Generation Alpha. Payment satisfaction will shift towards fulfilment and unique experiences rather than just financial security, and businesses should explore alternative payment methods beyond cryptocurrency. Fictional identities will necessitate building metaverse-specific reputations for professionalism and trust. Training and learning will connect virtual and real-life scenarios, enhancing skills and quality. The study confirms that traditional collaboration models may only partially apply in augmented virtuality. These results have practical significance for businesses and professionals preparing to operate in the metaverse, offering a foundation for future research and development in virtual team collaboration.

Interactive virtual reality (VR) experience has become more common and widespread these days. The interaction is enabled by capturing inputs from users usually by mechanical hand-held controllers. Mainstream head-mounted display (HMD) based VR platforms come with these trackable multi-DOF controllers with a high level of versatility. This enables a tremendous diversity in input types and forms to provide more interactive and immersive VR experience. However, these devices lack in cross-platform compatibility as the protocols are non-standardized. Thus, it leads to a steep learning curve. The trouble in learning these devices results in non-intuitiveness and confusion to users. Also, the VR isolation may cause problems since the platforms are not designed to reflect any real environment around the user. In this paper, we investigate an alternate input method for virtual reality by incorporating a real-world object with augmented virtuality. We set a mobile phone as the real-world object for this phase of the study. We import a mobile phone from the real world and evaluate the possibility of utilizing it as an input device. The objective of this method is to give VR users more flexibility in input methods for VR and to reduce the physical barrier between the reality and virtual environment by using augmented virtuality. We propose a method for VR that overlays both real texture of a mobile phone and user's hand onto a virtual scene in real-time by utilizing external cameras attached on the HMD. While being immersed in virtual environment with the HMD, users can manipulate the device naturally for entering inputs to alter the virtual environment without removing the headset. We implement our prototype in two phases to explore its possibilities as a new input technique for VR. The evaluation was conducted by setting up different kinds of conditions and tasks in virtual environment. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified experimentally in specific given tasks in comparison with conventional controllers. Furthermore, we address and improve important points for accurate real image display in the virtual environment which we have found in the process of the implementation and the experiment. The outcome of the study indicates that our approach based on augmented virtuality, which is a relatively new approach for mixed reality, could lead to a path for an effective and natural input method for VR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the anticipated changes in team collaboration driven by the rise of AI-reliant businesses in the metaverse. The research is motivated by the rapid technological advancements and increasing interest from major tech companies in creating shared virtual environments for distributed teams. The main objective is to investigate how team collaboration will evolve in this new context, providing insights for future metaverse team members and leaders. The qualitative study employs semi-structured, in-depth interviews in January-February 2022 with team members from the virtual world of Second Life, focusing on payment satisfaction, globalized team culture, training and learning, and fictional identities. This research period is contemporary, reflecting current trends and capabilities. The primary methods include thematic analysis of interview data to identify emerging patterns. Data is analyzed using "Dedoose", a web application for mixed methods research, and collected in several codes and subcodes that will eventually form a "code tree". Descriptive validity, interpretative validity, theoretical validity and generalizable validity were confirmed. Key findings reveal that metaverse-native teams need innovative payment methods and a focus on authentic self-expression. A globalized team culture will require balancing work and social life in virtual environments, with Corporate Social Responsibility being vital to attracting Generation Alpha. Payment satisfaction will shift towards fulfilment and unique experiences rather than just financial security, and businesses should explore alternative payment methods beyond cryptocurrency. Fictional identities will necessitate building metaverse-specific reputations for professionalism and trust. Training and learning will connect virtual and real-life scenarios, enhancing skills and quality. The study confirms that traditional collaboration models may only partially apply in augmented virtuality. These results have practical significance for businesses and professionals preparing to operate in the metaverse, offering a foundation for future research and development in virtual team collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underfoot haptics, a largely unexplored area, offers rich tactile information close to that of hand-based interactions. Haptic feedback gives a sense of physicality to virtual environments, making for a more realistic and immersive experience. Augmented Virtuality offers the ability to render virtual materials on a physical object, or haptic proxy, without the user being aware of the object's physical appearance while seeing their own body. In this research, we investigate how the visual appearance of physical objects can be altered virtually to impact the tactile perception of the object. An Augmented Virtuality system was developed to explore this, and two tactile perception experiments, consisting of 18 participants, were conducted. Specifically, we explore whether changing the visual appearance of materials affects a person's underfoot tactile perception and which tactile perception is most affected by the change through a within-subjects experiment. Additionally, the study examines whether people are aware of changes in visual appearance when focused on other tasks through a between-subjects experiment. The study showed that a change in visual appearance significantly impacts the tactile perception of roughness. Matching visual appearance to physical materials was found to increase awareness of tactile perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article considers the immanent (internal) structure of a complex frame within the study of augmented reality, augmented virtuality, and truncated virtuality as components of the screen space continuum when creating television footage. Updating the topic of composite screen reality, the author studies in detail the construction of a frame with the simultaneous use of images of real objects and those generated electronically. Taking into account Russian and foreign scientific works, the author analyses the issues of creating a multifaceted screen space when replacing its part or a specific object image without displaying the surrounding subject reality, and introducing a virtual background image, elements of augmented virtuality with areal object image and a simulacrum into the screen picture. The author clarifies in which case an element of additional visuals acquires the properties of augmented reality, and specifies the functionality of truncated virtuality in the algorithm for creating screen space when the background image moves. According to the preliminary results of the study on television screen space, it is proposed to introduce into scientific circulation and professional lexicon the concepts of “augmented virtuality with a synthesized object”, “augmented virtuality with an image of areal object” and “truncated virtuality”. This material will be useful to specialists in the media sphere and at the same time will interest a wide range of readers and viewers.

Augmented Virtuality (AV), the augmentation of a virtual environment with real-world objects or information, provides unique educational opportunities, such as photorealistic avatars (using content generation sensors) that convey natural gestures and body language, frames of reference for scale comparisons, and embodied cognition. In this research, we focus on the use of AV technologies for educational tours, such as nature walks, which are guided educational tours to teach students how to identify trees. Because additional content generation and tracking sensors require additional costs and logistics for educational deployment, we conducted a between-subjects experiment comparing AV systems with rear-only and front-and-rear Kinect sensor arrangements. While prior research indicates comparable tracking accuracies for such sensor conditions, we found significant differences between the two conditions. More importantly, we found evidence indicating that the rear-only sensor condition altered participant behavior and caused some participants to prioritize completing the educational tour quickly over correctly identifying trees and their features on the tour. However, we also found that both conditions afforded significant learning improvements, based on pre and post knowledge tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underfoot haptics, a largely unexplored area, offers rich tactile information close to that of hand-based interactions. Haptic feedback gives a sense of physicality to virtual environments, making for a more realistic and immersive experience. Augmented Virtuality offers the ability to render virtual materials on a physical object, or haptic proxy, without the user being aware of the object’s physical appearance while seeing their own body. In this research, we investigate how the visual appearance of physical objects can be altered virtually to impact the tactile perception of the object. An Augmented Virtuality system was developed to explore this, and two tactile perception experiments, consisting of 18 participants, were conducted. Specifically, we explore whether changing the visual appearance of materials affects a person’s underfoot tactile perception and which tactile perception is most affected by the change through a within-subjects experiment. Additionally, the study examines whether people are aware of changes in visual appearance when focused on other tasks through a between-subjects experiment. The study showed that a change in visual appearance significantly impacts the tactile perception of roughness. Matching visual appearance to physical materials was found to increase awareness of tactile perception.

Recent technical advancement has driven the boundary between the physical reality and digital virtuality to diminish significantly. As part of the emerging trend, existing research leverages a synergized use of Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) and virtual reality (VR) to create compelling hybrid user experience. However, current state-of-the-art literature indicates a lack of coherent architecture for seamlessly integrating these two siloed technology stacks, thus hindering full-fledged mixed and extended reality applications. In this article, we first conducted a comprehensive literature review and identified key design themes and different technical affordances of RFID within VR context; in reflection of our findings, we hence proposed an overarching architecture to facilitate swift and flexible composition of RFID and VR; Three use cases were further established using the proposed architecture to both demonstrate its technical feasibility and qualitatively assess RFID’s augmentation over conventional VR applications. This exploratory research intends to offer some preliminary design knowledge and insights for designing and developing RFID-augmented VR applications, open up opportunities for further discussion and research interest in this area, thus ultimately contributing to more immersive, interactive and informative user experience.

This paper proposes a pseudo-haptic interface that depicts the virtual weights of dumbbells in a virtual gymnasium. When a user performs a dumbbell biceps curl, he/she fixes the elbow joint as a standard joint and lifts the dumbbell, with its movement trajectory represented as a circular arc. The trajectories and velocity of dumbbell bicep curls differ depending on human physiological characteristics. Therefore, the proposed system provides an adaptable exercise area and force visualization of virtual dumbbells using a velocity-based pseudo-haptic interface and computer vision-based tracking method. The system recognizes the position and rotation of joints related to a dumbbell biceps curl with the implementation of density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (a clustering algorithm) and resizes the radius and angle of an integrated force circular gauge. Furthermore, when a user lifts a dumbbell, the system recognizes, using linear regression, the current position and lifting force of the virtual dumbbell and visualizes the current lifting force with a guided movement trajectory to match the lifting force. Experimental results show that the proposed pseudo-haptic interface increased weight perception and usability by up to 30% compared to conventional methods (p < 0.05). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research examined whether users of an augmented virtuality (AV) system, in which real coins and a real coin machine are integrated within a virtual system, will be less inclined to spend money compared to users in a virtual system. Two studies using a virtual grocery store simulation were performed to answer this question. In the first study, 65 undergraduate students were randomly assigned to two between-participants groups: a virtual system group, in which the coins were virtual, and an AV system group. The results demonstrated that participants in the AV system group invested less money than participants in the virtual system group. In the second study, 51 children aged 5–10 years were randomly assigned to the two above-mentioned groups and assigned the same task. In contrast, the results from this study demonstrated that participants in the AV system group invested much more money than participants in the virtual system group, and their decisions were made more quickly. It is possible that the children enjoyed playing the game in the AV version and did not pay attention to the possible results. The effect of different virtuality levels on financial decision-making processes, however, should be further explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problem and goal. Virtual, augmented mixed reality and augmented virtuality are becoming integral attributes of the immersive educational environment, disposed to continuous learning and comprehensive development. The relevance of the study of models of using immersive technologies in the activities of a computer science teacher is beyond doubt, because they are the real embodiment of new methodological ideas and approaches. Methodology. In the course of the research, the analysis of models of immersive learning technologies for the practical activities of a computer science teacher was carried out. On its basis, a set of computer tools and equipment has been proposed that allows introducing immersive technologies into educational practice. Results. Methodological recommendations on the use of virtual, augmented and mixed reality technologies both in informatics lessons and after school hours are presented. The key topics of the computer science program, in which it is advisable to use immersive technologies, have been identified. Methodological approaches to the transformation of informatics teaching in the context of digitalization of education have been formulated. Conclusion. The results of the study indicate that immersive learning technologies can be successfully applied both in informatics lessons and outside the classroom. They not only contribute to the immersion of students in an interactive environment, but also increase the interest, motivation and quality of their knowledge. Lessons using immersive technologies open up new opportunities for a computer science teacher for professional growth, methodological and subject self-improvement.

Purpose: Extended reality (XR) is a promising new medium that creates environments combining real and virtual elements or offers a completely virtual environment for people to experience. In the field of technical communication, XR offers a plethora of possibilities, such as augmenting critical instructions in a work environment. On the downside, XR brings about challenges. For example, issues of privacy and security require more attention due to the risks involved with XR devices continuously collecting data from the users and their surroundings. More knowledge concerning the use of XR as a medium to deliver technical instructions is required. In this article, I address this need by explaining how XR handles data. Methods: To find out how XR handles data, I used relevant previous research (33 papers and four books) as data for thematic analysis. I coded data systematically according to how XR has been used before and the phases that can be seen in the process of data handling in XR when it is used as a medium for technical instructions. Results: The data handled in XR can be divided into instructional data, such as assembly instructions, and collected data that XR equipment collects while someone is using it. Data handling in XR can be seen as a process. Based on the thematic analysis, I found six different phases of data handling: collection, processing, storage, transfer, combining, and presentation. Conclusion: The phases of data handling in XR illustrate in general what happens to the data in XR and what kind of data the equipment collects. My findings add to our understanding of XR as a medium to deliver technical instructions. They also offer a usable framework for mapping the differences between XR and other media as a way to deliver technical instructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intersection between music and Extended Reality (XR) has grown significantly over the past twenty years, amounting to an established area of research today. The use of XR technologies represents a fundamental paradigm shift for various musical contexts as they disrupt traditional notions of musical interaction by enabling performers and audiences to interact musically with virtual objects, agents, and environments. This article both surveys and expands upon the knowledge accumulated in existing research in this area to build a foundation for future works that bring together Music and XR. To this end, we created a freely available dataset of 260 publications in this space and conducted an in-depth analysis covering 199 works in the last decade. We conducted this analysis using a list of conceptual dimensions belonging to technical, artistic, perceptual and methodological domains. This review of the literature is complemented with a set of interviews with domain experts with the goal of establishing a definition for the emergent field of Musical XR, i.e., the field of music in Extended Realities. Based on the results of the conducted review, a research agenda for the field is proposed.

In this study, we focus on the egocentric segmentation of arms to improve self-perception in Augmented Virtuality (AV). The main contributions of this work are: i) a comprehensive survey of segmentation algorithms for AV; ii) an Egocentric Arm Segmentation Dataset (EgoArm), composed of more than 10, 000 images, demographically inclusive (variations of skin color, and gender), and open for research purposes. We also provide all details required for the automated generation of groundtruth and semi-synthetic images; iii) the proposal of a deep learning network to segment arms in AV; iv) a detailed quantitative and qualitative evaluation to showcase the usefulness of the deep network and EgoArm dataset, reporting results on different real egocentric hand datasets, including GTEA Gaze+, EDSH, EgoHands, Ego Youtube Hands, THU-Read, TEgO, FPAB, and Ego Gesture, which allow for direct comparisons with existing approaches using color or depth. Results confirm the suitability of the EgoArm dataset for this task, achieving improvements up to 40% with respect to the baseline network, depending on the particular dataset. Results also suggest that, while approaches based on color or depth can work under controlled conditions (lack of occlusion, uniform lighting, only objects of interest in the near range, controlled background, etc.), deep learning is more robust in real AV applications.

This paper proposes a pseudo-haptic interface that depicts the virtual weights of dumbbells in a virtual gymnasium. When a user performs a dumbbell biceps curl, he/she fixes the elbow joint as a standard joint and lifts the dumbbell, with its movement trajectory represented as a circular arc. The trajectories and velocity of dumbbell bicep curls differ depending on human physiological characteristics. Therefore, the proposed system provides an adaptable exercise area and force visualization of virtual dumbbells using a velocity-based pseudo-haptic interface and computer vision-based tracking method. The system recognizes the position and rotation of joints related to a dumbbell biceps curl with the implementation of density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (a clustering algorithm) and resizes the radius and angle of an integrated force circular gauge. Furthermore, when a user lifts a dumbbell, the system recognizes, using linear regression, the current position and lifting force of the virtual dumbbell and visualizes the current lifting force with a guided movement trajectory to match the lifting force. Experimental results show that the proposed pseudo-haptic interface increased weight perception and usability by up to 30% compared to conventional methods (p < 0.05).

Featured Application: The presented study can be applied to increase the safety of navigation using augmented virtuality decision support systems. It can also be used for comparison for other studies involving the use of mixed reality devices and interfaces for the safety of ships' navigation. The paper presents the results of a study on improving the safety of navigation, during maneuvers in restricted areas, with the use of an augmented virtuality navigation information display. The augmented virtuality solution has been developed by one of the authors and has been described in a previous paper. A set of simulation scenarios has been proposed to study various maneuvers with different types of ships. Models of existing areas and existing ships have been used so the study can be recreated and reevaluated with different types of interfaces. The study is focused on comparing safe maneuvering areas with different information sources used. The results showed that augmented virtuality solution can indeed decrease the safe maneuvering areas and thus increase the safety of navigation for maneuvers in restricted areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the article is an attempt to analyze the use of Augmented Reality in educational applications over the last few years. The first part is devoted to defining the concept more precisely, because AR may seem ambiguous. The second part of the article introduces selected educational applications of AR in different subjects or teaching/learning, e.g. in science/mathematics, natural science or in language learning. Research projects for applications in various teaching solutions will also be referenced. The third and final part contains a brief review of AR literature in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We develop an Augmented Virtuality (AV) system that brings the full-featured smartphone into a Virtual Reality (VR) environment. • Using a mobile phone with our AV interfaces in VR was stressful than the regular smartphone touch interaction. • We explored augmented hand visualization for the AV mobile touch input to improve the on-screen content interaction, especially in typing. • A skin-colored hand visualization method provided better usability and immersiveness than other hand rendering styles. [Display omitted] Virtual Reality (VR) Head-Mounted Display (HMD) technology immerses a user in a computer generated virtual environment. However, a VR HMD also blocks the users' view of their physical surroundings, and so prevents them from using their mobile phones in a natural manner. In this paper, we present a novel Augmented Virtuality (AV) interface that enables people to naturally interact with a mobile phone in real time in a virtual environment. The system allows the user to wear a VR HMD while seeing his/her 3D hands captured by a depth sensor and rendered in different styles, and enables the user to operate a virtual mobile phone aligned with their real phone. We conducted a formal user study to compare the AV interface with physical touch interaction on user experience in five mobile applications. Participants reported that our system brought the real mobile phone into the virtual world. Unfortunately, the experiment results indicated that using a phone with our AV interfaces in VR was more difficult than the regular smartphone touch interaction, with increased workload and lower system usability, especially for a typing task. We ran a follow-up study to compare different hand visualizations for text typing using the AV interface. Participants felt that a skin-colored hand visualization method provided better usability and immersiveness than other hand rendering styles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tamarind forest is a virtual reality (VR) installation that explores shifts of perception through a somatic experience in a virtual space. As part of a larger show (kimosphere no.4) that explored immersion and an entwinement of real and virtual spaces, The Tamarind forest experiments with augmented virtuality and invites the audience to pay attention to their physical body while taking a journey through a virtual forest. This paper describes the piece, the technology and the design process as well as the main takeaways and reflections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well known that the appearance of food, particularly its color, can influence flavor perception and identification. However, food studies involving the manipulation of product color face inevitable limitations, from extrinsic flavors introduced by food coloring to the cost in development time and resources in order to produce different product variants. One solution lies in modern virtual reality (VR) technology, which has become increasingly accessible, sophisticated, and widespread over the past years. In the present study, we investigated whether making a coffee look milkier in a VR environment can alter its perceived flavor and liking. Thirty-two United Kingdom (UK) consumers were given four samples of black cold brew coffee at 4 and 8% sucrose concentration. They wore VR headsets throughout the study and viewed the same coffee in a virtual setting. The color of the beverage was manipulated in VR, such that participants saw either a dark brown or light brown liquid as they sipped the coffee. A full factorial design was used so that each participant tasted each sweetness x color combination, Participants reported sweetness, creaminess, and liking for each sample. Results revealed that beverage color as viewed in VR significantly influenced perceived creaminess, with the light brown coffee rated to be creamier than dark brown coffee. However, beverage color did not influence perceived sweetness or liking. The present study supports the role of VR as a means of conducting food perception studies, either to gain a better understanding of multisensory integration, or, from an industry perspective, to enable rapid product testing when it may be time-intensive or costly to produce the same range of products in the real-world. Furthermore, it opens potential future opportunities for VR to promote healthy eating behavior by manipulating the visual appearance of foods.

It is well known that the appearance of food, particularly its color, can influence flavor perception and identification. However, food studies involving the manipulation of product color face inevitable limitations, from extrinsic flavors introduced by food coloring to the cost in development time and resources in order to produce different product variants. One solution lies in modern virtual reality (VR) technology, which has become increasingly accessible, sophisticated, and widespread over the past years. In the present study, we investigated whether making a coffee look milkier in a VR environment can alter its perceived flavor and liking. Thirty-two United Kingdom (UK) consumers were given four samples of black cold brew coffee at 4 and 8% sucrose concentration. They wore VR headsets throughout the study and viewed the same coffee in a virtual setting. The color of the beverage was manipulated in VR, such that participants saw either a dark brown or light brown liquid as they sipped the coffee. A full factorial design was used so that each participant tasted each sweetness x color combination, Participants reported sweetness, creaminess, and liking for each sample. Results revealed that beverage color as viewed in VR significantly influenced perceived creaminess, with the light brown coffee rated to be creamier than dark brown coffee. However, beverage color did not influence perceived sweetness or liking. The present study supports the role of VR as a means of conducting food perception studies, either to gain a better understanding of multisensory integration, or, from an industry perspective, to enable rapid product testing when it may be time-intensive or costly to produce the same range of products in the real-world. Furthermore, it opens potential future opportunities for VR to promote healthy eating behavior by manipulating the visual appearance of foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In virtual environments, spatial discrepancies between visual and haptic scenes negatively impact user performance and experience. This paper shows how spatial discrepancies due to pose differences can occur in a haptic augmented virtuality system with an encountered-type haptic display. To mitigate this problem, we propose visual guidance, an algorithm that dynamically manipulates the visual scene to compensate for discrepancies. The effectiveness of this algorithm was verified in a pair of studies involving a button pressing task and spatial discrepancies between ±150 mm and ±40°. Experimental results show that discrepant trials using the technique yield error rates and a number of speed peaks (representing the number of targeting movements) that are comparable to those attained in trials with zero spatial discrepancy. This result was also achieved without requiring a dedicated adaptation or training process, ensuring the algorithm can be used immediately by users. A pair of follow-up studies also indicates the algorithm has little impact on subjective ratings of simulator sickness, suggesting that sporadic use of the algorithm will not negatively affect user’s experience of a virtual environment. We believe that the visual guidance algorithm presented in this paper can be used to create more useful and compelling experiences in various haptic training applications incorporating encountered-type haptic displays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of a study on improving the safety of navigation, during maneuvers in restricted areas, with the use of an augmented virtuality navigation information display. The augmented virtuality solution has been developed by one of the authors and has been described in a previous paper. A set of simulation scenarios has been proposed to study various maneuvers with different types of ships. Models of existing areas and existing ships have been used so the study can be recreated and reevaluated with different types of interfaces. The study is focused on comparing safe maneuvering areas with different information sources used. The results showed that augmented virtuality solution can indeed decrease the safe maneuvering areas and thus increase the safety of navigation for maneuvers in restricted areas.

Virtual reality (VR) technologies have become more and more affordable and popular in the last five years thanks to hardware and software advancements. A critical issue for these technologies is finding paradigms that allow user interactions in ways that are as similar as possible to the real world, bringing physicality into the experience. Current literature has shown, with different experiments, that the mapping of real objects in virtual reality alongside haptic feedback significantly increases the realism of the experience and user engagement, leading to augmented virtuality. In this paper, we present a system to improve engagement in a VR experience using inexpensive, physical, and sensorized copies of real artefacts made with cheap 3D fabrication technologies. Based on a combination of hardware and software components, the proposed system gives the user the possibility to interact with the physical replica in the virtual environment and to see the appearance of the original cultural heritage artefact. In this way, we overcome one of the main limitations of mainstream 3D fabrication technologies: a faithful appearance reproduction. Using a consumer device for the real-time hand tracking and a custom electronic controller for the capacitive touch sensing, the system permits the creation of augmented experiences where the user with their hands can change the virtual appearance of the real replica object using a set of personalization actions selectable from a physical 3D-printed palette.

In this paper, we report findings from a systematic mapping study, conducted to review the existing literature on collaborative educational environments incorporating mixed reality technologies. There is increasing interest in mixed reality technologies in education, especially with the introduction of new over head mounted displays (OHMDs), such as HoloLens, Oculus Rift, and HTC Vive. with the consideration of areas, such as education, dynamic technology, and complex environments, a research area is identified. We carried out an extensive review of the literature from 2007 to 2017 and conducted an analysis of the works on mixed reality technologies and its subcategories applied to collaborative education environments. Results highlighted the lack of research across the mixed reality spectrum, especially in the augmented virtuality subcategory, as well as technical limitations such as response time in the development of mixed reality technologies for collaborative environments. Furthermore, the difficulty of teaching professionals to replicate mixed reality experiments in real environments, due to the technical skills required, was identified. The main contribution of this paper is the discussion of the current works with visualization of the present state of the area, which is aimed to encourage educators to develop mixed reality artefacts and conduct further research to support collaborative educational environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]