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In this paper, we present an approach to improve pointing methods and target selection on tactile human–machine interfaces. This approach defines a two-level highlighting technique (TLH) based on the direction of gaze for target selection on a touch screen. The technique uses the orientation of the user’s head to approximate the direction of his gaze and uses this information to preselect the potential targets. An experimental system with a multimodal interface has been prototyped to assess the impact of TLH on target selection on a touch screen and compare its performance with that of traditional methods (mouse and touch). We conducted an experiment to assess the effectiveness of our proposition in terms of the rate of selection errors made and time for completion of the task. We also made a subjective estimation of ease of use, suitability for selection, confidence brought by the TLH, and contribution of TLH to improving the selection of targets. Statistical results show that the proposed TLH significantly reduces the selection error rate and the time to complete tasks.

Real-time and high-intensity teamwork management is complex, as team leaders must ensure good results while also considering the well-being of team members. Given that stress and other factors directly impact team members’ output volume and error rate, these team leaders must be aware of and manage team stress levels in combination with allocating new work. This paper examines methods for visualizing each team member’s status in mixed reality, which, combined with a simulated stress model for virtual team members, allows the team leader to take into account team members’ individual statuses when choosing whom to allocate work. Using simulated Augmented Reality in Virtual Reality, a user study was conducted where participants acted as team leaders, putting simulated team members under stress by allocating several required work tasks while also being able to review the stress and status of each team member. The results showed that providing Augmented Reality feedback on team members’ internal status increases the team’s overall performance, as team leaders can better allocate new work to reduce team members’ stress-related errors while maximizing output. Participants preferred having a graph representation for stress levels despite performing better with a text representation.

This paper assesses the usefulness of an interactive and navigable 3D environment to help decision-making in cybersecurity. Malware programs frequently emit periodic signals in network logs; however, normal periodical network activities, such as software updates and data collection activities, mask them. Thus, if automatic systems use periodicity to successfully detect malware, they also detect ordinary activities as suspicious ones and raise false positives. Hence, there is a need to provide tools to sort the alerts raised by such software. Data visualizations can make it easier to categorize these alerts, as proven by previous research. However, traditional visualization tools can struggle to display a large amount of data that needs to be treated in cybersecurity in a clear way. In response, this paper explores the use of Immersive Analytics to interact with complex dataset representations and collect cues for alert classification. We created a prototype that uses a helical representation to underline periodicity in the distribution of one variable of a dataset. We tested this prototype in an alert triage scenario and compared it with a state-of-the-art 2D visualization with regard to the visualization efficiency, usability, workload, and flow induced.

In this paper, we present a new egocentric metaphor for graph visualization that consists in positioning a graph between two concentric spheres of different radii. It improves the expansion of nodes in space, contrary to 3D spatialization algorithms. The edge drawing is optimized by pushing all the edges into the area delimited by our two concentric spheres so that a user can move freely without being encumbered by edges. Our new metaphor also makes it possible to reduce the display angles in order to have a global view of the graph without leaving the egocentricity.

This paper deals with Digital Twins (DTs) for Industry 4.0 factories, and their implementation in the context of a reconfigurable factory. This context implies a modification of the layout of the workstations during production, and thus requires a live update of the digital twins according to these modifications. We needed this update done by the operators directly on the workstations using an AR authoring tool. A literature review helped us to determine the criteria that a tool should fulfill in order to achieve this goal. The most important criteria are that the tool should be suitable for use by operators not trained in AR, that the learning curve should be short, and that it should be usable in a reconfigurable factory context. We created a DT containing all the necessary factory data and 3D models of the workstation interaction zones of a real assembly line. We then developed a tool enabling operators to match the DTs with their physical twin (PT) in AR, as well as to update their position in case of a reconfiguration. The experimentation we carried out confirms our analysis and shows us that it is possible to deploy a DT in a factory quite simply if the positioning of the DTs is done by direct manipulation (the 3D objects are co-located with the operator’s hand) with the help of an AR display device.

Collaborative virtual environments allow people to work together while being distant. At the same time, empathic computing aims to create a deeper shared understanding between people. In this paper, we investigate how to improve the perception of distant collaborative activities in a virtual environment by sharing users’ activity. We first propose several visualization techniques for sharing the activity of multiple users. We selected one of these techniques for a pilot study and evaluated its benefits in a controlled experiment using a virtual reality adaptation of the NASA MATB-II (Multi-Attribute Task Battery). Results show (1) that instantaneous indicators of users’ activity are preferred to indicators that continuously display the progress of a task, and (2) that participants are more confident in their ability to detect users needing help when using activity indicators.

The help of a remote expert in performing a maintenance task can be useful in many situations, and can save time as well as money. In this context, augmented reality (AR) technologies can improve remote guidance thanks to the direct overlay of 3D information onto the real world. Furthermore, virtual reality (VR) enables a remote expert to virtually share the place in which the physical maintenance is being carried out. In a traditional local collaboration, collaborators are face-to-face and are observing the same artifact, while being able to communicate verbally and use body language, such as gaze direction or facial expression. These interpersonal communication cues are usually limited in remote collaborative maintenance scenarios, in which the agent uses an AR setup while the remote expert uses VR. Providing users with adapted interaction and awareness features to compensate for the lack of essential communication signals is therefore a real challenge for remote MR collaboration. However, this context offers new opportunities for augmenting collaborative abilities, such as sharing an identical point of view, which is not possible in real life. Based on the current task of the maintenance procedure, such as navigation to the correct location or physical manipulation, the remote expert may choose to freely control his/her own viewpoint of the distant workspace, or instead may need to share the viewpoint of the agent in order to better understand the current situation. In this work, we first focus on the navigation task, which is essential to complete the diagnostic phase and to begin the maintenance task in the correct location. We then present a novel interaction paradigm, implemented in an early prototype, in which the guide can show the operator the manipulation gestures required to achieve a physical task that is necessary to perform the maintenance procedure. These concepts are evaluated, allowing us to provide guidelines for future systems targeting efficient remote collaboration in MR environments.