Transitional Explainer: Instruct Functions in the Real World and Onscreen in Multi-Function Printer

Abstract

An office appliance, such as a multi-function printer (MFP) that combines a printer, copy machine, scanner, and facsimile, requires users to simultaneously learn both the manipulation of real-world objects and their abstract representation in a virtual world. Although many MFPs are provided in most offices and stores, their services are often not fully utilized because users deem their features too difficult to understand. We therefore propose a 'transitional explainer,' an agent that instructs users about the features of MFPs by mixing real- and virtual-world representations. Blended reality has been proposed as part of augmented reality. It involves the blending of virtual and real expressions to leverage their combined advantages. In this study, we utilize the advantages of blended reality to show users how to operate complex appliances by extending anthropomorphized explanations. A self-explanatory style is used by the appliance itself to improve the user's ability to remember features and enhance the motivation of all users, especially older ones, to learn the functions. With this system, users interact with the transitional agent and thereby learn how to use the MFP. The agent hides its real eyes and arms in onscreen mode, and extends them in real-world mode. We implemented the transitional explainer for realizing the blended reality agent in the MFP. In addition, we evaluated how this transitional expression supports users' understanding of how to manipulate the MFP and enhances users' motivation to use it.