Guidelines for the Interface Design of AR Systems for Manual Assembly

Augmented Reality (AR) allows for the augmentation of relevant in-situ information in real-time, making it an effective assistive tool to support and enhance task performance. Manual assembly is a promising area in which AR can be used to assist users. Findings from various user studies evaluating the use of AR-based support systems for manual assembly have shown that it is able to reduce mental workload and improve task performance, and that its usability is greatly influenced by user interface (UI) design. Many prototypes have been developed to identify the optimal information presentation, with each study implementing its own interface design approach. The challenge lies in determining a generalized and standardized approach to interface design: what information should be present and how should they be presented? The paper reviews the types of visual features that have been implemented in existing systems and how it had assisted users in performing tasks. The questions of what information should be available and how to present them, guides the discussion from which a set of guidelines is formulated, aided by theories from cognitive science. This paper proposes the following guidelines for the interface design of AR systems for manual assembly: to include information which are present in traditional paper-based instructions; to use exogenous cues for the tasks of identifying, locating and picking parts; to use endogenous cues to guide in assembling parts. The paper contributes to the design AR systems for manual assembly by proposing a standardized approach to interface design.