Augmented Reality User Manual for Assembly Tasks

In many manufacturing sites, workers depend profoundly on user manuals that include texts and images in paper or digital format to learn and perform their daily assembly tasks. Studies have shown that these user manuals tend to increase misinterpretation and oversight, thus affecting user performance. To address this challenge, we propose an Augmented Reality (AR) user manual using a head-worn display that allows intuitive and direct perception of contextual information overlaid atop the real-world task environment. Our work explores not only semantics (i.e., the content) but also syntax (i.e., the presentation method) of information delivered to the user. As a proof of concept, we applied the proposed concept to prototype an AR instruction manual for a Bluetooth speaker assembly task. The prototype was evaluated by three subject matter experts who performed a heuristic walkthrough based on the principles of human information processing. Our initial usability evaluation demonstrated the potential of AR user manual. The findings also underscored the importance of considering both semantics and syntax of information when designing AR user interfaces.