Facilitating and enhancing co-creation through multi-sensory mixed reality experiences: a paradigm shift in stakeholder engagement

Co-creation has become increasingly important as companies strive to develop more customer-centric products and services by involving stakeholders throughout the design process. This paper introduces XR-CO, a multi-sensory, multi-user mixed reality co-creation platform. XR-CO utilizes an optical see-through head mounted display to create a 1:1 immersive mixed reality environment over essential physical prototypes, allowing stakeholders to physically interact with functional prototypes inside the digital environment. By incorporating visual, auditory, somatosensory and vestibular senses, XR-CO maximizes collaboration and triggers meaningful interactions among stakeholders, leading to improved co-creation quality. To validate XR-CO’s effectiveness, a study was conducted involving 32 participants in co-creation sessions for the development of cabin interiors of a new concept aircraft, the Flying-V. Half of the participants used XR-CO platform, while another half used the conventional desktop co-creation setups. The participants appreciated the XR-CO platforms, as indicated by their high scores in CSI, SUS, co-creation experience, and quantity of ideas in terms of quantitative data analysis. Additionally, 4D scanning of participants movements demonstrated that XR-CO provided a true-to-life perception of the digital space. XR-CO facilitated the discovery of more design issues compared to conventional setups, a finding affirmed by an expert panel using qualitative Delphi techniques. The positive user experience and meaningful outcomes observed in these co-creation sessions serve as strong evidence of the efficacy of the XR-CO platform, particularly the newly introduced somatosense. In summary, our study highlights the significance of XR-CO in co-creation processes. The platform’s immersive nature, combined with the integration of multiple sensory inputs, fosters collaboration, enriches interactions, and ultimately leads to improved outcomes.