RESUMO
Immersive environments offer new possibilities for exploring three-dimensional volumetric or abstract data. However, typical mid-air interaction offers little guidance to the user in interacting with the resulting visuals. Previous work has explored the use of haptic controls to give users tangible affordances for interacting with the data, but these controls have either: been limited in their range and resolution; were spatially fixed; or required users to manually align them with the data space. We explore the use of a robot arm with hand tracking to align tangible controls under the user's fingers as they reach out to interact with data affordances. We begin with a study evaluating the effectiveness of a robot-extended slider control compared to a large fixed physical slider and a purely virtual mid-air slider. We find that the robot slider has similar accuracy to the physical slider but is significantly more accurate than mid-air interaction. Further, the robot slider can be arbitrarily reoriented, opening up many new possibilities for tangible haptic interaction with immersive visualisations. We demonstrate these possibilities through three use-cases: selection in a time-series chart; interactive slicing of CT scans; and finally exploration of a scatter plot depicting time-varying socio-economic data.
RESUMO
Collaborative visual analytics leverages social interaction to support data exploration and sensemaking. These processes are typically imagined as formalised, extended activities, between groups of dedicated experts, requiring expertise with sophisticated data analysis tools. However, there are many professional domains that benefit from support for short 'bursts' of data exploration between a subset of stakeholders with a diverse breadth of knowledge. Such 'casual collaborative' scenarios will require engaging features to draw users' attention, with intuitive, 'walk-up and use' interfaces. This paper presents Uplift, a novel prototype system to support 'casual collaborative visual analytics' for a campus microgrid, co-designed with local stakeholders. An elicitation workshop with key members of the building management team revealed relevant knowledge is distributed among multiple experts in their team, each using bespoke analysis tools. Uplift combines an engaging 3D model on a central tabletop display with intuitive tangible interaction, as well as augmented-reality, mid-air data visualisation, in order to support casual collaborative visual analytics for this complex domain. Evaluations with expert stakeholders from the building management and energy domains were conducted during and following our prototype development and indicate that Uplift is successful as an engaging backdrop for casual collaboration. Experts see high potential in such a system to bring together diverse knowledge holders and reveal complex interactions between structural, operational, and financial aspects of their domain. Such systems have further potential in other domains that require collaborative discussion or demonstration of models, forecasts, or cost-benefit analyses to high-level stakeholders.
