Collaborative Interaction Between HMD and Desktop Users in XR (Bachelor and Master)

Extended reality (XR) enables people using different devices to work together in shared digital environments. While Head-mounted Displays (HMDs) can immerse users fully into the shared space, collaborators might not have access to these devices. Supporting collaboration with desktop users can increase accessibility and help make shared virtual environments more useful in practice. This topic focuses on how both types of users can interact and how they are represented in a shared virtual environment. These interactions can include communication, object manipulation, navigation, task coordination and other interactions. Areas of investigation include usability, task performance, user awareness, and engagement during collaboration.

Research questions could focus on developing and evaluating behaviours in shared interaction tasks, as well as exploring different possibilities for depicting desktop and HMD users in the virtual space.

The project will be implemented in Unity and evaluated through user studies. Appropriate evaluation methods will be agreed upon and used to analyse the results and answer the research question.

Suitable for Bachelor and Master theses. Contact persons: Ulrik Deneken M.Sc., Dr. rer. nat. Pauline Bimberg