Exploring Virtual User Testing through the Turing Model: A Study of Three Key Domains
February 7th, 2023
Jamil Joundi
Introduction
In our research group, we study user experience using the Turing Model, which provides a comprehensive approach to evaluating the appraisal of a system. The model considers three key elements: task, context, and user characteristics, which combine to influence the perception of instrumental and non-instrumental qualities, leading to an emotional response, and ultimately, the appraisal of the system.
VR in the Product Design Cycle
In the product design cycle, VR is mainly used for system-level design when all components have already been defined. Literature primarily focuses on system-level design, testing refinement, and product ramp-up (digital twin). The main areas of emphasis are expression technology (visual appearance) and authoring technology.
VR within the product design cycle
Smart City Space
The first domain we will examine is the smart city space. Our research involved floor button interactions in a container-sized smart heritage experience. VR was used in this setting due to its ability to facilitate co-creation with all stakeholders, visualize an expensive product, and gain insights into the user flow within the CoGent-box. Despite some visual fidelity and high-quality end results, the limitations of this approach included a lack of realistic interaction and limited human factors research during the testing process.
Smart Kitchen Environment
The second domain we explored was the smart kitchen environment. The primary focus of this research was to compare the traditional approach to conducting research in the field with a new approach that incorporates better data logging, including gaze tracking, body posture tracking, interaction logging, and physiological data logging (pupil data, GSR, heart rate, etc.). The new approach also offers advantages such as flexibility in the setup, cost reduction, and time savings.
Smart industry testing (left) , smart city testing (top) , smart kitchen testing (bottom)
Smart industry
Finally, we conducted research in the smart industry domain to explore cobot interactions within a safe and adaptable environment. Our experiments focused on ergonomic cobot support vs. basic pick and hand-over interactions and logged behavior data, mainly focusing on hesitation behavior and seeking better interactions with the cobot. This field is a promising area for future research, with potential experiments focusing on hesitation and doubt, leading to training simulators.
Conclusion
In conclusion, our research group has explored three key domains using the Turing Model to evaluate user experience. Our findings provide insights into the benefits and limitations of VR in the product design cycle, the use of VR in the smart city space, the improvements in data logging in the smart kitchen environment, and the promising field of cobot interactions in the smart industry domain.