12 INDUSTRY & TECHNOLOGY One Small Step for UX, Jessyca Derby, Emily Rickel, and William Shelstad Graduate Researchers Weerachet Sinlapanuntakul Undergraduate Researcher Jessyca, Emily, William, and Pitch are students in the Research in User eXperience (RUX) Lab in the Department of Human Factors and Behavioral Neurobiology. RUX investigates the usability and user experience of technology in our everyday world. This is a regular column that explores different technologies typically used by Embry-Riddle students. Imagine putting on a headset, being greeted by a little red creature reminiscent of Pac-Man, and being able to interact with holograms in the comfort (and view!) of your own home. You could play a role-playing game (RPG) and defend your home from evil robots with your ray gun with the help of Dr. Grordbort, or maybe discover history’s treasures and view a hologram of an Egyptian Mummy while sitting on your couch. You could even work on a school project with a friend to strategize how to build a better working robot while you are both looking at a hologram of your design and taking notes directly on that hologram. This can all be done with the Magic Leap 1: a mixed-reality head-mounted display. The Magic Leap scans the space that you are in and understands how it works. For example, which spots are surfaces where a hologram can sit, where the walls or furniture can block holograms, and how far away you are from different surfaces (so holograms will appear
smaller the farther away they are). It can then place the 3D holograms in your space and allow you to view everything else simultaneously; it does not place you in a new digital world like virtual reality (VR), but instead brings the virtual elements to your world. That giant image of a human heart? Yup, you can place it right next to your TV. Or even put a virtual cat next to your real cat (though your real cat may get jealous)! The RUX Lab obtained two Magic Leap 1 devices over the summer. Some of our student researchers completed an out-of-box experience to discover if the Magic Leap really is a “magical” experience or if it is just a fad. An out-of-box experience is typically a user’s first interaction with a product or system from unboxing and setup all the way to the first use. Research shows that first impressions matter, as they can impact a user’s future interactions with a system. Unboxing The Magic Leap comes in a sleek box with an image of the device. After opening the box, the Quick Start Guide is there in a foam insert with the headset (aka lightwear), controller, circular battery pack (aka lightpack), other cords, and paperwork. The Quick Start Guide has instructions for downloading the Magic Leap app, unpacking components of the box, and how to wear the different parts of the Magic Leap. Setup and Configuration Once we got everything out of
Image Courtesy/MagicLeap.com
Magic Leap’s new head-mounted virtual retinal display, Magic Leap One.
the box, our first challenge was figuring out how to put on the headset and lightpack. We had some trouble clipping the lightpack to our pocket, as advised in the Quick Start Guide. The clip wasn’t very adjustable and the lightpack itself was pretty heavy, making it unsuitable for clipping to pockets made from a stretchy material. Additionally, having the headset tethered to the lightpack on our pocket felt a little awkward. We could foresee this being an issue, as users may try to set down the headset and walk away from it, only to drag the headset with them by the cord. We liked that the headset was adjustable and easy to put on. After donning our futuristic headset and lightpack, we turned on the device and followed the verbal and on-screen prompts that guided us through the rest of the setup process. First, the device
made adjustments based on our eyes and facial structure. For some users, this requires changing to a different nose piece or forehead pad. While it was easy to change out the forehead pads, it was confusing to figure out how to change the nose pieces. We found that the calibration process was enjoyable. The device mapped our surroundings accurately (it even mapped a cat!) using a fun, game-like process that involved walking around our space to hunt for waypoints that helped the device establish space boundaries. However, we noticed the verbal prompts provided throughout this process were quite loud, and it wasn’t easy to figure out how to adjust the volume.