Challenges in representing information with augmented reality to support manual procedural tasks

Support of manual procedural tasks such as repair or maintenance is one of the most promising areas for the application of augmented reality in industry. However, it is not yet fully understood how information like work instructions or CAD models must be represented in a way that users are optimally supported in accomplishing this kind of tasks. As an approach to this research challenge, a conceptual framework for modelling information representation in augmented reality is presented here. It introduces the idea of information objects, which are physical and virtual objects that provide relevant information for completing work steps of a task. These can be distinguished into multiple classes based on the levels of spatial connection that information in augmented reality can have. The classes are then used to identify possible sources of sensory or cognitive effort for a user that is caused by the way information objects are included in an augmented reality system and not by the complexity of the task to be performed. Based on these sources, information representation challenges are formulated that must be addressed when creating augmented reality based support systems for procedural tasks. The five identified challenges are clarity, consistency, visibility, orientation and information linking. For each of them, a detailed explanation is given and literature is collected that provides indications of what can be done to overcome them. © 2019 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)