Evaluating Usability Aspects of a Mixed Reality Solution for Immersive Analytics in Industry 4.0 Scenarios

In medicine or industry, the analysis of high-dimensional data sets is increasingly required. However, available technical solutions are often complex to use. Therefore, new approaches like immersive analytics are welcome. Immersive analytics promise to experience high-dimensional data sets in a convenient manner for various user groups and data sets. Technically, virtual-reality devices are used to enable immersive analytics. In Industry 4.0, for example, scenarios like the identification of outliers or anomalies in high-dimensional data sets are pursued goals of immersive analytics. In this context, two important questions should be addressed for any developed technical solution on immersive analytics: First, is the technical solutions being helpful or not? Second, is the bodily experience of the technical solution positive or negative? The first question aims at the general feasibility of a technical solution, while the second one aims at the wearing comfort. Extant studies and protocols, which systematically address these questions are still rare. In this work, a study protocol is presented, which mainly investigates the usability for immersive analytics in Industry 4.0 scenarios. Specifically, the protocol is based on four pillars. First, it categorizes users based on previous experiences. Second, tasks are presented, which can be used to evaluate the feasibility of the technical solution. Third, measures are presented, which quantify the learning effect of a user. Fourth, a questionnaire evaluates the stress level when performing tasks. Based on these pillars, a technical setting was implemented that uses mixed reality smartglasses to apply the study protocol. The results of the conducted study show the applicability of the protocol on the one hand and the feasibility of immersive analytics in Industry 4.0 scenarios on the other. The presented protocol includes a discussion of discovered limitations.