Investigation of Size Variations in Optical See-through Tangible Augmented Reality

Optical see-through AR headsets are becoming increasingly attractive for many applications. Interaction with the virtual content is usually achieved via hand gestures or with controllers. A more seamless interaction between the real and virtual world can be achieved by using tangible objects to manipulate the virtual content. Instead of interacting with detailed physical replicas, working with abstractions allows a single physical object to represent a variety of virtual objects. These abstractions would differ from their virtual representations in shape, size, texture and material. This paper investigates for the first time in optical see-through AR whether size variations are possible without major losses in performance, usability and immersion. The conducted study shows that size can be varied within a limited range without significantly affecting task completion times as well as feelings of disturbance and presence. Stronger size deviations are possible for physical objects smaller than the virtual object than for larger physical objects.