A Scenario Experience Method with Virtual Reality Technologies for Designing Mixed Reality Services

With the rapid progress of Mixed Reality (MR) technology development, a range of services will available for use in the near future. Given that MR technologies are still evolving, innovating new services that use them can be a difficult process. When designing a new service, scenarios play a vital role in helping to visualize the end product. By using a scenario, designers can explore the opportunities and pitfalls of the service. Prototypes, therefore, are highly desirable for enabling users to experience scenarios immersively. However, current MR devices have serious drawbacks such as a narrow field of view. In this paper, we explore the feasibility of a scenario experience method with virtual reality (VR) technologies for MR service design. We compared a VR based scenario with an MR based scenario by evaluating Ambient Bot, which is an MR service with a 3D character floating around the user that provides information when looked at. By comparing the scenario experience when using the VR device with that of the MR device, we were able to clarify the advantages and disadvantages of the scenario experience in VR.