The AR Workbench: A Complete Co-located Reach-in Mirror-Based ...

5 Design
Marlon Richert, Master’s Thesis, Friday, 23 February, 2007
To explain the design of the proposed system, this chapter first presents a user
analysis, presenting the anthropometric data and heuristics used in the design of the
workbench. It does not discuss the psychological traits of the target group, as this
includes a simply too broad range of people and because this project does not
include the development of user application. Next, it lays out the actual design in a
manner loosely based on Foley & Van Dam’s four-level approach to documenting
user interface design [16]. Note, however, that because the system software is
intended to be a tool for creating a user interfaces, instead of being a user interface
itself, it is designed with the application programmer in mind, rather than the end
user, as is usual. As such, the design is more technical and abstract than is normally
the case with Foley & Van Dam’s approach and deliberately takes some liberties with
it.
5.1 User Analysis
We would like a large variety of people to be able to use the AR workbench,
spanning the spectrum of human dimensions from a small woman to a large man.
Clearly, it is impossible to be able to accommodate everyone perfectly. Instead, the
design of the workbench aims to be suitable for approximately 90% of the civilian
population.
Unfortunately, not a lot of civilian anthropometric data is available and what is
available often carries a hefty price tag for use. Since this project had only limited
monetary resources, the design of the system had to make do with what was readily
available, which was a summary in Wickens et al. [41] of the anthropometric data
collected by the Eastman Kodak Company [12]. Table 6 lists the anthropometric data
used in the design of the AR workbench. The percentiles assume a normal
distribution.
Table 6 Anthropometric data used in the design of the workbench [12, 41].
5 th
percentile
female
50 th
percentile
95 th
percentile
male
Hand Digit two length 5 cm 9 cm
Hand length 17 cm 21 cm
Head Biocular breadth 9 cm 10 cm
Seated Elbow rest height 18 cm 24 cm 30 cm
Elbow-to-fit length 27 cm 43 cm
99 th
percentile
male
Eye height 68 cm 76 cm 85 cm 87 cm
Normal sitting height 75 cm 93 cm
Midshoulder height 53 cm 60 cm 68 cm 69 cm
Popliteal height 38 cm 42 cm 48 cm
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