PhD Min Ni

Min NI

• PhD title: Enhancing Perceptual and Cognitive Processes in Augmented Reality Studies to Real-World Applications
• INUIT Theme 1: Perception, interaction, and tangible interfaces
• Thesis dates: 1/02/2025 – 31/01/2028
• Supervision: G. Coppin – A. Ma-Wyatt – É. Peillard
• Context/Funding:
  • Aufrande, COFUND, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), European Union
  • Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that overlays digital elements onto the real-world environment, providing unique opportunities in fields such as training, medicine, and visual assistance
  • However, technical limitations persist, particularly in the accurate integration of visual elements (shadows, motion, lighting) and in enabling natural user interactions with augmented objects
  • Recent studies indicate that laboratory protocols, while highly controlled, often fail to reflect the constraints and challenges of real-world applications, where user movement and environmental variations significantly influence perception
• General Goal:
  • To bridging the gap between controlled experimental settings and real-world scenarios because it is is crucial to designing effective and usable AR systems
• Scientific challenges:
  • To analyze the differences between experimental contexts and real-world applications, identifying perceptual conflicts related to motion cues and light-shadow interactions in AR
  • To develop methodological approaches to adapt laboratory findings to ecological real-world scenarios
  • To design and conduct experimental validations focusing on perceptual and cognitive performance in realistic AR environments
  • To explore concrete applications, such as improving visual assistance tools and interactive guidance in complex environments, including navigation and immersive data manipulation
• Keywords: Augmented Reality, Perception, Cognition, Ecological Validity, Human-Computer Interaction
• Contributions:
  • Conduct empirical studies to compare perceptual experiences in controlled versus real-world AR environments
  • Develop methodologies for bridging experimental results with real-world applications
  • Validate findings through user-centered experiments in applied AR scenarios
  • Propose enhancements for AR-based visual assistance and interactive guidance systems
• Perspective
  • Improve the transferability of AR research to real-world applications
  • Contribute to the development of adaptive and context-aware AR experiences
  • Strengthen international collaboration between IMT Atlantique and the University of Adelaide in the field of AR perception and cognition