IRIS: Augmented Reality in Rapid Prototyping

Abstract

This paper presents IRIS, a method for producing rapid, tangible prototypes of information appliances. The system allows designers to (effectively) integrate both the GUI and other input and output functionality into early stage prototypes. IRIS combines augmented reality techniques with a new viewing solution so that early stage prototypes of information appliances can (seem to) have screens embedded within the device without any of the extra complexity caused by embedding an actual screen. A study was undertaken to compare the performance of a real BT Equinox phone against the performance of a BT Equinox prototype that uses the IRIS system. The performance of the Equinox prototype using the IRIS system was also compared against other prototyping methods that do not integrate the screen into the physical prototype. The results show that the IRIS system can perform as well as some other prototyping methods, but does not currently match the performance of the real BT Equinox phone product tested. However several important design issues were highlighted in the studies that if addressed, could improve its performance significantly.