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UPF has undertaken a study to compare the same virtual heritage AR experience on our AR Magic Lantern and on a Quest 3 in pass-through AR mode. This was done on location at the remains of ancient Roman Barcelona.
Interesting preliminary results have been obtained. For example, when visitors have the experience on the Quest 3, the rest of visitors in the heritage site basically ignore the user and circulate around at their own pace. However, when visitors are using the ARML, other visitors tend to cluster around the ARML experience to enjoy it.
This seems to indicate that the projection of the augmented stimuli on the physical world by the ARML draws the interest of crowds, fostering group activity and allowing for a shared experience between the ARML holder and the surrounding “non-holders.” This was one of the main goals of the ARML, our EMIL Lighthouse project.
On the other hand the headset experience not only isolates the user from the physical world, but also generates no interest from other museum visitors. We observed that the Quest 3 seems to deter other visitors from any interaction with the headset user, and hence with the AR experience.
