Evaluating Author and User Experience for an Audio-Haptic System for Annotation of Physical Models

We describe three usability studies involving a prototype system for creation and haptic exploration of labeled locations on 3D objects. The system uses a computer, webcam, and fiducial markers to associate a physical 3D object in the camera’s view with a pre-defined digital map of labeled locations (“hotspots”), and to do real-time finger tracking, allowing a blind or visually impaired user to explore the object and hear individual labels spoken as each hotspot is touched. This paper describes: (a) a formative study with blind users exploring pre-annotated objects to assess system usability