Unleashing the Potentials of Immersive Augmented Reality for Software Engineering

Abstract

In immersive augmented reality (IAR), users can wear a head-mounted display to see computer-generated images superimposed to their view of the world. IAR was shown to be beneficial across several domains, e.g., automotive, medicine, gaming and engineering, with positive impacts on, e.g., collaboration and communication. We think that IAR bears a great potential for software engineering but, as of yet, this research area has been neglected. In this vision paper, we elicit potentials and obstacles for the use of IAR in software engineering. We identify possible areas that can be supported with IAR technology by relating commonly discussed IAR improvements to typical software engineering tasks. We further demonstrate how innovative use of IAR technology may fundamentally improve typical activities of a software engineer through a comprehensive series of usage scenarios outlining practical application. Finally, we reflect on current limitations of IAR technology based on our scenarios and sketch research activities necessary to make our vision a reality. We consider this paper to be relevant to academia and industry alike in guiding the steps to innovative research and applications for IAR in software engineering.

How Does Simulation-Based Testing for Self-Driving Cars Match Human Perception?

“…Furthermore, most papers [41,57,58] referring to the potential use of VR and AR for the workspace of software development teams. In general, the use of VR and AR in software engineering is not well studied yet, and the only papers available or mainly vision papers for future research [44]. However, in our work, we present a practical application of VR for assessing the test oracles with a Human-in-the-Loop approach.…”

Identifying Usability Issues of Software Analytics Applications in Immersive Augmented Reality

“…Navigation and occlusion in particular pose fewer problems in AR. The authors also found that software comprehension tasks with 3D software visualizations could be solved more effective with AR devices than standard computer screens and identified great potential of AR for software engineering [4]. Nevertheless, software analytics is hardly ever done in AR and in our own experience many software developers approach this topic with reservations.…”