New-user experience evaluation in a semi-immersive and haptic-enabled virtual reality system for assembly operations

Virtual reality (VR) systems have been developed to enhance the conventional industrial design and manufacturing process, including worker training and factory planning. However, research studies have shown that the prolonged use of VR systems can result in certain discomforts among users. This research evaluates the user experience (UX) during the first interaction in a semi-immersive and haptic-enabled virtual assembly system. The aim is to evaluate the UX by considering variations in task duration in order to determine whether the length of the time spent on a virtual assembly task has an effect on the improvement or deterioration of the UX during the initial interactions of new users. The UX evaluation is based on key elements that characterize the user experience, such as perceptions of the product, emotions, consequences to use, realism, and physiological factors. In particular, the interest is to investigate whether these factors vary when performing a virtual assembly task along different time frames. The results have revealed significant differences in some dimensions of the user experience, physiological factors, and realism. This information encourages the formulation of guidelines to enhance the user experience of new operators of haptic-enabled virtual assembly systems.