Quadcopter-projected in-situ navigation cues for improved location awareness

Abstract

Every day people rely on navigation systems when exploring unknown urban areas. Many navigation systems use multimodal feedback like visual, auditory or tactile cues. Although other systems exist, users mostly rely on a visual navigation using their smartphone. However, a problem with visual navigation systems is that the users have to shift their attention to the navigation system and then map the instructions to the real world. We suggest using in-situ navigation instructions that are presented directly in the environment by augmenting the reality using a projector-quadcopter. Through a user study with 16 participants, we show that using in-situ instructions for navigation leads to a significantly higher ability to observe real-world points of interest. Further, the participants enjoyed following the projected navigation cues.