Directorate Learning Development

Learning and Teaching Enhancement Section

Students as Researchers Scheme 2017/2018

Staff Application Form

Name Adam Adgar

Section/Subject Department of Engineering

School/Department School of Science, Engineering and Design

Contact email [email protected]

Title of research project/activity Evaluation of Augmented Reality in the Process Industry

Pedagogic or Discipline Specific Discipline Specific Summary of project research The project aims to provide some preliminary evidence to activity support the hypothesis that Augmented Reality Technology can be used to improve the effectiveness of operations in the process industries. As part of the research effort the student appointed will design, conduct and evaluate results of trials of the use of a new augmented reality device. Software for the device has already been developed within SCMA as part of an industry funded pilot. The software may be developed further as part of another SARS project. The intention is for the student to organise controlled trials of a simple start up procedure on one of the pilot-scale distillation columns in the Orion Building. The procedure will be completed by test subjects (student/staff volunteers) with and without the assistance of augmented reality. The forthcoming data from the trials will then be used to evaluate the effectiveness in terms of task speed and task accuracy under the two different conditions described. This is a newly emerging area of interest in research and platforms/devices with sufficient computing power are becoming more affordable. Previous versions of devices were costly, restricting them typically to military applications. The potential scale of future use of this type of technology is enormous and discussions between SSED and SCMA are ongoing. This project is linked to another from the School of Computing, Media and the Arts. The projects are not interdependent but there would be significant benefits if the experimental work required for each project individually could be shared between the two projects. Evaluation of Augmented Reality Software Usability for Application in the Process Industry (Abbott, 2017). Have you obtained ethical No, but ethics approval application has been forwarded to clearance for this project? School Ethics Committee for consideration at next meeting. Discussed with Chair of SSED Ethics Committee and agreed that in principle there should be no problem gaining approval. As the research involves human participants however the proposal will have to go to the committee for Full Approval at the next opportunity rather than via Ethical Release. Summary of student tasks Design experimental method Collect quantitative data from test subjects Analysis of quantitative performance data for the two primary task factors of speed and accuracy. Literature review to contextualise research Writing a research report

See last page – task detail has been increased.

Research output(s) for student The output of the project will be a research report. (Please detail the tasks that the This will also be submitted as a research paper to a technical student(s) will be involved in and conference and an academic journal how these will develop their e.g. Computers and Chemical Engineering. research skills) The student will be in the fortunate position of being able to go through all of the stages of research in this project. There is already an outline plan of the research however there are opportunities for the researcher to incorporate their own ideas into the plan. The student will gain an understanding of a potentially huge application area for technology in the process industries and engineering systems in general. The concept of the research is genuinely novel in the given application area and there is a sparsity of similar work currently reported in the literature. The student should be able to recognise this and it will be an excellent boost to the student’s appreciation of research methods, their morale and confidence and ultimately their employability on graduation. The student will also have their name included on a conference publication (if the submission is accepted.)

Are there specific criteria No students need to address when applying for the project? (e.g. specific research skills, discipline knowledge) Anticipated timeline for project Jan-May

Number of student hours 6065 required (max. 65 hours)

Are there any additional costs No. associated with the student researcher i.e. travel? Please provide details of how this will be funded Signed Date

A. Adgar 21/09/2017 13/10/2013 v2 (Revised)

Approved by Head of Department/Director Date Please email completed application to [email protected] by 5pm on Monday 25th September 2017.

Detail of Tasks to be Completed

Also see attached Project Timeline

Design experimental method The experimental method will be designed to determine the effectiveness of the AR technology in a simulated plant start up procedure. The number of test subjects, the subject task briefing, the order in which trials are conducted, the design of suitable controls and other details of the methodology will all have to be determined.

Collect quantitative data from test subjects The student will have to organise scheduling of test subjects and control the data acquisition process effectively. Appropriate records of the trials will have to be maintained and the paperwork to do this effectively will have to be designed.

Analysis of quantitative performance data for the two primary task factors of speed and accuracy. There is a possibility of recording data that would permit quantitative performance data (speed and accuracy) as well as more qualitative practical information from the test subjects. The relationship between these different data sets would further inform the research area and be extremely valuable in learning lessons in the future use of the technology.

Literature review to contextualise research The literature review will be conducted throughout the project, initially to examine, compare and select appropriate testing methods and latterly to evaluate the outputs of the work alongside any related research to in order to compare findings.

Writing a research report The research will be documented as the project progresses. The student will be asked to maintain a log book of activity and results to ensure formal research methods and good practice are adhered to. It is envisaged that the student will prepare (with support) a conference paper on the research conducted. If possible the student would be also invited to also contribute to the preparation of a journal paper. However this may not be possible within the timescale of the project.

Project Management Review meetings have been included throughout the project to ensure the project remains on course and the student is supported on a regular basis where necessary. The project meetings would be held in conjunction with the associated SARS Project (if successful) from SCMA (Abbott, 2017) to ensure the resources for both projects could be combined together and that the results from each project could be compared and evaluated for additional research benefits.

Reference:

ABBOTT, D. (2017) Evaluation of Augmented Reality Software Usability for Application in the Process Industry. Students as Researchers Scheme Application 2017/8.