MonoculAR: a radial light display to point towards out-of-view objects on augmented reality devices

Present head-mounted displays (HMDs) for Augmented Reality (AR) devices have narrow fields-of-view (FOV). The narrow FOV further decreases the already limited human visual range and worsens the problem of objects going out of view. Therefore, we explore the utility of augmenting head-mounted AR devices with MonoculAR, a peripheral light display comprised of twelve radially positioned light cues, to point towards out-of-view objects. In this work, we present two implementations of MonoculAR: (1) On-screen virtual light cues and (2) Off-screen LEDs. In a controlled user study we compare both approaches and evaluate search time performance for locating out-of-view objects in AR on the Microsoft Hololens. Key results show that participants find out-of-view objects faster when the light cues are presented on the screen. Furthermore, we provide implications for building peripheral HMDs.