Möller, Matthias (2017) Experiencing Software Landscapes using HCI in ExplorViz. (Bachelor thesis), Kiel University, Kiel, 69 pp.

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Abstract

The Brain-Computer-Interface (BCI) is an interface receiving the brain’s signals and converting
them into computer signals. Although the BCI’s importance increased in the last
years and most probably will increase further, most people have never heard of this device,
because this device has yet not gained much place in our daily life routines, but this could
change soon. At the moment portable, low-cost BCIs emerge from the market and open
new opportunities in the context of interaction between human and machine, but these
low-cost BCIs are mostly untested. Furthermore, there are barely approaches to implement
the BCI as additional tool in an already existing software, yet.

Our working processes were inspired by gaining information about the BCI as new
possibility for task comprehensions. Therefore, we wanted to implement a BCI’s functionality
into the software tool ExplorViz. We worked with a low-cost BCI called Emotiv Insight
and made in the beginning first experiences with the BCI as new interface. After we had
designed our software, we implemented a plugin, which optionally extends ExplorViz by
the possibility to use the BCI and, thereby, to use two different thoughts as additional
navigation possibilities. In our implementation phase we received the chance of a collaboration
with another bachelor thesis extending ExplorViz by a virtual reality (VR) concept. We
combined our both implementations and evaluated our works in form of a study inspired
in receiving informations about the user’s acceptance. We divided the study in a VR and a
BCI part.

In our BCI part we wanted to receive an answer to our research question Will the user
accept our implementation of the BCI in VR. Therefore, we made three hypotheses. The first
hypothesis regards the user’s acceptance about the combination between VR and BCI as
concept. The second dealt about the acceptance of a concept we implemented to give the
user control over the BCI with help of the VR controllers and the third dealt about their
feeling of being able to trigger at least one mental command to their satisfaction.
In the beginning of the study the participant received a directed training of approximating
72 second. Afterwards, we let the participants of our study perform 4 tasks by only
using two different thoughts and the VR controllers. Finally, we pleaded the user to fill
a check questionnaire designed in regard of our hypotheses. The answers of this survey
proved our hypotheses and thereby our research question.

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