I led and organized team of 8 designers, artists and programmers to develop an AR application for EVA
assistance, which we had the opportunity to test NASA Johnson Space Center. We wrote a poster and paper
detailing implementation details, which was accepted and is to be presented in UIST'22. To create this project
we received grants from the Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium and Carnegie Mellon's Human-Computer Interaction Institute.
About MoonBuddy:
As NASA pursues Artemis missions to the moon and beyond, it is
essential to equip astronauts with the appropriate human-autonomy
enabling technology necessary for the elevated demands of lunar
surface exploration and extreme terrestrial access. We present
MoonBuddy, an application built for the Microsoft HoloLens 2 that
utilizes Augmented Reality (AR) and voice-based interaction to assist
astronauts in communication, navigation, and documentation on
future lunar extravehicular activities (EVAs), with the goal of reducing
cognitive load and increasing effective task completion.
We performed a preliminary evaluation at the Johnson Space Center,
Houston, TX, USA, in an area that simulates the lunar surface and
its lighting conditions. During testing, participants used MoonBuddy to
navigate to three different geological sampling sites, collect rock
samples, and perform a search and rescue mission to find a distressed
crew member. Overall, participants appreciated the simple voice
commands, the guided nature of MoonBuddy, and the surface
edge detection feature that helped them avoid hazards during navigation.