<div>Augmented reality (AR) offers novel ways to design, curate, and deliver
information to users by integrating virtual, computer-generated objects
into a real-world environment. This work presents an AR-based human
memory augmentation system that uses computer vision (CV) and artificial
intelligence (AI) to replace the internal mental representation of
objects in the environment with an external augmented representation.
The system consists of two components: (1) an AR headset and (2) a
computing station. The AR headset runs an application that senses the
indoor environment, sends data to the computing station for processing,
receives the processed data, and updates the external representation of
objects using a virtual 3D object projected into the real environment in
front of the user’s eyes. The computing station performs computer
vision-based indoor environment self-localization, object detection, and
object-to-location binding using first-person view (FPV) data received
from the AR headset.</div>


<div>We designed a behavioral study to evaluate the usability of the system.
In a pilot study with 26 participants (12 females and 14 males), we
investigated human performance in an experimental task that involved
remembering the positions of objects in a physical space and displaying
the positions of the learned objects on the two-dimensional (2D) map of
the space. We conducted the studies under two conditions—that is, with
and without using the AR system. We investigated the usability of the
system, subjective workload, and performance variables under both
conditions. The results showed that the AR-based augmentation of the
mental representation of objects indoors reduced cognitive load and
increased performance accuracy.</div>