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. 2021 Dec 30;22(1):256.
doi: 10.3390/s22010256.

Smart Sensors for Augmented Electrical Experiments

Sebastian Kapp  1 , Frederik Lauer  2 , Fabian Beil  1 , Carl C Rheinländer  2 , Norbert Wehn  2 , Jochen Kuhn  1
Affiliations

Smart Sensors for Augmented Electrical Experiments

Sebastian Kapp et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

With the recent increase in the use of augmented reality (AR) in educational laboratory settings, there is a need for new intelligent sensor systems capturing all aspects of the real environment. We present a smart sensor system meeting these requirements for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) experiments in electrical circuits. The system consists of custom experiment boxes and cables combined with an application for the Microsoft HoloLens 2, which creates an AR experiment environment. The boxes combine sensors for measuring the electrical voltage and current at the integrated electrical components as well as a reconstruction of the currently constructed electrical circuit and the position of the sensor box on a table. Combing these data, the AR application visualizes the measurement data spatially and temporally coherent to the real experiment boxes, thus fulfilling demands derived from traditional multimedia learning theory. Following an evaluation of the accuracy and precision of the presented sensors, the usability of the system was evaluated with n=20 pupils in a German high school. In this evaluation, the usability of the system was rated with a system usability score of 94 out of 100.

Keywords: STEM education; augmented reality; laboratory instruction; smart sensors.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Circuitry of the voltage and current measurement.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Relative deviation of the voltage as measured by the sensor box with regard to the expected value.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Absolute deviation of the voltage as measured by the sensor box with regard to the expected value.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Relative deviation of the current as measured by the sensor box with regard to the expected value.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Absolute deviation of the current as measured by the sensor box with regard to the expected value.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Photo of the experiment setup evaluating the precision of the sensor position on a table.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Photo of the experiment setup of the usability evaluation.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Screenshot of the custom Microsoft HoloLens 2 application captured by the device.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Screenshot of the menu attached to the hand of the participant. The visible options are Spannung (voltage), Stromstärke (current), and Schaltung prüfen (check circuit). As the participant has just checked the circuit, the green window indicates a valid circuit and displays Aufgabe 4.3 (task 4.3) to confirm the task matching the current circuit setup.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Example task from the study examining a serial circuit consisting of three different resistors (translated for this publication).
Figure 11
Figure 11
Example of a visualization of the electrical potential in the current circuit inspired by the electron gas model by Burde and Wilhelm [67].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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