Augmented Reality Assisting the Assembly of Do-It-Yourself Furniture

ABSTRACT

Furniture assembly is often perceived as a confusing and demotivating task, especially when relying on traditional manuals and/or online videos, which can be mis. Do It Yourself (DIY) furniture manufacturing can be even more challenging, as it requires not only assembly steps but also material fabrication stages, often demanding access to advanced technologies. This research introduces a set of DIY furniture designs and evaluates the use of WebXR to assist the assembly process. This study aims to assess the potential of AR in supporting the assembly of DIY furniture, identifying its benefits and challenges. The chosen research method was a proof-of-concept exploratory trial, which in turn was divided into three stages: (i) design of DIY furniture, (ii) development of AR tutorials to support furniture assembly, and (iii) user evaluation. These stages were integrated into undergraduate and graduate courses within teaching, research, and community outreach activities, thus fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, with undergraduates contributing to furniture design and assembly, while graduates focused on AR tutorial development. The data analysis was based on the participants' responses to the questionnaires following the furniture assembly. None of the participants had prior experience with AR tutorials.  Nevertheless, all participants successfully assembled the proposed furniture: a table, a stool, and a chair. The assembly process, however, was hindered by the instability of the webXR system in keeping virtual objects fixed in space, the excessive grouping of tasks within each step, and the difficulty participants faced in identifying the furniture components. It was observed that the average assembly time was directly related to the level of complexity previously assigned to each piece of furniture. These findings highlight the need for improvements in the proposed experience. By leveraging AR technology, this project has the potential to improve accessibility to DIY furniture by providing autonomy in assembly tasks.