# Designing Procedure Execution Tools with Emerging Technologies for Future Astronauts
## 4 Procedure Execution
### Research  
The research process started with a literature review about what levels of instruction are necessary to complete a task [26; 27; 28; 29], as well as how sensors [30; 31] and augmented reality [32; 33; 34] can help to complete a task. We performed contextual inquiries within primary and analogous domains and conducted subject matter interviews with engineers and technicians at various NASA centers as well as retired astronauts. Performing contextual inquiries at the Arc Jet complex at ARC and the Thermal Projection System Facility at KSC allowed us to develop an awareness of the technical and environmental conditions analogous to how astronauts perform tasks aboard the space station. We also participated in three experiential learning sessions within domains analogous to astronauts in which we were able to perform the activities within the domain ourselves to give us hands-on knowledge of the experience. Our research findings revealed the particular importance of implementing a feedback loop that empowers workers to influence procedure improvements, being able to meaningfully track status within a procedure, providing spatial references to help guide workers through a procedure, and having the flexibility to adjust the granularity of instructions based on a worker's skill level and experience. After several refinements of increasing technology fidelity, we leveraged various technologies to eventually develop an intelligent, connected device that can maximize astronauts' mobility--particularly by displaying procedure instructions on the AR interface and freeing both of their hands to execute the procedure--and provide meaningful guidance as they perform unfamiliar procedures.  
We conducted usability tests using three different physical forms and various methods of spatial navigation and cognitive orientation using low fidelity prototypes which included augmented reality, a wearable with audio instructions, and a tablet. Four participants performed a simple but unfamiliar cooking procedure. We determined that the augmented reality form was the most appropriate for astronaut context since it enables hands-free control that travels with the user while still allowing for visual elements and easy scannability. More specifically, a visual interface can also provide visual affordances for verbal commands to help lower the stress on the user's working memory.  
Usability research using a mid fidelity prototype was conducted on five NASA users with backgrounds in mission planning and user experience design, and usability research on the final high fidelity version was performed with six people from the same background. None of the participants had prior familiarity with the procedure that the prototype asked them to execute, which was restocking food in a rodent habitat, as is performed on the ISS. At the end of each usability test, we solicited feedback on various aspects of the prototype. We received positive feedback on the use of images alongside procedure instructions for easier execution, the display of previews in next step that allowed users to accelerate step completion or consolidate multiple steps, the display of directional arrows on the user interface to locate tools or objects needed to execute the procedure, and the helpfulness of the speech recognition implementation as users found the use of verbal commands to be natural. Some areas of improvement captured in user feedback included finer granularity in the directional arrows to guide users during asset tracking, making the overall progress bar of the procedure more prominent; users found it to be useful, but they had not noticed it until much later in the procedure.