UX for XR — NASA JPL

Overview

A semester-long applied research engagement with NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, designing interaction patterns for scientists working with planetary data in mixed reality.

Context

The brief: imagine how a planetary scientist might use the HoloLens inside their existing workflow — not as a toy, but as a research instrument. We worked from constraints (field of view, occlusion, hand ergonomics) back to tasks scientists actually do: annotating terrain, comparing traverses, sharing context across teams.

Approach

1. 01

   Conducted stakeholder interviews with JPL scientists to map the real questions they bring to their data.

2. 02

   Storyboarded and paper-prototyped interactions — low-fidelity, tactile, fast to discard.

3. 03

   Moved the winning model into Unity for HoloLens, iterating on gaze, gesture, and voice affordances.

4. 04

   Presented a fully operational prototype to the JPL team, who embraced the direction.

Outcomes

• — Functional HoloLens prototype presented to and validated by the NASA JPL team.
• — Interaction patterns documented for future XR research tools in scientific contexts.

Gallery