Approach
Virtual prototypes are used to present the customer with a realistic-looking prototype as early as possible. These are based on CAD data and can therefore be used very early on in the product development process and modified flexibly. In addition to traditional survey techniques, eye-tracking will also be used to validate customer requirements. The targeted use of eye tracking in customer requirements analysis is based on the realization that there is a connection between cognitive and visual focus in every person. The evaluation of eye movements can therefore allow conclusions to be drawn about how customers process information. This in turn means that product preferences can be derived from the combination of linguistic data and eye movement data. In addition to the eye movement data, customer interactions, such as approaching the product, are recorded and integrated into the customer request analysis.
By having users talk about the product they are looking at at the same time as they are observing it, linguistic data about the gaze can be linked to the respective product features. Observations, which are often subjective, are thus enriched by more objective data, such as gaze and interaction data. The use of eye tracking in conjunction with surveys is primarily intended to clarify the "why". Why does a person look at a certain product feature longer or more often than another? Is there a preference for certain features? Eye tracking can also help to identify and question requirements that have not been formulated by users. These are requirements that often remain undetected by traditional survey techniques. The large volumes of data generated by eye-tracking are evaluated in a semi-automated process with the help of machine learning approaches. This has the advantage that a large, representative number of customers can be included in the study and the data can still be analyzed with little effort. In particular, the linking of linguistic and behavioral data is crucial in the evaluation.