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It is important for a researcher not to spend too much time adjusting the monitor - they have other more important task at hand and this is managing/debugging the robot. A good monitor will be efficient but will also allow the users to use their own speedup tricks and maybe even provide a way to script some parts.
Design Elements (for the first two designs
Number of layouts
The first two designs use the notion of layouts. A layout is a configuration of visualisations present. A layout is created by the user, and saved as a file. The designs vary in the number of layouts that the user has available. In a multi-layout design it is easy for the user to switch between several already selected layouts.
In a single layout the user is only concentrated on one layout and swapping layouts is done less efficiently - by navigating through the whole list of layouts. Layouts are similar to tabs in functionality. Multi-layout design allows the user to organize and group visualisaitions based on common factors. A layout can be also used as a cathegory to contain related visualisations.
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We consider two different ways to present the visualisations within a layout: as a list or as a 2d plane of rectangles. In the first two designs we also explore these two possible ways to present the layout. We chose to combine multi-layout with rectangular presentation and single-layout with list presentation but the other two combinations are also possible.
Rectangular Presentation of a Layout
Each visualization is contained in a rectangle (hence Rectangular) the user can move visualizations around by dragging them and change their properties by tapping on them. The screen slides to the right where the user can specify the parameters of the visualisation.
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