MFIRA: Multimodal Fusion Intent Recognition Algorithm for AR Chemistry Experiments

The current virtual system for secondary school experiments poses several issues, such as limited methods of operation for students and an inability of the system to comprehend the users’ operational intentions, resulting in a greater operational burden for students and hindering the goal of the experimental practice. However, many traditional multimodal fusion algorithms rely solely on individual modalities for the analysis of users’ experimental intentions, failing to fully utilize the intention information for each modality. To rectify these issues, we present a new multimodal fusion algorithm, MFIRA, which intersects and blends intention probabilities between channels by executing parallel processing of multimodal information at the intention layer. Additionally, we developed an augmented reality (AR) virtual experiment platform based on the Hololens 2, which enables students to conduct experiments using speech, gestures, and vision. Employing the MFIRA algorithm, the system captures users’ experimental intent and navigates or rectifies errors to guide students through their experiments. The experimental results indicate that the MFIRA algorithm boasts a 97.3% accuracy rate in terms of interpreting users’ experimental intent. Compared to existing experimental platforms, this system is considerably more interactive and immersive for students and is highly applicable in secondary school experimental chemistry classrooms.