Decision-making with eXtended reality and artificial intelligence: practitioner-informed design guidelines for decision support systems

The rapidly changing industrial landscape is causing companies to quickly adapt to new market demands. Major players in the mining and construction sectors are undergoing disruptive trends, including digitalisation and servitizations. Simulations and Digital Twins enable more flexible fleet management, advanced monitoring, prediction, and decision support. However, there is a need for making these support systems more accessible for all the stakeholders involved, from operators to site managers and higher ranks. A possibility is to leverage the explanatory capabilities of eXtended Reality and Artificial Intelligence. This preliminary research study examined three Decision Support System solutions that were characterised by different levels of visualisation, contextualisation, and immersion. A qualitative study of N = 10 industry experts provided insights that were coded into design guidelines. Practitioners identified an increasing demand for scalable, user-centric solutions that support stakeholders throughout the decision-making process. XR and AI were well-received, and the importance of integrating value-driven design principles to ensure system trustworthiness and usability was widely acknowledged.HighlightsDevelopment of three DecisionSupport Systems with varying immersion and functionalities (e.g. XR and AI) for quarry vehicle management.Analysis of criticalities and potential of existing solutions through focus groups with industry experts.Definition of a set of guidelines and insights to support Decision Support Systems designers and decision makers.