Robert Rauschenberger, PhD
Vice President, Director of Human Factors | J.S. Held LLC
New York, NY, UNITED STATES
Human Factors Scientist | User Experience Expert | Seasoned Legal Expert Witness | Mixed Reality Product Expert | Product Design Authority
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Biography
Dr. Rauschenberger is currently the Vice President, Director of Human Factors at J.S. Held. He has over 25 years of experience conducting research on topics of visual attention and distraction, the organization of perceptual information, product design, user experience, risk communication effectiveness, and consumer decision-making. He leverages this experience in legal cases across industries, including product liability/failure to warn cases, class actions (both at the certification and at the merits stages), Proposition 65, and web design cases, for which he has testified in deposition and at trial, in both federal and state court. Dr. Rauschenberger has also designed and tested products across various industries and will continue to do so in J.S. Held’s state-of-the-art scientific user research labs, which are populated with highly degreed experts in their respective fields.
Over the past decade-plus, Dr. Rauschenberger has cultivated specific expertise in the evaluation of mixed reality (MR) products. His professional background also disposes him toward the evaluation of healthcare products and services. Given his work in both the reactive (failure analysis, litigation support) and proactive (user experience research) realms, Dr. Rauschenberger’s user research is informed by insights gleaned from alleged product failures on the reactive side of his practice, and his expert witness testimony is given with the authority of someone who is actively engaged in the evaluation and development of products and services.
Before joining J.S. Held, Dr. Rauschenberger was a Principal at Exponent, Inc., where he oversaw a team of over 20 researchers and the network of user research labs that formed the Centers for Scientific User Research. Prior to Exponent, Dr. Rauschenberger was a Principal Scientist at Siemens Corporate Research, where he managed the research in user experience across the breadth of the Siemens product portfolio for the North American market (healthcare, consumer, online, automotive, industrial) and supported the product development lifecycle for a variety of products, from ideation to interaction design to validation.
Industry Expertise (2)
Safety
Health Care - Services
Areas of Expertise (9)
User Experience
Usability
Human Factors
Product Design
Medical Devices
Product Liability
Failure to Warn
Class Actions
Prop 65
Event Appearances (12)
Human Factors Expert
May 2023 | 23rd Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society St. Pete Beach, Florida
A science-based approach for health and safety evaluations of virtual reality products
February 2020 | Workshop given at the 2020 ICPHSO Annual Meeting and Training Symposium Orlando, FL
Non-academic Careers for Cognitive Scientists
June 2019 | Center for Cognitive & Brain Science’s Undergraduate Summer Institute Ohio State University
Visual behavior of drivers at complex intersections: a protocol for on-road assessment
August 2012 | Third International Symposium on Naturalistic Driving Research Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
Taking a “Q” from human factors: Visual search in HMI design
February 2011 | Keynote address for the HFES Regional Conference, California State University Long Beach Long Beach, CA
Cognitive engineering for airport security screening
2009 | Simon Fraser University Vancouver, BC
An idiosyncratic perspective on visual search and perception
2008 | University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada
When what you design is not what you get
2006 | Universität Bielefeld Bielefeld, Germany
Dynamic interactions in visual search displays: When less is more
2005 | Yale University New Haven, CT
Attentional capture by auto- and allo-cues
2004 | Visual Attention Lab, Harvard Medical School Cambridge, MA
An idiosyncratic perspective on visual search and perception
2004 | Vision Sciences Laboratory, Harvard University Cambridge, MA
Dynamic representations of the visual world
2003 | University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC
Affiliations (12)
- Psychonomic Society : Fellow
- Vision Sciences Society : Member
- Medical Device Design, Drexel University : Professional Educator
- Human Factors Forensics, Arizona State University : Professional Educator
- Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) : Former Member
- Healthcare Technical Group of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) : Former Program Chair and Co-Chair
- Perception & Psychophysics : Former Editorial Board Member
- European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP) : Former Scientific Committee Member
- Conference for Object Perception and Memory (OPAM) : Former Organizer
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) : Former Grant Selection Committee Member
- National Science Foundation (NSF) : Former Grant Reviewer
- Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Belgium : Former Grant Reviewer
Articles (10)
One Size Does Not Fit All: Ethical Oversight Across Human Factors Domains and Practices
Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting2022 In regulated institutions “research” has a narrow and specific meaning, which often excludes many types of information gathering engagements common in applied environments. Additionally, researchers in applied fields such as user and customer experience, where formal degree programs are not a typical training path, foundational ethical documents like the Belmont report may have never been studied.
Hand-to-mouth and other hand-to-face touching behavior in a quasi-naturalistic study under controlled conditions
Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health2021 Data gaps exist in our understanding of hand-to-mouth touching behavior among adults, despite its relevance for accurately characterizing inadvertent ingestion exposures to chemical and pathogenic microbial agents and consequent associated health risks. The present study describes detailed observations of the frequency and nature of hand-to-mouth and other hand-to-face touching behavior among 14 male and female volunteers in a controlled, quasi-naturalistic setting.
Health and safety of VR use by children in an educational use case
IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR)2020 The present study examined the potential health and safety effects of short-term virtual reality (VR) use by children in an educational use case scenario (that is, relatively brief episodes of use across a limited number of sequential days), such as how VR may be used in the classroom or at a museum. Ophthalmological, vestibular functioning, balance, hand-eye coordination, 3D spatial representation, and subjective comfort effects were assessed using a variety of optometric, psychophysical, and self-report measures.
Is 2020 Virtual Reality’s Breakout Year?
AR Post2020 After decades of speculation, anticipation, hype, and disappointment, is 2020 virtual reality’s breakout year? As someone who studies the psychology and ergonomics of virtual and augmented technologies, I’ve long known the key to mass adoption lies in a positive user experience, which virtual reality is now poised to deliver.
Product warnings and the involuntary capture of attention
Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting2015 In both published papers and in guidelines of regulatory agencies and voluntary standards, examples can be found where the assumption is made that what will capture attention is that which is salient or conspicuous, and that these qualities are both necessary and sufficient to capture attention. A review of the published, peer-reviewed literature on attention capture, however, invites the conclusion that there are very few features of an object that will draw attention to themselves without or against the observer’s intentions.
Driver Reactions in a Vehicle with Collision Warning and Mitigation Technology
SAE Technical Paper2015 Advanced Driver Assistive System (ADAS) technologies have been introduced as the automotive industry moves towards autonomous driving. One ADAS technology with the potential for substantial safety benefits is forward collision warning and mitigation (FCWM), which is designed to warn drivers of imminent front-end collisions, potentiate driver braking responses, and apply the vehicle's brakes autonomously.
An investigation of operator performance in All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) handling and control
Procedia Manufacturing2015 The handling properties of All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) have been the subject of numerous investigations over the last two decades. Because the great majority of ATVs use a solid rear axle or a direct drive to both rear axles for improved off-road traction, these vehicles typically transition from understeer to oversteer with increased cornering severity in tests customarily used in the automobile industry to measure steady-state vehicle handling properties.
Eye tracking evaluation of driver visual behavior with a forward collision warning and mitigation system
Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting2015 As Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) technologies become more commonplace and monitor an increasing number of aspects of the visual environment for drivers, typical driver visual behavior is likely to shift accordingly. Research on drivers’ responses to vehicles equipped with different ADAS technologies is required to evaluate how these systems influence driver visual behavior. The current study analyzed eye tracking metrics collected as part of a larger test track evaluation of drivers’ responses to a simulated emergency lead vehicle braking event while driving a vehicle equipped with a forward collision warning and mitigation (FCWM) system.
Efficacy and usage patterns for three types of rearview camera displays during backing up
SAE Technical Paper2012 The usage of rearview camera displays and their effectiveness on drivers' capability to avoid unexpected obstacles during four common backing tasks (ie, parallel parking, backing between two vehicles, backing down a driveway, backing out of a garage) was evaluated on a closed-course with stationary confederate vehicles, signage, and lane markings.
Drivers’ visual behavior during backing tasks: Factors affecting the use of rearview camera displays
Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting2012 In-vehicle rearview camera displays may soon be required in all new vehicles as a means of providing drivers with increased capability to monitor the area directly behind the rear bumper. The present work extends findings reported by Kim et al. (2012) by conducting more in-depth examinations of drivers’ eye movements to rearview camera displays during backing
Links (3)
Languages (2)
- English
- German
Education (3)
University of Arizona: Post Doctoral Scholar, Psychology 2003
The Johns Hopkins University: Ph.D., Cognitive Psychology, With Emphasis in Human Visual Perception 2001
Sarah Lawrence College: B.A., Liberal Arts 1996
Licenses and Certifications (1)
Meta Certified Supplier Diversity Champion
6/12/2024
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