VRoot: An XR-Based Application for Manual Root System Architecture Reconstruction

This article describes an immersive extended reality reconstruction tool for root system architectures from 3D volumetric scans of soil columns. We have conducted a laboratory user study to assess the performance of new users with our software in comparison to classical and established desktop software. We utilize a functional-structural plant model to derive a synthetic root architecture that serves as objective quantification for the root system architecture reconstruction. Additionally, we have collected quantitative feedback on our software in the form of standardized questionnaires. This work provides an overview of the extended reality software and the advantage of using immersive techniques for 3D data extraction in plant science. Through our formal study, we further provide a quantification of manual root system reconstruction accuracy. We observe an increase in root system architecture reconstruction accuracy (F1) compared to state-of-the-art desktop software and a more robust extraction quality.