Using Pinch Gloves(TM) for both Natural and Abstract Interaction Techniques in Virtual Environments

Usable three-dimensional (3D) interaction techniques are difficult to design, implement, and evaluate. One reason for this is a poor understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of the wide range of 3D input devices, and of the mapping between input devices and interaction techniques. We present an analysis of Pinch Gloves™ and their use as input devices for virtual environments (VEs). We have developed a number of novel and usable interaction techniques for VEs using the gloves, including a menu system, a technique for text input, and a two-handed navigation technique. User studies have indicated the usability and utility of these techniques

Design and Evaluation of Menu Systems for Immersive Virtual Environments

Interfaces for system control tasks in virtual environments (VEs) have not been extensively studied. This paper focuses on various types of menu systems to be used in such environments. We describe the design of the TULIP menu, a menu system using Pinch Gloves™, and compare it to two common alternatives: floating menus and pen and tablet menus. These three menus were compared in an empirical evaluation. The pen and tablet menu was found to be significantly faster, while users had a preference for TULIP. Subjective discomfort levels were also higher with the floating menus and pen and tablet

An Introduction to 3D User Interface Design

3D user interface design is a critical component of any virtual environment (VE) application. In this paper, we present a broad overview of three-dimensional (3D) interaction and user interfaces. We discuss the effect of common VE hardware devices on user interaction, as well as interaction techniques for generic 3D tasks and the use of traditional two-dimensional interaction styles in 3D environments. We divide most user interaction tasks into three categories: navigation, selection/manipulation, and system control. Throughout the paper, our focus is on presenting not only the available techniques, but also practical guidelines for 3D interaction design and widely held myths. Finally, we briefly discuss two approaches to 3D interaction design, and some example applications with complex 3D interaction requirements. We also present an annotated online bibliography as a reference companion to this article

Can the Archaeology of Manual Specialization Tell Us Anything About Language Evolution? A Survey of the State of Play

In this review and position paper we explore the neural substrates for manual specialization and their possible connection with language and speech. We focus on two contrasting hypotheses of the origins of language and manual specialization: the language-first scenario and the tool-use-first scenario. Each one makes specific predictions about hand-use in non-human primates, as well as about the necessity of an association between speech adaptations and population-level right-handedness in the archaeological and fossil records. The concept of handedness is reformulated for archaeologists in terms of manual role specialization, using Guiard's model asymmetric bimanual coordination. This focuses our attention on skilled bimanual tasks in which both upper limbs play complementary roles. We review work eliciting non-human primate hand preferences in co-ordinated bimanual tasks, and relevant archaeological data for estimating the presence or absence of a population-level bias to the right hand as the manipulator in extinct hominin species and in the early prehistory of our own species

Exploring Vision-Based Interfaces: How to Use Your Head in Dual Pointing Tasks

The utility of vision-based face tracking for dual pointing tasks is evaluated. We first describe a 3-D face tracking technique based on real-time parametric motion-stereo, which is non-invasive, robust, and self-initialized. The tracker provides a real-time estimate of a ?frontal face ray? whose intersection with the display surface plane is used as a second stream of input for scrolling or pointing, in paral-lel with hand input. We evaluated the performance of com-bined head/hand input on a box selection and coloring task: users selected boxes with one pointer and colors with a second pointer, or performed both tasks with a single pointer. We found that performance with head and one hand was intermediate between single hand performance and dual hand performance. Our results are consistent with previously reported dual hand conflict in symmetric pointing tasks, and suggest that a head-based input stream should be used for asymmetric control

Using Virtual Environments in the Teaching of Computer Graphics

Education has long been touted as an appropriate application area for immersive virtual environments (VEs), but few immersive applications have actually been used in the classroom, and even fewer have been compared empirically with other teaching methods. This paper presents VENTS, a novel immersive VE application intended to teach the concept of the three-dimensional (3D) normalizing transformation in an undergraduate computer graphics class. VENTS was developed based on key principles for the use of VEs in education, systematically evaluated for usability, and refined based on the results of this evaluation. Students in a university course used VENTS, and their learning was compared to that of other students who either attended a lecture on the topic or used a 3D desktop application covering the same material. The results of pre- and post-tests showed a larger percent increase in test score for the VE group than the desktop or lecture groups, although these differences are not statistically significant

Multi-user Gaze-based Interaction Techniques on Collaborative Touchscreens

Eye-gaze is a technology for implicit, fast, and hands-free input for a variety of use cases, with the majority of techniques focusing on single-user contexts. In this work, we present an exploration into gaze techniques of users interacting together on the same surface. We explore interaction concepts that exploit two states in an interactive system: 1) users visually attending to the same object in the UI, or 2) users focusing on separate targets. Interfaces can exploit these states with increasing availability of eye-tracking. For example, to dynamically personalise content on the UI to each user, and to provide a merged or compromised view on an object when both users' gaze are falling upon it. These concepts are explored with a prototype horizontal interface that tracks gaze of two users facing each other. We build three applications that illustrate different mappings of gaze to multi-user support: an indoor map with gaze-highlighted information, an interactive tree-of-life visualisation that dynamically expands on users' gaze, and a worldmap application with gaze-aware fisheye zooming. We conclude with insights from a public deployment of this system, pointing toward the engaging and seamless ways how eye based input integrates into collaborative interaction

Multi-user Gaze-based Interaction Techniques on Collaborative Touchscreens

Eye-gaze is a technology for implicit, fast, and hands-free input for a variety of use cases, with the majority of techniques focusing on single-user contexts. In this work, we present an exploration into gaze techniques of users interacting together on the same surface. We explore interaction concepts that exploit two states in an interactive system: 1) users visually attending to the same object in the UI, or 2) users focusing on separate targets. Interfaces can exploit these states with increasing availability of eye-tracking. For example, to dynamically personalise content on the UI to each user, and to provide a merged or compromised view on an object when both users’ gaze are falling upon it. These concepts are explored with a prototype horizontal interface that tracks gaze of two users facing each other. We build three applications that illustrate different mappings of gaze to multi-user support: an indoor map with gaze-highlighted information, an interactive tree-of-life visualisation that dynamically expands on users’ gaze, and a worldmap application with gaze-aware fisheye zooming. We conclude with insights from a public deployment of this system, pointing toward the engaging and seamless ways how eye based input integrates into collaborative interaction

An evaluation of asymmetric interfaces for bimanual virtual assembly with haptics

Immersive computing technology provides a human–computer interface to support natural human interaction with digital data and models. One application for this technology is product assembly methods planning and validation. This paper presents the results of a user study which explores the effectiveness of various bimanual interaction device configurations for virtual assembly tasks. Participants completed two assembly tasks with two device configurations in five randomized bimanual treatment conditions (within subjects). A Phantom Omni® with and without haptics enabled and a 5DT Data Glove were used. Participant performance, as measured by time to assemble, was the evaluation metric. The results revealed that there was no significant difference in performance between the five treatment conditions. However, half of the participants chose the 5DT Data Glove and the haptic-enabled Phantom Omni® as their preferred device configuration. In addition, qualitative comments support both the preference of haptics during the assembly process and comments confirming Guiard’s kinematic chain model

Psychology

The Internet explosion and broad interest in collaborative technology have driven increased interest in the field of computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW). Historically, behavioral research on CSCW applications has reflected a strong influence from ethnomethodology. This article argues that the CSCW community should adopt a stronger orientation to other social science disciplines, particularly psychology. Greater attention to the psychological literature provides three benefits. First, psychologists offer well-validated principles about human behavior in group and organizational contexts that are relevant to CSCW research. Second, psychologists offer reliable and proven measures of human behavior that, if adopted by CSCW researchers, can provide a uniform basis for comparison across studies. Finally, psychologists offer data collection and analysis methods that identify salient and generalizable features of human behavior, which may lead to the development of universal principles of CSCW design.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68835/2/10.1177_089443939801600106.pd