Overcoming Limitations of the Trackpad for 3D Docking Operations

International audienceFrom notebook trackpads to mobile phones to tabletop surface computing, multitouch input surfaces have become one of the most dominant interfaces for human-computer interaction. Although these are clearly e ective for interaction with 2D graphical user interfaces, we suspect that they are not as well suited for interaction requiring greater degrees of freedom (DoF). Here, we consider the possibility of exploiting two such surfaces, one for each hand, as a means of a ording e cient control over higher dimensional tasks. We investigate performance on a 6 DoF task, comparing such a two-surface multitouch input device against the results obtained using a standard 2D mouse, a single multitouch surface, and a 6 DoF free-space device. Our results indicate that two multitouch surfaces signi cantly improve user performance compared to the mouse and to a single surface

The Roly-Poly Mouse: Designing a Rolling Input Device Unifying 2D and 3D Interaction

International audienceWe present the design and evaluation of the Roly-Poly Mouse (RPM), a rolling input device that combines the advantages of the mouse (position displacement) and of 3D devices (roll and rotation) to unify 2D and 3D interaction. Our first study explores RPM gesture amplitude and stability for different upper shapes (Hemispherical, Convex) and hand postures. 8 roll directions can be performed precisely and their amplitude is larger on Hemispherical RPM. As minor rolls affect translation, we propose a roll correction algorithm to support stable 2D pointing with RPM. We propose the use of compound gestures for 3D pointing and docking, and evaluate them against a commercial 3D device, the SpaceMouse. Our studies reveal that RPM performs 31% faster than the SpaceMouse for 3D pointing and equivalently for 3D rotation. Finally, we present a proof-of-concept integrated RPM prototype along with discussion on the various technical challenges to overcome to build a final integrated version of RPM

Enhanced device-based 3D object manipulation technique for handheld mobile augmented reality

3D object manipulation is one of the most important tasks for handheld mobile Augmented Reality (AR) towards its practical potential, especially for realworld assembly support. In this context, techniques used to manipulate 3D object is an important research area. Therefore, this study developed an improved device based interaction technique within handheld mobile AR interfaces to solve the large range 3D object rotation problem as well as issues related to 3D object position and orientation deviations in manipulating 3D object. The research firstly enhanced the existing device-based 3D object rotation technique with an innovative control structure that utilizes the handheld mobile device tilting and skewing amplitudes to determine the rotation axes and directions of the 3D object. Whenever the device is tilted or skewed exceeding the threshold values of the amplitudes, the 3D object rotation will start continuously with a pre-defined angular speed per second to prevent over-rotation of the handheld mobile device. This over-rotation is a common occurrence when using the existing technique to perform large-range 3D object rotations. The problem of over-rotation of the handheld mobile device needs to be solved since it causes a 3D object registration error and a 3D object display issue where the 3D object does not appear consistent within the user’s range of view. Secondly, restructuring the existing device-based 3D object manipulation technique was done by separating the degrees of freedom (DOF) of the 3D object translation and rotation to prevent the 3D object position and orientation deviations caused by the DOF integration that utilizes the same control structure for both tasks. Next, an improved device-based interaction technique, with better performance on task completion time for 3D object rotation unilaterally and 3D object manipulation comprehensively within handheld mobile AR interfaces was developed. A pilot test was carried out before other main tests to determine several pre-defined values designed in the control structure of the proposed 3D object rotation technique. A series of 3D object rotation and manipulation tasks was designed and developed as separate experimental tasks to benchmark both the proposed 3D object rotation and manipulation techniques with existing ones on task completion time (s). Two different groups of participants aged 19-24 years old were selected for both experiments, with each group consisting sixteen participants. Each participant had to complete twelve trials, which came to a total 192 trials per experiment for all the participants. Repeated measure analysis was used to analyze the data. The results obtained have statistically proven that the developed 3D object rotation technique markedly outpaced existing technique with significant shorter task completion times of 2.04s shorter on easy tasks and 3.09s shorter on hard tasks after comparing the mean times upon all successful trials. On the other hand, for the failed trials, the 3D object rotation technique was 4.99% more accurate on easy tasks and 1.78% more accurate on hard tasks in comparison to the existing technique. Similar results were also extended to 3D object manipulation tasks with an overall 9.529s significant shorter task completion time of the proposed manipulation technique as compared to the existing technique. Based on the findings, an improved device-based interaction technique has been successfully developed to address the insufficient functionalities of the current technique

Étude comparative de cinq dispositifs d'interaction pour les grands écrans tactiles verticaux : tactile direct, pavé tactile, tablette, souris, boules de commande

RÉSUMÉ : Cette recherche à été réalisée au sein de L-3 MAPPS, une entreprise montréalaise qui conçoit, développe et commercialise des systèmes de simulation et d'entraînement pour les domaines maritime, spatial et énergétique. Certains de ces systèmes font usage d'écrans tactiles de grandes dimensions devant lesquels les opérateurs doivent se déplacer pour les utiliser. L'objectif de cette recherche était d'évaluer la performance et la satisfaction relatives à l’utilisation de six dispositifs d'interaction à l'écran. À noter : il y a cinq types de dispositifs, mais l’un d’eux comprenant deux modèles, six dispositifs ont finalement été évalués. C’est pourquoi dans le reste du document, il est question de six dispositifs. L'hypothèse formulée est que l'utilisation d'un dispositif d'interaction déporté (c'est-à-dire placé à distance du Grand Écran Vertical Tactile (GETV)) comparativement à une commande tactile directe améliore significativement la performance à la tâche de pilotage d'un curseur sur un écran tactile de grandes dimensions disposé verticalement. Pour tester cette hypothèse, on a comparé la performance et la satisfaction humaine relatives à l’utilisation de six dispositifs de pointage suivant la méthodologie proposée par ISO 9241-9 (International Standards Organization [ISO], 2000). La partie 9 de cette norme (Exigences relatives aux dispositifs d'entrée autres que les claviers) définit un essai d'utilisabilité de façon à permettre d'évaluer la précision atteinte pour le test de frappe par unité de temps (débit), le taux de cibles atteintes par rapport au total de cibles (taux d’erreur), et la satisfaction liée à l’utilisation d’un dispositif de pointage. Les six dispositifs retenus pour l'étude sont : un GETV de diagonale 46 pouces, une tablette tactile de diagonale 12 pouces, un pavé tactile (plus communément appelé trackpad), une souris, et deux modèles de boule de commande : un modèle militarisé, et un modèle commercial. Chaque dispositif a été testé suivant six conditions expérimentales différentes : deux types de tâches (multidirectionnelle et unidirectionnelle) et trois niveaux de difficultés (par variation de la taille des cibles). La tâche multidirectionnelle consistait à frapper 24 cibles apparaissant successivement sur un cercle. La tâche unidirectionnelle consistait à frapper 24 cibles apparaissant successivement de part et d’autre de l’écran.----------ABSTRACT : This study is based off a research carried out at L-3 MAPPS, Montréal. L-3 MAPPS is a company that designs, develop and sells simulation and training systems for the the naval, spatial and energy industries. Some of those systems use large touch screens requiring the user to move during use. The initial goal of this work was to evaluate alternative interaction methods for the pointing devices currently employed by the company. The starting hypothesis states that the use of a remote pointing device (as in placed at some distance from the Large Vertical Touch Screen (LVTS)), when compared with a touch command significantly improves the performances for a pointing task on a large vertical screen. To test this hypothesis, a comparative experimental study following the methodology prescribed by ISO 9241-9 standard (International Standards Organization [ISO], 2000) was conducted. Section 9 of this standard (Requirements for non-keyboard input devices) defines a usability test allowing the evaluation of a pointing device in terms of speed, error rate, and user satisfaction (measured as throughput, error rate, and satisfaction rate, respectively). The six pointing devices selected for this study are : a LVTS, a touch screen tablet, a touchpad, a mouse, and two trackball models. The six experimental conditions were defined by two task types (multi and unidirectional) and three difficulty levels (defined by target size). For the multidirectional task the subjects hit 24 successive targets distributed on a circle. For the unidirectional task the subjects hit 24 successive targets on the left and right of the screen. Twenty subjects participated in this study. All subjects tested each device in each of the six conditions, resulting in 36 series for each subject. The results of this study show that, comparatively to the other devices, the LVTS comes 3rd in throughput (with 2,31 bits/s against 4,66 for the tablet, fastest device), 5th in error rate (with 17,62% against 8,73 for the mouse, most reliable device), and 6th in satisfaction rate. We conclude that seeking better interaction methods for the LVTS is not only legitimate, but desirable. Furthermore, amongst the other touch pointing devices evaluated, we notice a significant speed advantage for the tablet (high throughput with 4,66 bits/s against 2,31 for the LVTS, second fastest touch device), and a significant reliability advantage for the touchpad (low error rate with 10,51% against 17,62 for the LVTS, second most reliable touch device). Finally, the mouse remains the overall best performing device, whether in throughput or error rate

The State of the Art of Spatial Interfaces for 3D Visualization

International audienceWe survey the state of the art of spatial interfaces for 3D visualization. Interaction techniques are crucial to data visualization processes and the visualization research community has been calling for more research on interaction for years. Yet, research papers focusing on interaction techniques, in particular for 3D visualization purposes, are not always published in visualization venues, sometimes making it challenging to synthesize the latest interaction and visualization results. We therefore introduce a taxonomy of interaction technique for 3D visualization. The taxonomy is organized along two axes: the primary source of input on the one hand and the visualization task they support on the other hand. Surveying the state of the art allows us to highlight specific challenges and missed opportunities for research in 3D visualization. In particular, we call for additional research in: (1) controlling 3D visualization widgets to help scientists better understand their data, (2) 3D interaction techniques for dissemination, which are under-explored yet show great promise for helping museum and science centers in their mission to share recent knowledge, and (3) developing new measures that move beyond traditional time and errors metrics for evaluating visualizations that include spatial interaction