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International audience; One-handed Back-of-Device (BoD) interaction proved to be desired and sometimes unavoidable with a mobile touchscreen device, for both preferred and non-preferred hands. Although users' two hands are asymmetric, the impact of this asymmetry on the performance of mobile interaction has been little studied so far. Research on one-handed BoD interaction mostly focused on the preferred hand, even though users cannot avoid in real life to handle their phone with their non-preferred hand. To better design one-handed BoD interaction tailored for each hand, the identification and measure of the impact of their asymmetry are critical. In this paper, we study the impact on the performance of the asymmetry between the preferred and the non-preferred hands when interacting with one hand in the back of a mobile touch surface. Empirical data indicates that users' preferred hand performs better than the non-preferred hand in target acquisition tasks, for both time (+10%) and accuracy (+20%). In contrast, for steering tasks, we found little difference in performance between users' preferred and non-preferred hands. These results are useful for the HCI community to design mobile interaction techniques tailored for each hand only when it is necessary. We present implications for research and design directly based on the findings of the study, in particular, to reduce the impact of the asymmetry between hands and improve the performance of both hands for target acquisition.

International audience; Shape-changing User Interfaces (UIs) explore the ability of a UI to change its physical shape to support multiple interaction modalities for users’ input and/or system’s output. An approach currently studied to implement such interfaces at a high resolution is based on mm-sized, round, and self-actuated modules. The problem we tackle in this paper is to find the range of usable sizes of such modules, to better inform the trade-off between usability and technological feasibility. We assessed four sliders in a controlled user study: a standard slider and three sliders made of mock-up rounded modules of ø1 mm, ø2.5 mm, and ø5 mm. Experimental results show that (1) ø5 mm modules significantly impair performance for the pursuit task and subjective perception for both tasks, (2) performance increases when the size of modules decreases, but (3) users reportedly enjoyed the haptic feedback provided by ø1 mm to ø2.5 mm modules. These results provide deeper understanding on the impact of the size of modules on performance and subjective perception to inform current technological development of physical user interfaces made of small robotic modules.

International audience; The HCI community has a strong and growing interest in shape-changing interfaces (SCIs) that can offer dynamic af-fordance. In this context, there is an increasing need for HCI researchers and designers to form close relationships with disciplines such as robotics and material science in order to be able to truly harness the state-of-the-art in morphing technologies. To help these synergies arise, we present Morphino: a card-based toolkit to inspire shape-changing interface designs. Our cards bring together a collection of morphing mechanisms already established in the multidisciplinary literature and illustrate them through familiar examples from nature. We begin by detailing the design of the cards, based on a review of shape-change in nature; then, report on a series of design sessions conducted to demonstrate their usefulness in generating new ideas and in helping end-users gain a better understanding of the possibilities for shape-changing materials.

National audience; Sliders are ubiquitous in users' everyday environment, whether on our mobile devices or in objects such as the control of a sound system. The tactile feedback they offer is still very limited, even though we often use them eyes-free. In order to inform the design of the sliders' tactile information in the future, we present a qualitative study showing how users understand textures. We found that the characteristics identified in the literature to describe textures are not enough to characterize possible textures that could apply to sliders; that some characteristics oppose; and that the importance of the characteristics are dependent on the users. In a second study we use these results to inform the design of the future tactile feedback of sliders.; Les variateurs linéaires sont omniprésents dans les interfaces du quotidien, qu'ils soient sur nos dispositifs mobiles ou dans les objets tels que la commande de la chaîne Hi-Fi. Leur retour d'information tactile est encore très limité. Afin d'informer la conception de leur information tactile dans le futur, nous présentons une étude qualitative montrant comment les utilisateurs appréhendent subjectivement les textures. Les résultats montrent que les caractéristiques décrivant les textures identifiées dans la littérature ne sont pas suffisantes pour caractériser l'ensemble des possibilités pour les variateurs linéaires ; que certaines caractéristiques s'opposent ; et que l'importance des caractéristiques sont dépendantes des utilisateurs. Nous utilisons ces résultats pour informer la conception du retour d'information tactile de variateurs linéaires dans une seconde étude.

International audience

National audience; Many parameters may impact the performance of users while engaged in tangible user interaction. In this paper, we explore the impact of the combination of the tangible control and the visual display on the performance of a 1D target acquisition task. We consider three tangible controls: a slider, a knob and a wheel, and two visual displays for the same 1D target acquisition task: a circular cursor and a linear cursor. We found that matching the visual and motor task has an impact on the performance. This work has implications ranging from current design of Tangible User Interfaces to research on shape-changing Tangible User Interfaces.; De nombreux paramètres peuvent avoir un impact sur la performance des dispositifs tangibles. Dans cet article, nous explorons l'impact de la combinaison du dispositif tangible en entrée, et de la représentation visuelle, sur les performances d'une tâche de pointage. Nous considérons trois dispositifs tangibles : un curseur linéaire, un bouton rotatif et une molette. Nous considérons aussi deux représentations visuelles, pour une même tâche de pointage : un curseur circulaire et un curseur linéaire affichés à l'écran. Nous constatons que la combinaison de tâches visuelles et motrices a un impact sur la performance. Ces travaux ont des implications pour la conception de l'interaction tangible, mais aussi pour la recherche sur les interfaces tangibles qui changent de forme.

We present WiBend, a system that recognizes bending gestures as the input modalities for interacting on non-instrumented and deformable surfaces using WiFi signals. WiBend takes advantage of off-the-shelf 802.11 (Wi-Fi) devices and Channel State Information (CSI) measurements of packet transmissions when the user is placed and interacting between a Wi-Fi transmitter and a receiver. We have performed extensive user experiments in an instrumented laboratory to obtain data for training the HMM models and for evaluating the precision of WiBend. During the experiments, participants performed 12 distinct bending gestures with three surface sizes, two bending speeds and two different directions. The performance evaluation results show that WiBend can distinguish between 12 bending gestures with a precision of 84% on average.

International audience; Professionals such as sound engineers or aircraft pilots heavily use physical knobs and sliders on their interfaces. The interfaces have advantages over touchscreen interfaces, especially when the users need to quickly and eyes-freely respond to changing situations such as when musicians are improvising, or there is smoke in a cockpit. However, unlike touchscreen interfaces, the physical interfaces are often bulky and crowded and lack of adaptability to user preferences or small spaces. To have advantages from both physical and touchscreen control interfaces, we explore design space of control interfaces and suggest design guidelines in the following steps. We first conduct a formative study with eight professionals who use knobs and sliders. Based on their feedback, we propose design requirements for future parameter control interfaces. We then introduce the design of the KnobSlider, a shape-changing device that combines the advantages of a physical knob and a slider in a time-and space-multiplexing way. To increase users' acceptance on shape-changing control interfaces, we investigate subjective preference on speed of shape-changes by using pairwise comparison with different maximum speeds. We also investigate how tangibility-showing KnobSlider on a video or showing it in the physical world-affects users preference and suggest speed design guidelines for future studies.

International audience; We investigate the design of a shape-changing dial, i.e. a dial that can change its circumference and height to adapt to different contexts of interaction. We first explore how users grasp 3D printed dials of different heights and circumferences in order to inform the form factor of shape-changing dials. We then design a prototype, ExpanDial, inspired from morphing origami. We then use our prototype as a probe within design sessions and use the participants' feedback to devise a set of applications that can benefit from such reconfigurable devices. We also used the design sessions to better understand what kind of interaction and manipulation could be harnessed from such device.

Touchscreens are the predominant medium for interactions with digital services; however, their current fixed form factor narrows the scope for rich physical interactions by limiting interaction possibilities to a single, planar surface. In this paper we introduce the concept of PickCells, a fully reconfigurable device concept composed of cells, that breaks the mould of rigid screens and explores a modular system that affords rich sets of tangible interactions and novel across-device relationships. Through a series of co-design activities – involving HCI experts and potential end-users of such systems – we synthesised a design space aimed at inspiring future research, giving researchers and designers a framework in which to explore modular screen interactions. The design space we propose unifies existing works on modular touch surfaces under a general framework and broadens horizons by opening up unexplored spaces providing new interaction possibilities. In this paper, we present the PickCells concept, a design space of modular touch surfaces, and propose a toolkit for quick scenario prototyping.

International audience; Uncertainty is common when working with data and becomes more important as processing big data gains attention. However, no standard tangible interface element exists for inputting uncertain data. In this article, we extend the input space of two traditional TUIs: dial and slider. We present five designs that are based on dials and sliders and support uncertain input. We conduct focus group interviews to evaluate the designs. The interviews allow us to extend existing design requirements for parameter control UIs to support uncertain input.

Part 6: Wearable and Tangible Interaction; International audience; Experiencing uncertainty is common when answering questionnaires. E.g., users are not always sure to answer how often they use trains. Enabling users to input their uncertainty is thus important to increase the data’s reliability and to make better decision based on the data. However, few interfaces have been explored to support uncertain input, especially with TUIs. TUIs are more discoverable than GUIs and better support simultaneous input of multiple parameters. It motivates us to explore different TUI designs to input users’ best estimate answer (value) and uncertainty. In this paper, we first generate 5 TUI designs that can input both value and uncertainty and build low-fidelity prototypes. We then conduct focus group interviews to evaluate the prototypes and implement the best design, SplitSlider, as a working prototype. A lab study with SplitSlider shows that one third of the participants (4/12) were able to discover the uncertainty input function without any explanation, and once explained, all of them could easily understand the concept and input uncertainty.

International audience; Physical controls are widely used by professionals such as sound engineers or aircraft pilots. In particular knobs and sliders are the most prevalent in such interfaces. They have advantages over touchscreen GUIs, especially when users require quick and eyes-free control. However, their interfaces (e.g., mixing consoles) are often bulky and crowded. To improve this, we present the results of a formative study with professionals who use physical controllers. Based on their feedback, we propose design requirements for future interfaces for parameters control. We then introduce the design of our KnobSlider that combines the advantages of a knob and a slider in one unique shape-changing device. A qualitative study with professionals shows how KnobSlider supports the design requirements, and inspired new interactions and applications.

Users interact with many reconfigurable objects in daily life. These objects embed reconfigurations and shapechanging features that users are familiar with. For this reason, everyday reconfigurable objects have informed the design and taxonomy of shape changing UI. However, they have never been explored systematically. In this paper, we present a data set of 82 everyday reconfigurable objects that we collected in a workshop. We discuss how they can inspire the design of reconfigurable interfaces. We particularly focus on taxonomies of reconfigurable interfaces. Taxonomies have been suggested to help designand communication among researchers, however despite their extensive use, taxonomies are rarely evaluated. This paper analyses two established taxonomies — Rasmussen’s and Roudaut’s — using daily reconfigurable objects. We show relationships between the taxonomies and area for improvements. We propose Morphees+, a refined taxonomy based on Roudaut’s Shape Resolution Taxonomy.

International audience; Graphical sliders are widely used on mobile devices. However, with a single hand, reaching for far values is difficult : users change their grip and can drop the device. Moreover, sliders require visual attention to operate them. Envisioning mobile devices that dynamically extend tangible sliders out of the screen, the contribution of this work is a first attempt to experimentally study a deformable tangible slider that facilitate thumb interaction on mobile devices. The deformable tangible slider expands its cursor (Figure 1) to avoid hand-grip changes by maintaining the thumb within its comfortable area. Moreover, its tangible aspect allows eyes-free interaction. We first compared a low-fidelity prototype with a classic tangible slider. The prototype improves performance by 9.2% when targets are outside the thumb's comfortable area. We then designed a de-formable slider that we compared to a classic tangible slider and a graphical one. Though the deformable slider is globally faster (14.3%) than the classic tangible one, the difference is not significant. While the graphical slider performs faster, the deformable tangible slider o ers eyes- free interaction and stable hand-grip.; Les curseurs graphiques sont largement utilisés sur les dispositifs mobiles. Cependant, atteindre des valeurs éloignées avec le pouce de la main qui tient le dispositif est difficile : les utilisateurs changent alors la prise en main du dispositif au risque de le faire tomber. De plus, les curseurs graphiques sollicitent l’attention visuelle pour les manipuler. En anticipant que les dispositifs mobiles pourront faire émerger de leurs écrans des curseurs physiques dynamiquement, notre contribution est une première exploration expérimentale d’un curseur tangible qui se déforme pour faciliter l’interaction mobile avec le pouce de la main qui tient le dispositif. Le curseur tangible se déforme pour que le pouce manipule toujours le curseur dans la zone d’action facilement atteignable (Fig. 1). Le curseur tangible déformable (1) évite les changements de prise en main en maintenant le pouce dans sa zone de confort, et (2) permet une interaction sans regarder le dispositif mobile. Nous avons d’abord comparé un prototype basse-fidélité avec un curseur classique tangible. Le prototype améliore les performances de 9.2% lorsque les cibles sont en dehors de la zone de confort du pouce. Nous avons ensuite conçu un curseur déformable que nous avons comparé à un curseur tangible classique et à un curseur graphique. Les résultats expérimentaux démontrent que le curseur tangible déformable est globalement plus rapide de 14.3% que le curseur tangible classique sans que les résultats soient significativement différents. Alors que le curseur graphique o re de meilleures performances que les deux autres curseurs tangibles, le curseur tangible déformable o re une interac- tion sans regarder le dispositif avec une prise en main du dispositif stable.

This research forms part of a wider body of work focused around involving emergent users---those just beginning to get access to mobile devices---in the development and refinement of far-future technologies. In this paper we present an evaluation of a new type of deformable slider with emergent users, designed to investigate whether shape-changing interfaces provide any benefit over touchscreens for this type of user. Our trials, which took place in two contexts and three disparate regions, revealed that while there was a clear correlation between performance and technology exposure, emergent users had similar ability with both touchscreen and deformable controls.

International audience; Touch interaction is almost omnipresent on mobile devices and technological advances have made screens bigger. The users can then interact with more content displayed on screen but it is more difficult for the users to reach all the parts of the screen with one thumb. At the same time, researchers are exploring mobile interaction with deformable tangible interfaces. Bringing tangible objects to the flat screen brings a new perspective on the reachability problem of the thumb. In this work, we explore the impact on performance for thumb interaction within and outside the functional area of the thumb, while operating a tangible slider. Experimental results demonstrate that the size of the motor space has a significant impact on performance. Operations within and outside the easily reachable area of the thumb show marginal difference of performance.; L’interaction tactile est omniprésente sur les dispositifs mobiles et les avancées technologiques ont permis des écrans plus grands. Les utilisateurs peuvent alors interagir avec plus de contenu affiché à l’écran, mais il est plus difficile pour les utilisateurs d’atteindre toutes les parties de l’écran avec le pouce de la main qui tient le dispositif mobile. Dans le même temps, les interfaces tangibles déformables sur mobile sont étudiées : l’ajout de contrôles ou widgets tangibles sur l’écran plat du mobile définit une nouvelle perspective sur le problème de l’accessibilité pour l’interaction au pouce. Dans cet article, nous étudions les performances de l’interaction mobile au pouce à l’intérieur et à l’extérieur de la zone d’action facilement atteignable avec le pouce pour manipuler un curseur tangible. Les résultats expérimentaux démontrent que la taille de l’espace moteur a un impact significatif sur les performances. Au contraire la différence de performances entre les actions à l’intérieur et à l’extérieur de la zone d’action facilement atteignable avec le pouce est marginale.

International audience; In this paper, we explore how to combine the advantages of physical knobs and sliders by using shape-change in order to transform one into another on-demand. By doing so we merge the benefits of both input devices: knobs enable relative angular input with dynamic gain and require little space; sliders require more space but enable absolute linear input and can be grouped to be simultaneously adjusted and monitored. Our initial contextual interviews unveil situations where such dynamic device could be particularly beneficial for professionals such as sound and light engineers as they require tangible devices and high flexibility. We then present the 9 alternative designs of KnobSlider, a shape changing input device that can switch from a knob to slider and vice-versa. We propose a set of 11 requirements for such a shape-changing device and conducted a systematic analysis of our 9 designs against our 11 requirements. This work is a first step toward building a high-fidelity KnobSlider.; Dans cet article, nous examinons comment combiner les avantages des boutons rotatifs et linéaires à l'aide du changement de forme afin de transformer l'un vers l'autre sur demande. Ce faisant, nous fusionnons les avantages des deux dispositifs d’interaction: les boutons rotatifs permettent le contrôle angulaire relatif avec un gain dynamique et nécessitent peu d'espace; les boutons linéaires nécessitent plus d'espace, mais permettent le contrôle linéaire absolu et peuvent être regroupés pour être ajustés et contrôlés simultanément. Nos enquêtes contextuelles initiales dévoilent des situations où un tel dispositif dynamique pourrait être particulièrement bénéfique pour les professionnels tels que les ingénieurs du son et les éclairagistes. Nous présentons ensuite 9 prototypes basse fidélité du KnobSlider, un dispositif de contrôle déformable qui peut changer d'un bouton rotatif à un bouton linéaire et vice-versa. Nous proposons un ensemble de 11 exigences pour un tel dispositif déformable et effectuons une analyse systématique de nos 9 alternatives par rapport à ces 11 exigences. Ce travail est une première étape vers la construction d'un KnobSlider haute fidélité.

International audience; Dynamic symbolic in-air hand gestures are an increasingly popular means of interaction with smart environments. However, novices need to know what commands are available and which gesture to execute in order to trigger these commands. We propose to adapt OctoPocus, a 2D gesture guiding system, to the case of 3D. The OctoPocus3D guidance system displays a set of 3D gestures as 3D pipes and allows users to understand how the system processes gesture input. Several feedback and feedforward visual alternatives are proposed in the literature. However, their impact on guidance remains to be evaluated. We report the results of two user experiments that aim at designing OctoPocus3D by exploring these alternatives. The results show that a concurrent feedback, which visually simplifies the 3D scene during the execution of the gesture, increases the recognition rate, but only during the first two repetitions. After the first two repetitions, users achieve the same recognition rate with a terminal feedback (after the execution of the gesture), a concurrent feedback, both or neither. With respect to feedforward, the overall stability of the 3D scene explored through the origin of the pipes during the execution of the gestures does not influence the recognition rate or the execution time. Finally, the results also show that displaying upcoming portions of the gestures allows 8% faster completion times than displaying the complete remaining portions. This indicates that preventing visual clutter of the 3D scene prevails over gesture anticipation.

International audience; We present the concept of Emergeables - mobile surfaces that can deform or 'morph' to provide fully-actuated, tangible controls. Our goal in this work is to provide the flexibility of graphical touchscreens, coupled with the affordance and tactile benefits offered by physical widgets. In contrast to previous research in the area of deformable displays, our work focuses on continuous controls (e.g., dials or sliders), and strives for fully-dynamic positioning, providing versatile widgets that can change shape and location depending on the user's needs. We describe the design and implementation of two prototype emergeables built to demonstrate the concept, and present an in-depth evaluation that compares both with a touchscreen alternative. The results show the strong potential of emergeables for on-demand, eyes-free control of continuous parameters, particularly when comparing the accuracy and usability of a high-resolution emergeable to a standard GUI approach. We conclude with a discussion of the level of resolution that is necessary for future emergeables, and suggest how high-resolution versions might be achieved.

International audience; Tangible sliders are successfully used as they do not need visual attention. However, users need to balance between opposite concerns: size and precision of the slider. We propose a resizable tangible slider to balance between these concerns. Users can resize the on-screen representation of the slider by resizing the tangible slider. Our aim is to benefit from both tangibility and flexible control, and balance between precision and minimum size. We measured the pointing performance of our prototype. We also assess the potential drawback (additional articulatory task for deformation) by evaluating the impact on precision of the additional articulatory task for deformation: for pursuing a target, we show that our resizable prototype supports better precision than its small counterpart as long as users do not need to resize it more often than around every 9 seconds.

Proceedings of the 7th ACM SIGCHI Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems (EICS 2015); International audience; We present a tool to help practitioners to characterize, compare and design gesture guiding systems. The tool can be used to find an example system meeting specific requirements or to start exploring an original research area based on unexplored design options. The motivation for the online tool is the large underlying design space including 35 design axes: the tool therefore helps explore and combine the various design options. Moreover the tool currently includes the description of 46 gesture guiding systems: the tool is thus also a repository of existing gesture guiding systems.

International audience; 2D or 3D gesture commands are still not routinely adopted, despite the technological advances for tracking gestures. The fact that gesture commands are not self-revealing is a bottleneck for this adoption. Guiding novice users is therefore crucial in order to reveal what commands are available and how to trigger them. However guiding systems are mainly designed in an ad hoc manner. Even if isolated design characteristics exist, they concentrate on a limited number of guidance aspects. We hence present a design space that unifies and completes these studies by providing a coherent set of issues for designing the behavior of a guiding system. We distinguish Feedback and Feedforward and consider four questions: When, What, How and Where. In order to leverage efficient use of our design space, we provide an online tool and illustrate with scenarios how practitioners can use it.

National audience; Au sein d'un environnement ubiquitaire, l'ordinateur devient évanescent : nos objets quotidiens sont augmentés d'électronique, les environnements deviennent perceptifs déconfinant l'interaction homme-machine de l'ancien ordinateur "boîte grise" à des espaces pervasifs. Désormais, l'utilisateur évolue dans un monde physico-numérique ou espace interactif mixte. Au sein de cet espace interactif, un besoin est alors d'interagir à distance que ce soit pour manipuler des objets numériques sur un écran distant ou des objets physiques. Cet article est dédié aux techniques de pointage à distance pour désigner un objet numérique ou physique. Nous décrivons six techniques de pointage pour interagir dans un environnement ubiquitaire, la première pour pointer à distance sur des cibles numériques, les cinq autres pour pointer sur des objets physiques avec et sans un dispositif mobile.

International audience; Several ways for selecting physical objects exist, including touching and pointing at them. Allowing the user to interact at a distance by pointing at physical objects can be challenging when the environment contains a large number of interactive physical objects, possibly occluded by other everyday items. Previous pointing techniques highlighted the need for disambiguation techniques. Addressing this challenge, this paper contributes a design space that organizes along groups and axes a set of options for designers to relevantly (1) describe, (2) classify, and (3) design disambiguation techniques. First, we have not found techniques in the literature yet that our design space could not describe. Second, all the techniques show a different path along the axes of our design space. Third, it allows defining of several new paths/solutions that have not yet been explored. We illustrate this generative power with the example of such a designed technique, Physical Pointing Roll (P2Roll).

7 pages, category "work in progress"; International audience; In this work-in-progress, we present early comparative experiences with methods for designing tangible user interfaces (TUIs). Groups of designers used different approaches for design in the context of a concrete case study: a TUI for controlling LED lighting within hotel rooms. From the results of the groups and methods, we wish to discuss the first comparison between different approaches. Eventually, our aim is to provide a consensual comparison of benefits and drawbacks of each approach, as such a consensual result could be highly beneficial to designers.

Session: Feelings and emotions; International audience; Only intrusive and expensive ways of precisely expressing emotions has been proposed, which are not likely to appear soon in everyday Ubicomp environments. In this paper, we study to which extent we can identify the emotion a user is explicitly expressing through 2D and 3D gestures. Indeed users already often manipulate mobile devices with touch screen and accelerometers. We conducted a field study where we asked participants to explicitly express their emotion through gestures and to report their affective states. We contribute by (1) showing a high number of significant correlations in 3D motion descriptors of gestures and in the arousal dimension; (2) defining a space of affective gestures. We identify (3) groups of descriptors that structure the space and are related to arousal. Finally, we provide with (4) a preliminary model of arousal and we identify (5) interesting patterns in particular classes of gestures. Such results are useful for Ubicomp application designers in order to envision the use of gestures as a cheap and non-intrusive affective modality.

Part 1: Long and Short Papers; International audience; In the context of mixed systems that seek to smoothly merge physical and digital worlds, designing and prototyping interaction involves physical and digital aspects of mixed objects. However, even though mixed objects are recurrent in the literature, none of the existing prototyping tools explicitly supports this object level. Moreover, designers have to use distinct tools, on the one hand, tools for designing ideas and on the other hand tools for prototyping them: this makes the design process difficult. To help alleviate these two problems, we present OP (Object Prototyping), a toolkit that provides a new programming model focusing on mixed objects and allows us to seamlessly go back and forth from conceptual ideas to functional physical prototypes, making the iterative design process smooth and integrated. Indeed, OP is explicitly based on an existing conceptual design model, namely the Mixed Interaction Model that has been shown to be useful for exploring the design space of mixed objects. Our user studies show that, despite its threshold, designers and developers using OP can rapidly prototype functional physical objects as part of a design process deeply intertwining conceptual design with prototyping activities.

International audience; Multitouch screens are being increasingly deployed in public settings. In order to provide useful information to users in an attractive way, playfulness of the interaction is a relevant characteristic. In this paper, our contribution is FizzyVis, a walkup-and-use interface that displays information through bubbles reacting to touches, and its design goals. The interface following a "ball pool" metaphor presents three types of bubbles animated and linked to each other by gravitation and magnetism: content bubbles, browsing bubbles and map bubbles. FizzyVis supports playful use through catching curiosity, projecting users in a playful state of mind, enabling easy and explorative information browsing, enticing playful gesturing and collective play, and rewarding finish. FizzyVis is evaluated regarding these design goals in a field study at a music festival over several days. The UI was useful to find information and playful. We detail the use of the installation to uncover generic lessons to be learned and explore further potential of FizzyVis.

International audience; The ubiquity of camera phones provides a convenient platform to develop immersive mixed-reality games. In this paper we introduce such a game which is loosely based on the popular card game "Memory", where players are asked to match a pair of identical cards among a set of overturned cards by revealing only two cards at a time. In our game, the players are asked to match a "digital card", which corresponds to a scene in a virtual world, to a "physical card", which is an image of a scene in the real world. The objective is to convey a mixed-reality sensation. Cards are matched with a scene identification engine which consists of multiple classifiers trained on previously collected images. We present our comprehensive overall game design, as well as implementation details and results. We also describe how we constructed our scene identification engine and its performance. Finally, we present an analysis of player surveys to gauge the potential market acceptance.

National audience; To face the difficulties encountered by the mixed interactive systems designers during the design step, we propose a new approach for the design phase. This article introduces the articulation of an informal method, which is the focus-group, with a formal mixed interaction model. The articulation allows a better integration of the design step into the process and a more systematic exploration of the mixed interactive system domain. We illustrate this articulation by considering two mixed interaction models: ASUR and Mixed Interaction Model. Based on these two implementations of our approach, we carry out a com- parative analysis in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of our approach.

International audience; Technological advances in hardware manufacturing led to an extended range of possibilities for designing physical-digital objects involved in a mixed system. Mixed systems can take various forms and include augmented reality, augmented virtuality, and tangible systems. In this very dynamic context, it is difficult to compare existing mixed systems and to systematically explore the design space. Addressing this design problem, this chapter presents a unified point of view on mixed systems by focusing on mixed objects involved in interaction, i.e. hybrid physical-digital objects straddling physical and digital worlds. Our integrating framework is made of two complementary facets of a mixed object: we define intrinsic characteristics of an object as well as extrinsic characteristics of an object by considering its role in the interaction. Such characteristics of an object are useful for comparing existing mixed systems at a fine-grain level. The taxonomic power of these characteristics is discussed in the context of existing mixed systems from the literature. Their generative power is illustrated by considering a system, Roam, which we designed and developed.

International audience; Shape-changing User Interfaces attract growing interest in Human-Computer Interaction. Modular robotics offer a great opportunity for their implementation. However, the current theoretical and technical advances of modular robotics are fragmented and little centered on the user. To unify existing work and center future research on the user, we perform a systematic literature review enabling us to build a unifying space for the design of modular shape-changing user interfaces. Our aim is to bridge the gap between HCI and robotics. Towards this aim, we conduct a thorough cross-disciplinary survey to propose: 1) a set of design properties at the scale of the interface (macro-scale) and at the scale of the modules (micro-scale) and 2) the impact of these properties on each other. We relate properties of different domains and identify inconsistencies to structure the design space. This paper can be used to describe and compare existing modular shape-changing UIs and generate new design ideas by building upon knowledge from robotics and HCI.

Shape-changing interfaces bring flexibility in physical interfaces through by transforming computational devices into any shape or materiality. Shape-changing interfaces will be increasingly available to end-users in the future, along with technology development. However, we know little about design criteria of shape-changing interfaces for end-users, especially for whom use parameter control interfaces. Parameter control interfaces are often designed based on existing examples such as dials and sliders, and there were few studies to understand user needs behind their usage. On the other hand, there are shape-changing interface taxonomies that allow designers to explore design ideas of shape-changing interfaces systematically, but they are hardly evaluated. In this thesis, I discuss my Ph.D. work investigating the two areas of HCI: parameter control interfaces and shape-changing interfaces. I first conduct a formative study to suggest design requirements for parameter control interfaces based on users’ current practice. Second, I refine a shape-changing interface taxonomy by evaluating its descriptive power by using everyday reconfigurable objects. Lastly, I look into the intersection of the parameter control interfaces and shape-changing interfaces. I develop two case studies: KnobSlider, a shape-changing interface that can be a knob or a slider, and ExpanDial, a rotational control that extends the interaction modality through shape-changes.; Les interfaces à changement de forme apportent de la flexibilité aux interfaces physiques en transformant les dispositifs de calcul en n’importe quelle forme ou matérialité. Les interfaces à changement de forme seront de plus en plus accessibles aux utilisateurs finaux à l’avenir, parallèlement au développement technologique. Cependant, nous savons peu de choses sur les critères de conception des interfaces à changement de forme pour les utilisateurs finaux, en particulier pour ceux qui utilisent des interfaces de contrôle des paramètres. Les interfaces de contrôle des paramètres sont souvent conçues sur la base d’exemples existants tels que des cadrans et des curseurs, et peu d’études ont été menées pour comprendre les besoins des utilisateurs derrière leur utilisation. D’autre part, il existe des taxonomies d’interfaces à changement de forme qui permettent aux concepteurs d’explorer systématiquement les idées de conception d’interfaces à changement de forme, mais elles ne sont guère évaluées. Dans cette thèse, je discute de mon travail de doctorat qui étudie les deux domaines de l’IHM : les interfaces de contrôle des paramètres et les interfaces à changement de forme. Je mène d’abord une étude formative pour suggérer des exigences de conception pour les interfaces de contrôle des paramètres en fonction de la pratique actuelle des utilisa- teurs. Ensuite, j’affine une taxonomie d’interface à changement de forme en évaluant son pouvoir descriptif à l’aide d’objets quotidiens reconfigurables. Enfin, j’étudie l’intersection des interfaces de contrôle des paramètres et des interfaces à changement de forme. Je développe deux études de cas : KnobSlider, une interface à changement de forme qui peut être un bouton ou un curseur, et ExpanDial, une commande de rotation qui étend la modalité d’interaction par des changements de forme.

Sliders are one of the most used widgets to control continuous parameters - e.g., brightness, sound volume, the temperature of a smart house, etc. On mobile phones, sliders are represented graphically, requiring the user's visual attention. They are mostly operated with a single thumb. While large sliders offer better performance, they present areas difficult for the thumb to reach. This article explores different tangible slider designs to offer eyes-free and efficient interaction with the thumb. The novel designs that we explored are based on a design space encompassing graphical solutions and the unexplored tangible solutions. To evaluate our designs, we built prototypes and experimentally tested them in three experiments. In our first experiment, we analyzed the impact on the performance of the tangible slider's length: either within the thumb's comfortable area or not. In our second experiment, we analyzed the performance of an extensible tangible design that allows operation within the comfortable area of the thumb. In our third experiment, we analyzed the performance of a bi-modal deformable tangible design that allows operation within the comfortable area of the thumb, and beyond this area, with the index finger on the back of the device. This work contributes to the literature by: first, providing a design space for one-handed interaction with deformable tangible elements. Second, analyzing the impact on performance when manipulating tangible sliders outside the thumb's comfortable area. And third, analyzing the impact that deformation has during manipulation.; Les curseurs sont l'un des widgets les plus utilisés pour contrôler les paramètres continus - par exemple, luminosité, volume sonore, température d'une maison intelligente, etc. Sur les téléphones mobiles, les curseurs sont représentés graphiquement, nécessitant l'attention visuelle de l'utilisateur. Ils sont principalement exploités avec un seul pouce. Alors que les curseurs de grande taille offrent de meilleures performances, ils présentent des zones difficiles à atteindre pour le pouce. Cet article explore différentes conceptions de curseurs tangibles pour offrir une interaction sans yeux et efficace avec le pouce. Les nouveaux concepts que nous avons explorés sont basés sur un espace de conception englobant des solutions graphiques et des solutions tangibles inexplorées. Pour évaluer nos conceptions, nous avons construit des prototypes et les avons testés expérimentalement dans trois expériences. Dans notre première expérience, nous avons analysé l'impact sur la performance de la longueur du curseur tangible: soit dans la zone confortable du pouce ou non. Dans notre deuxième expérience, nous avons analysé la performance d'un design tangible extensible qui permet un fonctionnement dans la zone confortable du pouce. Dans notre troisième expérience, nous avons analysé la performance d'un design tangible bimodal déformable qui permet un fonctionnement dans la zone confortable du pouce, et au-delà de cette zone, avec l'index sur le dos de l'appareil. Ce travail contribue à la littérature en: premièrement, en fournissant un espace de conception pour une interaction à une main avec des éléments tangibles déformables. Deuxièmement, analyser l'impact sur la performance lors de la manipulation de curseurs tangibles en dehors de la zone confortable du pouce. Et troisièmement, analyser l'impact de la déformation lors de la manipulation

We explore interaction with augmented physical objects within physical environments. Augmented physical objects allow new ways of interaction, including distant interaction. However, the physical world has specificities making difficult the adaptation of interaction techniques already existing in virtual environments. These specificities need to be identified in order to design efficient and enjoyable interaction techniques dedicated to augmented physical environments. In our work, we split up distant interaction into two complementary stages: the selection and the control of augmented physical objects. For each of these stages, our contribution is two-fold. These contributions are both theoretical, with the establishment of design spaces, and practical, with the design, the implementation and the experimental evaluation of interaction techniques:- For the selection stage, we study the disambiguation potentially needed after a distal pointing gesture using a volume selection such as an infrared remote controller. Indeed, although the volume selection can facilitate the aiming action, several objects can fall into the selected volume. Thus, users should disambiguate this coarse pointing selection. We define and use a design space in order to design and experimentally evaluate two disambiguation techniques that maintain the user's focus on the physical objects.- For the control stage, we study the guidance of 3D hand gestures in order to trigger commands at a distance. Such guidance is essential in order to reveal available commands and the associated gestures. We define a design space capturing specificities of a wide range of guiding systems. We also provide an online tool, easing the use of such a large design space. We then explore the impact of several design options on the quality of 3D gestures guidance.; Nous nous intéressons à l'interaction dans le contexte d'environnements physiques augmentés, plus précisément avec les objets physiques qui les composent. Bien que l'augmentation de ces objets offre de nouvelles possibilités d'interaction, notamment celle d'interagir à distance, le monde physique possède des caractéristiques propres rendant difficile l'adaptation de techniques d'interaction existantes en environnements virtuels. Il convient alors d'identifier ces caractéristiques afin de concevoir des techniques d'interaction à la fois efficaces et plaisantes dédiées à ces environnements physiques augmentés. Dans nos travaux, nous décomposons cette interaction à distance avec des objets physiques augmentés en deux étapes complémentaires : la sélection et le contrôle. Nous apportons deux contributions à chacun de ces champs de recherche. Ces contributions sont à la fois conceptuelles, avec la création d'espaces de conception, et pratiques, avec la conception, la réalisation logicielle et l'évaluation expérimentale de techniques d'interaction :- Pour l'étape de sélection, nous explorons la désambiguïsation potentielle après un geste de pointage à distance définissant un volume de sélection comme avec une télécommande infrarouge par exemple. En effet, bien que ce type de pointage sollicite moins de précision de la part de l'utilisateur, il peut néanmoins impliquer la sélection de plusieurs objets dans le volume de sélection et donc nécessiter une phase de désambiguïsation. Nous définissons et utilisons un espace de conception afin de concevoir et évaluer expérimentalement deux techniques de désambiguïsation visant à maintenir l'attention visuelle de l'utilisateur sur les objets physiques.- Pour l'étape de contrôle, nous explorons le guidage de gestes 3D lors d'une interaction gestuelle afin de spécifier des commandes à distance. Ce guidage est nécessaire afin d'indiquer à l'utilisateur les commandes disponibles ainsi que les gestes associés. Nous définissons un espace de conception capturant les caractéristiques comportementales d'un large ensemble de guides ainsi qu'un outil en ligne facilitant son utilisation. Nous explorons ensuite plusieurs options de conception afin d'étudier expérimentalement leurs impacts sur la qualité du guidage de gestes 3D.