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Due to their customizability, touchscreens continue to advance as a device of choice when designing aircraft cockpits. Previous studies investigated the effect of turbulence on human performance when using touchscreens, but few have evaluated its performance for realistic aviation-specific tasks. In this study, we compared four touchscreen widgets and three mechanical devices during realistic data input on a primary flight display (PFD). Twenty participants took part in the experiment at a constant level of vibration, while simultaneously completing a secondary tracking task. Results indicated that virtual keypads lead to faster completion time for medium to large changes while keeping error rates low. Rotary knobs were fastest for small changes. Virtual keypads also had lower workload and discomfort compared to rotary knobs and drag-based widgets. We found the completion time to be the most important factor in tracking task performance, which translated in higher precision for keypads. These findings suggest that virtual keypads represent an efficient and secure option for numerical data input at low-to-medium vibration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface Dial is a mass production PC accessory implementing a tangible interface for on‐and off‐screen interactions. It enables a dual‐handed interaction model in content creation tasks like drawing, video editing, presentation and data visualization. We delve into design considerations, including development of a capacitive approach for on‐screen detection and tracking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human beings play an important role in a smart manufacturing economy. In this study, we explored the effects of age, task load, task complexity, and input device on abnormal event detection performance in an oil refinery control room task. Thirty participants were recruited to complete a process plant monitoring task in which they were asked to continuously monitor the gauge states, and immediately detect and solve the abnormal events. Participants' accuracy in detecting abnormal states was recorded and analysed during the task. We found that the complexity factor affected accuracy significantly, and younger adults had significantly higher accuracy than older adults in high task load trials. No significant effect was found for the input device factor. These findings suggest that age, task load, and task complexity should be taken into consideration when designing tools to improve older operators' performance. Practitioner summary: The smart manufacturing economy elicits higher requirements for older operators in oil refinery monitoring tasks. Under high task load, older adults had lower accuracy in detecting abnormal conditions than younger adults. The task complexity affected participants' accuracy in detecting abnormal states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) environments require user interaction concepts beyond the traditional mouse-and-keyboard setup for seated desktop computer usage. Although advanced input modalities such as hand or gaze tracking have been developed, they have yet to be widely adopted in available hardware. Modern smartwatches have been shown to provide a powerful and intuitive means of input, thereby overcoming the limitation of the current AR/VR headsets. They typically offer a set of interesting input modalities, such as a touchscreen, rotary buttons, and an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), which can be used for mid-air gesture recognition. Compared to other input devices, they have the benefit that they are hands-free as soon as the user stops interacting since they are attached to the wrist. As many concepts have been proposed, comparative evaluations of their effectiveness and user-friendliness are still rare. In this paper, we evaluate the usability of two commonly found approaches for using a smartwatch as an interaction device, specifically in immersive environments provided by AR/VR HMDs: using the physical inputs of the watch (touchscreen, rotary buttons) or mid-air gestures. We conducted a user study with 20 participants, where they tested both of the interaction methods, and we compared them in their usability and performance. Based on a prototypical AR application, we evaluated the performance and user experience of these two smartwatch-based interaction concepts. We have found that the input using a touchscreen and buttons was generally favored by the participants and led to shorter task completion times. [Display omitted] • We assessed smartwatch interaction: buttons, touchscreens, and gestures for AR/VR. • We implemented AR app with common concepts, ran a user study (20 participants). • Users preferred touchscreens over gestures; they're faster and less taxing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pointing and dragging are fundamental actions by input devices when interacting with computer graphical user interfaces (GUIs). Cockpits on modern vehicles have been increasingly equipped with GUIs, enabling pointing and dragging tasks to be frequently performed under vibration conditions. However, factors influencing these fundamental actions under vibration conditions have not been fully explored. This study aimed to explore the effects of vibration, input devices, and target size on the performance and perceived workload in basic human–computer interaction tasks. Twenty‐seven participants completed an experiment where they were required to conduct two pointing tasks and one dragging‐and‐dropping task using four input devices (mouse, touchscreen, trackball, and remote hand‐controller) under static and three vibration conditions (lateral, fore‐and‐aft, and omnidirectional vibration) with two target sizes (small and large). The results indicated that vibration caused longer task completion time, higher error rates, and more workload in completing pointing and dragging tasks. Both target size and input device affected task performance in vibration environments. Highest workload was perceived when using remote hand‐controller, followed by trackballs under all vibration conditions; there was no significant difference between mouse and touchscreen, except in terms of physical demand. The findings suggest that practitioners should fully consider the joint effects of input device, target size, and vibration to counteract adverse influence of vibration and optimize user interface designs of human‐computer systems in vibration environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to systems for robot-assisted surgery is limited due to high costs. To enable widespread use, numerous issues have to be addressed to improve and/or simplify their components. Current systems commonly use universal linkage-based input devices, and only a few applicationoriented and specialized designs are used. A versatile virtual reality controller is proposed as an alternative input device for the control of a seven degree of freedom articulated robotic arm. The real-time capabilities of the setup, replicating a system for robot-assisted teleoperated surgery, are investigated to assess suitability. Image-based assessment showed a considerable system latency of 81.7 ± 27.7 ms. However, due to its versatility, the virtual reality controller is a promising alternative to current input devices for research around medical telemanipulation systems.

Background: The midline is an imaginary line that isolates the left and right parts of the body. Crossing the midline infers that a body part (eg, hand or foot) can spontaneously move over to the opposite side of the body to perform an action. A child who has difficulty crossing the midline can physically perform actions that cross the center of the body; however, they do not intuitively cross the midline when challenged with a task that requires this movement, as their perceptual components prevent them from engaging on the contralateral side. This requires treatment from an occupational therapist. Owing to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, access to therapeutic sessions was not possible or reduced, putting the responsibility for treatment on caretakers at home. Caretakers do not have the knowledge and skills to provide treatment, and occupational therapists do not receive adequate feedback from caretakers on the child's progress. Objective: The first objective is to adapt a simple serious game, or applied game, into a telehealth solution. Children will play the game at home under the supervision of a caretaker, and the results will be stored on the web. Occupational therapists can monitor progress via a web-based dashboard, receive additional valuable feedback about the child's behavior during treatment, and easily adapt the game to target specific needs. The second objective is to evaluate whether the implemented telehealth solution is feasible as a treatment option for midline crossing difficulties and thus fit for purpose. Methods: To meet the first objective, engineering and game development stakeholders formed a team with an occupational therapist, and through a collaborative design process combined with an agile programming approach, a telehealth solution was designed to assist remote monitoring of the serious gameplay. For the second objective, 6 different occupational therapists were introduced to the game, had the opportunity to play the game, and then provided feedback regarding the feasibility, benefits, and applicability of the system during structured interviews. Results: A telehealth system was designed aimed to address this problem. All results are saved on the web and accessed by occupational therapists via a dashboard. In addition, observed behavioral information is also saved. During the interviews, occupational therapists indicated that the dashboard would support their treatment plan and was indeed a feasible solution. Conclusions: The feedback from the occupational therapists for this telehealth solution suggests a feasible method to treat midline crossing problems remotely. The therapists commented on the convenience of integrating both assessment and treatment into the same application, as it assists them when grading a child. The therapists collectively agreed that the quantitative aspect the serious game creates by providing measurable and standardized data proves advantageous when compared with traditional methods of assessment and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the remote sensoring device for controlling the avatar in the virtual reality (VR) game which is being worn by the head-mounted display (HMD) was investigated. This remote sensoring device, which people use while sitting on a swivel chair, minimizes sensor attachment, and removes parameters for pelvic rotation angle in standing position. The rotating chair, which also functions as the center-weighted stationary belt of the conventional treadmill-type input device, has the advantage that the head trekking function mounted on the HMD can be utilized freely and the balance feeling of the user can be stabilized in a sitting position on the chair. In this posture, the sensoring input device was developed using Bluetooth wireless communication to freely turn and walk. Using the data from the inertial measurement device, which was a combination of the speedometer and the accelerometer, a sensoring input device for recognizing the user's leg motion was created. The running speed of the recognized leg was designed to be close to the average walking speed and the running speed of the person, so that the running and walking in the game can be separated and implemented. The motion velocity of the leg would be calculated through each speedometer measurement, the value would be integrated, and the error would be corrected by the Kalman filter to obtain the user's knee angle. In other words, applying a Kalman filter to data obtained from sensors, such as accelerometers, angular speedometers, and geomagnetic sensor can determine the direction of motion of the legs. This integrated system is called the attitude and heading references system. The knee joint angle and the value of the pressure sensor were used as threshold values to determine the state of the leg when walking, and the angular velocity derived from the movement of the leg was used to determine the moving speed of the avatar in the VR game. The recognition rate was calculated by comparing the number of times the user attempts to move the avatar by moving the avatar and the number of times the avatar of the game was moved, and the distance of the avatar was measured to evaluate the performance of the proposed system.

LIRKIS CAVE is a unique immersive virtual reality installation with a compact cylinder-based construction and a high-quality stereoscopic video output rendered on twenty 55” Full HD LCD panels. While the video output of the CAVE provides a high level of immersion to a virtual world, its original implementation of peripherals support had a negative impact because of a limited number of supported devices and certain performance issues. In this paper we describe a new, distributed, peripheral devices support implementation for the LIRKIS CAVE, which solves the performance issues and allows for ease of integration of new input devices into the CAVE. We also present a successful integration of a special input device, the Myo armband,which allows a natural and unobtrusive gesture-based control of virtual environments. The integration includes a newly developed control and monitoring application for the Myo, called MLCCS, which utilization is not limited to CAVE systems or virtual reality applications.

Abstract Interacting with digital contents in 3D is an essential task in various applications such as modeling packages, gaming, virtual reality, etc. Traditional interfaces using keyboard and mouse or trackball usually require a non-trivial amount of working space as well as a learning process. We present the design of EZ-Manipulator, a new 3D manipulation interface using smartphones that supports mobile, fast, and ambiguity-free interaction with 3D objects. Our system leverages the built-in multi-touch input and gyroscope sensor of smartphones to achieve 9 degrees-of-freedom axis-constrained manipulation and free-form rotation. Using EZ-Manipulator to manipulate objects in 3D is easy. The user merely has to perform intuitive singleor two-finger gestures and rotate the hand-held device to perform manipulations at fine-grained and coarse levels respectively.We further investigate the ambiguity in manipulation introduced by indirect manipulations using a multi-touch interface, and propose a dynamic virtual camera adjustment to effectively resolve the ambiguity. A preliminary study shows that our system has significant lower task completion time compared to conventional use of a keyboard–mouse interface, and provides a positive user experience to both novices and experts.

Physicians require an adequate display system with a console within arm's reach to view images during surgical operations and interventional radiological examinations. However, manipulation of the console by physicians themselves may not be possible because their hands may be otherwise engaged. In this study, an image manipulation system using an electroencephalogram (EEG) sensor mounted on the operator's head was developed. In this system, data acquired by the device is used to manipulate images, and the output can be converted to commands for various actions such as paging, which can be controlled by the operator's eye-blink, and zooming of a region indicated by the cursor, which can be controlled by the operator's mental concentration. In this study, the MindWave Mobile headset was used as EEG sensor, and AZEWIN for the display system. Ten observers were enrolled and fitted with EEG device to determine the threshold values of blink strength and attention; threshold value of 100 for blink strength and 65 for attention were determined. Thirty-one observers were enrolled and fitted with EEG device to investigate average response-time; the average response time for detecting paging was 0.43 ± 0.02 s, and that for zooming was 5.85 ± 0.56 s. Thus, the proposed image manipulation system using the operator's EEG signals enabled physicians to assess and manipulate images without using their hands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]