Florian Müller

PalmRC: imaginary palm-based remote control for eyes-free television interaction

User input on television (TV) typically requires a mediator device, such as a handheld remote control. While being a well-established interaction paradigm, a handheld device has serious drawbacks: it can be easily misplaced due to its mobility and in case of a touch screen interface, it also requires additional visual attention. Emerging interaction paradigms like 3D mid-air gestures using novel depth sensors, such as Microsofts Kinect, aim at overcoming these limitations, but are known to be e.g. tiring. In this paper, we propose to leverage the palm as an interactive surface for TV remote control. Our contribution is three-fold: (1) we explore the conceptual design space in an exploratory study. (2) Based upon these results, we investigate the effectiveness and accuracy of such an interface in a controlled experiment. And (3), we contribute PalmRC: an eyes-free, palm-surface-based TV remote control, which in turn is evaluated in an early user feedback session. Our results show that the palm has the potential to be leveraged for device-less and eyes-free TV remote interaction without any third-party mediator device.

Liquido: Embedding Liquids into 3D Printed Objects to Sense Tilting and Motion

Tilting and motion are widely used as interaction modalities in smart objects such as wearables and smart phones (e.g., to detect posture or shaking). They are often sensed with accelerometers. In this paper, we propose to embed liquids into 3D printed objects while printing to sense various tilting and motion interactions via capacitive sensing. This method reduces the assembly effort after printing and is a low-cost and easy-to-apply way of extending the input capabilities of 3D printed objects. We contribute two liquid sensing patterns and a practical printing process using a standard dual-extrusion 3D printer and commercially available materials. We validate the method by a series of evaluations and provide a set of interactive example applications.

A Study on Proximity-based Hand Input for One-handed Mobile Interaction

On-body user interfaces utilize the humans skin for both sensing input and displaying graphical output. In this paper, we present how the degree of freedom offered by the elbow joint, i.e., flexion and extension, can be leveraged to extend the input space of projective user interfaces. The user can move his hand towards or away from himself to browse through a multi-layer information space. We conducted a controlled experiment to investigate how accurately and efficiently users can interact in the space. The results revealed that the accuracy and efficiency of proximity-based interactions mainly depend on the traveling distance to the target layer while neither the hand side nor the direction of interaction have a significant influence. Based on our findings, we propose guidelines for designing on-body user interfaces.

BYO*: Utilizing 3D Printed Tangible Tools for Interaction on Interactive Surfaces

Sharing and manipulating information are essential for collaborative work in meeting scenarios. Nowadays, people tend to bring their own devices as a result of increasing mobility possibilities. However, transferring data from one device to another can be cumbersome and tedious if restrictions like different platforms, form factors or environmental limitations apply. In this paper, we present two concepts to enrich interaction on and between devices through 3D printed customized tangibles: 1) Bring your own information, and 2) bring your own tools. For this, we enable interactivity for low-cost and passive tangible 3D printed objects by adding conductive material and make use of touch-enabled surfaces. Our system allows users to easily share digital contents across various devices and to manipulate them with individually designed tools without additional hardware required.

Palm-based Interaction with Head-mounted Displays

Head-mounted displays (HMDs) are an emerging class of wearable devices that allow users to access and alter information right in front of their eyes. However, due to their size and shape, traditional input modalities (e.g., multi-touch sensing on the device) are not practical. In this position paper, we argue that palm-based interactions have a great potential to ease the interaction with HMDs. We outline two interaction concepts and present directions for future research that can lead to more enjoyable and usable interfaces for HMDs.

ProxiWatch: Enhancing Smartwatch Interaction through Proximity-based Hand Input

Smartwatches allow ubiquitous and mobile interaction with digital contents. Because of the small screen sizes, traditional interaction techniques are often not applicable. In this work, we show how the degree of freedom offered by the elbow joint, i.e., flexion and extension, can be leveraged as an additional one-handed input modality for smartwatches. By moving the watch towards or away from the body, the user is able to provide input to the smartwatch without a second hand. We present the results of a controlled experiment focusing on the human capabilities for proximity-based interaction. Based on the results, we propose guidelines for designing proximity-based smartwatch interfaces and present ProxiWatch: a one-handed and proximity-based input modality for smartwatches alongside a prototypical implementation.

FreeTop: Finding Free Spots for Projective Augmentation

Augmenting the physical world using projection technologies or head-worn displays becomes increasingly popular in research and commercial applications. However, a common problem is interference between the physical surfaces texture and the projection. In this paper, we present FreeTop, a combined approach to finding areas suitable for projection, which considers multiple aspects influencing projection quality, like visual texture and physical surface structure. FreeTop can be used in stationary and mobile settings for locating free areas in arbitrary physical settings suitable for projective augmentation and touch interaction.

Leveraging the palm surface as an eyes-free tv remote control

User input on television typically requires a mediator device such as a handheld remote control. While being a well-established interaction paradigm, a handheld device has serious drawbacks: it can be easily misplaced due to its mobility and in case of a touch screen interface, it also requires additional visual attention. Emerging interaction paradigms like 3D mid-air gestures using novel depth sensors such as Microsofts Kinect aim at overcoming these limitations, but are known for instance to be tiring. In this paper, we propose to leverage the palm as an interactive surface for TV remote control. Our contribution is two-fold: (1) we have explored the conceptual design space in an exploratory study. (2) Based upon these results, we investigated the accuracy and effectiveness of such an interface in a controlled experiment. Our results show that the palm has the potential to be leveraged for device-less and eyes-free TV interactions without any third-party mediator device.

TactileGlove: Assistive Spatial Guidance in 3D Space through Vibrotactile Navigation

With the recent advance in computing technology, more and more environments are becoming interactive. For interacting with these environments, traditionally 2D input and output elements are being used. However, recently interaction spaces also expanded to 3D space, which enabled new possibilities but also led to challenges in assisting users with interacting in such a 3D space. Usually, this challenge of communicating 3D positions is solved visually. This paper explores a different approach: spatial guidance through vibrotactile instructions. Therefore, we introduce TactileGlove, a smart glove equipped with vibrotactile actuators for providing spatial guidance in 3D space. We contribute a user study with 15 participants to explore how a different number of actuators and metaphors affect the user performance. As a result, we found that using a Pull metaphor for vibrotactile navigation instructions is preferred by our participants. Further, we found that using a higher number of actuators reduces the target acquisition time than when using a low number.

Cloudbits: supporting conversations through augmented zero-query search visualization

The retrieval of additional information from public (e.g., map data) or private (e.g., e-mail) information sources using personal smart devices is a common habit in todays co-located conversations. This behavior of users imposes challenges in two main areas: 1) cognitive focus switching and 2) information sharing. In this paper, we explore a novel approach for conversation support through augmented information bits, allowing users to see and access information right in front of their eyes. To that end, we investigate the requirements for the design of a user interface to support conversations through proactive information retrieval in an exploratory study. Based on the results, we 2) present CloudBits: A set of visualization and interaction techniques to provide mutual awareness and enhance coupling in conversations through augmented zero-query search visualization along with its prototype implementation. Finally, we 3) report the findings of a qualitative evaluation and conclude with guidelines for the design of user interfaces for conversation support.