DigiTouch

Abstract

Input is a significant problem for wearable systems, particularly for head mounted virtual and augmented reality displays. Existing input techniques either lack expressive power or may not be socially acceptable. As an alternative, thumb-to-finger touches present a promising input mechanism that is subtle yet capable of complex interactions. We present DigiTouch, a reconfigurable glove-based input device that enables thumb-to-finger touch interaction by sensing continuous touch position and pressure. Our novel sensing technique improves the reliability of continuous touch tracking and estimating pressure on resistive fabric interfaces. We demonstrate DigiTouch’s utility by enabling a set of easily reachable and reconfigurable widgets such as buttons and sliders. Since DigiTouch senses continuous touch position, widget layouts can be customized according to user preferences and application needs. As an example of a real-world application of this reconfigurable input device, we examine a split-QWERTY keyboard layout mapped to the user’s fingers. We evaluate DigiTouch for text entry using a multi-session study. With our continuous sensing method, users reliably learned to type and achieved a mean typing speed of 16.0 words per minute at the end of ten 20-minute sessions, an improvement over similar wearable touch systems.

User Interactions for Augmented Reality Smart Glasses: A Comparative Evaluation of Visual Contexts and Interaction Gestures

“…In other research works, touch-based interaction has been widely used in various smart and mobile devices [31][32][33][34][35][36]. Ahn et al [33] proposed using a smartwatch as an indirect input device to make an effective smart glasses interaction method for tasks, such as text entry.…”

“…Ahn et al [33] proposed using a smartwatch as an indirect input device to make an effective smart glasses interaction method for tasks, such as text entry. Whitmire et al [34] proposed DigiTouch, which is a touch-sensitive glove that enables thumb-to-finger interaction for eyes-free input on wearable systems. DigiTouch uses thin, partially conductive fabric strips along with the fingers and a conductive patch on the thumb pad.…”

Text Input in Virtual Reality: A Preliminary Evaluation of the Drum-Like VR Keyboard

“…Glove-based and controller-based interfaces have been examined. Whitmire et al [22] presented and evaluated DigiTouch, a reconfigurable glove-based input device that enables thumb-to-finger touch interaction by sensing continuous touch position and pressure. In a series of ten sessions with ten participants, DigiTouch achieved 16 WPM (total error rate: 16.65) at the last session.…”

RotoSwype

“…Among finger-wearables, there has been recent work on glove-typing [5,73,76] wherein the hand's four fingers are instrumented with touch sensors and letters or letter groups are assigned to different finger areas which are tapped by the thumb of the same hand. The best performance was recorded by DigiTouch [73] with 16 WPM after 200mins of practice. WrisText [20] detects joystick-like wrist motion using a wide array of infrared and piezo sensors on the wrist to move a cursor on a circular keyboard on a smartwatch.…”