Household Surface Interactions: Understanding User Input Preferences and Perceived Home Experiences

Abstract

Households contain a variety of surfaces that are used in a number of activity contexts. As ambient technology becomes commonplace in our homes, it is only a matter of time before these surfaces become linked to computer systems for Household Surface Interaction (HSI). However, little is known about the user experience attached to HSI, and the potential acceptance of HSI within modern homes. To address this problem, we ran a mixed methods user study with 39 participants to examine HSI using nine household surfaces and five common gestures (tap, press, swipe, drag, and pinch). We found that under the right conditions, surfaces with some amount of texture can enhance HSI. Furthermore, perceived good and poor user experience varied among participants for surface type indicating individual preferences. We present findings and design considerations based on surface characteristics and the challenges that users perceive they may have with HSI within their homes.

Everyday automation experience: a research agenda

“…Insights into trust in automated demand-side management [21], novel interaction forms [68], end-user programming for smart home configuration [52], long-term user experience of automated ambient technology [23], and privacy aspects [75] Active and assisted living Many solutions for social robots and assistive functions have been introduced and investigated, but roll out on a large scale is pending Long-term acceptance aspects [13], individual differences in trust [61], human-robot interaction [37], and contextual design of digital assistants [2] approaches should feed into further instances of the above introduced preliminary design space that could help shape everyday automation experience into something desirable for the future.…”