TEXTile: Eyes-Free Text Input on Smart Glasses Using Touch Enabled Textile on the Forearm

Abstract

Smart glasses are autonomous and efficient computers that can perform complex tasks through mobile applications. This paper focuses on text input for mobile context. We present a new connected fabric to smart glasses as a device for text entry. This device, integrated into clothing, provides a new interaction technique called TEXTile. It allows typing without requiring users to hold a device. Users can put fingers anywhere on the fabric surface and release them, without needing to look at the fabric or using markers on the fabric. The text entry technique is based on eight combinations of fingers in contact or released, identified as pleasant among 15 in a survey involving 74 participants. A first user's study with 20 participants establishes that the eight combinations for TEXTile were significantly reliable (98.95% recognition rate). A second study with nine participants evaluates the learning curve of TEXTile. Users achieved a mean typing of 8.11 WPM at the end of ten 12-minute sessions, which can be slow, but sufficient with short text compared to other advantages of the technique. Results show low error rates for tasks completed and good usability (76% in SUS questionnaire). The NASA-TLX questionnaire establishes there is no important mental or physical workload to accomplish the task.

Applications of Smart Glasses in Applied Sciences: A Systematic Review

“…In the second stage, the subfields in which smart glasses were employed and the corresponding ratios were analyzed (Figure 6). The computer science field is developing HCI [18][19][20][21][22][23] as an interaction technology between humans and computers; object recognition [24,25], which is a technology that recognizes what the user sees, based on a camera; and visualization [8,26,27] to visually show data to users (Table 1). There are several research cases in the field of visualiza-tion.…”

Towards Augmented Reality Driven Human-City Interaction: Current Research on Mobile Headsets and Future Challenges

“…Second, keyboards on smart wristbands and smartwatches enable users to perform index finger-to-arm interaction on the touchscreen keyboards and makes character inputs on smartglasses [77]. Their modalities vary from wrist movement (9.90 WPM) [66], rotating the bezel areas of the smartwatches (12.25 WPM) [73], e-textile on forearm position (8.11 WPM) [148], as well as tapping on the touchscreens (10.6 [83] ś 11.73 [77]). An optimal layout can further push the speed limit to 19.24 WPM [67].…”

Emerging ExG-based NUI Inputs in Extended Realities: A Bottom-up Survey

“…Similarly, the location of touch-based inputs can proceed with some noticeable approaches, such as the spectacle frame of immersive reality headsets [220], handheld controller [223], as well as the surroundings of the headsets [129,133]. Recent works demonstrate more concealed operations for immersive reality in mobile environments, with on-body interaction [131], including but not limited to finger-to-forearm interaction [60], finger space interaction [132], and thumb-to-index finger interaction [218].…”