Design of a multimodal pointing device with palm interaction

Abstract

In this thesis we present a novel pointing device that combines the interaction techniques of the traditional pointing device and our new interaction technique with human palm. Our goals may be summed up in the following three categories. The first goal is to enrich traditional pointing device interactions in general desktop environments using a new interaction technique, which is performed by our palm. Second one is to develop a device that it has an extensibility, and it can be applied various areas such as general desktop tasks, image manipulation, music and movie control and so on. The last thing is to enhance the user experience in desktop pointing device with a harmony of the first and the second goal. We present our first palm interaction designs and prototype implementation, which is developed using non high-tech such as using only some additional switches, and discuss some problems, which are discovered from a pilot user study. In addition, we present our second interaction designs and prototype of the palm interaction pointing device to solve the problems that we found in our first pilot user study. Furthermore, we introduce several applications those are focus on an improvement of the efficiency in general desktop tasks. With the results of our three user studies, we discuss the merits and affordances of our palm interaction pointing device. We especially explore the efficiency, usability, extensibility, and adaptation time of the user. Through theses analyzed result, we verify that our multimodal pointing device with palm interaction enhances the user experience in desktop environments.