Proxemic Cursor Interactions for Touchless Widget Control

Waugh, K., McGill, M. and Freeman, E. (2023) Proxemic Cursor Interactions for Touchless Widget Control. In: SUI '23: ACM Symposium on Spatial User Interaction Sydney NSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 13-15 Oct 2023, ISBN 9798400702815 (doi: 10.1145/3607822.3614525)

Abstract

Touchless gesture interfaces often use cursor-based interactions, where widgets are targeted by a movable cursor and activated with a mid-air gesture (e.g., push or Pinch). Continuous interactions like slider manipulation can be challenging in mid-air because users need to precisely target widgets and then maintain an ‘activated’ state whilst moving the cursor. We investigated proxemic cursor interactions as a novel alternative, where cursor proximity allows users to acquire and keep control of user interface widgets without precisely targeting them. Users took advantage of proxemic targeting, though gravitated towards widgets when negotiating the boundaries between multiple elements. This allowed users to gain control more quickly than with non-proxemic behaviour, and made it easier to move between user interface elements. We find that proxemic cursor interactions can improve the usability of touchless user interfaces, especially for slider interactions, paving the way to more comfortable and efficient use of touchless displays.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Keywords: Mid-air gestures, pinch gestures, proxemics, touchless interaction, touchless widgets.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Waugh, Mr Kieran and Freeman, Dr Euan and McGill, Dr Mark
• Authors: Waugh, K., McGill, M., and Freeman, E.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
• ISBN: 9798400702815
• Published Online: 13 October 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 held by the owner/author(s)
• First Published: First published in SUI '23: Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Symposium on Spatial User Interaction
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy