A New Japanese Input Method for Virtual Reality Applications

Abstract

In recent years, virtual reality is becoming popular with the advent of PlayStation VR and mobile VR. However, due to the restrictions of the hardware, it is difficult to reproduce the same thing in the virtual space, as it is in the reality. One of the typical examples is the character input. It is extremely difficult to reproduce convenience and speed equivalent to traditional used input methods such as personal computer keyboard input or smartphone flick input, in the virtual space. Therefore, in this study, we aim to propose a new character input method, focusing on typing Japanese characters, which has an input speed at a certain level, is touch-typable, and requires no controller in a user’s hands. The proposed approach uses Leap Motion as an input device. By tracking the movements of the finger of a user, the user selects a pair of a consonant and a vowel with two bending and stretching movements, which makes a Japanese letter. From a preliminary experiment, our method achieved the input speed of 42.1 Characters per Minute. In addition, this paper discusses the duration of the practice needed to use this method.