Design of Hand Gestures for Manipulating Objects in Virtual Reality

Abstract

Virtual reality requires high levels of interaction with the user, a type of human computer interaction. Interactions that match the way humans usually interact with their surroundings should improve training effectiveness. A 3D hand gesture based interface allows users to control the position and orientation of 3D objects by simply moving their hands, thereby, creating a more naturalistic interaction process. The design of hand gestures should be evaluated to determine design features that are the most effective and comfortable for the user. The purpose of this study was to evaluate parameters for the design of 3D hand gestures for object manipulation in virtual reality to optimize productivity and usability. Twenty participants completed object manipulation tasks while wearing an Oculus Rift headset with a mounted Leap Motion depth sensor camera to capture hand gestures. Independent variables were distance from hand to object, hand posture threshold for grab and release, and grab locations on object. The dependent variables were time for task completion and subjective measures of control, fatigue, motion sickness, and preference. The preferred gesture design parameter was related to better control and reduced time to complete the tasks. In conclusion, this study identified important gesture design features that can be optimized to improve usability and throughput for an object manipulation task in Virtual Reality.