Move, Hold and Touch: A Framework for Tangible Gesture Interactive Systems

Leonardo Angelini,Omar Khaled,Elena Mugellini,Elise Hoven,Denis Lalanne

doi:10.3390/machines3030173

Abstract

Technology is spreading in our everyday world, and digital interaction beyond the screen, with real objects, allows taking advantage of our natural manipulative and communicative skills. Tangible gesture interaction takes advantage of these skills by bridging two popular domains in Human-Computer Interaction, tangible interaction and gestural interaction. In this paper, we present the Tangible Gesture Interaction Framework (TGIF) for classifying and guiding works in this field. We propose a classification of gestures according to three relationships with objects: move, hold and touch. Following this classification, we analyzed previous work in the literature to obtain guidelines and common practices for designing and building new tangible gesture interactive systems. We describe four interactive systems as application examples of the TGIF guidelines and we discuss the descriptive, evaluative and generative power of TGIF.

Highlights

Since Weiser’s vision of ubiquitous computing [1], many branches of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) have tried to obtain a seamless and digitally augmented interaction with the physical world.Jacob et al.,formalized the transition from the Windows Icon Mouse Pointer (WIMP) paradigm to the post-WIMP era with the Reality Based Interaction, which takes advantage of human natural skills to interact in the real world [2]
We present the Tangible Gesture Interaction Framework (TGIF), which aims at helping during the creation of new tangible gesture interactive systems, covering three fundamental aspects: abstracting, designing and building [11]
Gesturing with objects is rooted in HCI history since the birth of tangible interaction

Summary

Introduction

Jacob et al.,formalized the transition from the Windows Icon Mouse Pointer (WIMP) paradigm to the post-WIMP era with the Reality Based Interaction, which takes advantage of human natural skills to interact in the real world [2]. In this scenario, the user needs to communicate with the system (or other users) in some manner. In 1980, Bolt used gestures and speech as a natural modality to interact with the system [3]. While speech interaction diffusion has been limited by its low social acceptance [4], gestures thrived in several application domains. Since the origins of tangible interaction, many researchers considered gestures as a communication mean in Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs)

Objectives

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion