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Flick Typing: A New VR Text Input System Based on Space Gestures

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Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality: Design and Development (HCII 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 13317))

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Abstract

Text Entry is a significant topic in human-computer interaction in Virtual Reality. Most common text entry methods require users to interact with a 2D QWERTY keyboard in 3D space using a ray emitting from their hands or controllers. This requires the user’s head and hands to be in a specific position and orientation to do text entry. We propose a new text entry input method that we call Flick Typing that is agnostic to user posture or keyboard position. Flick Typing utilizes the user’s knowledge of a QWERTY keyboard layout, but does not explicitly provide visualization of the keys. To type with Flick Typing, users will move their controller to where they think the target QWERTY key is with respect to the controller’s starting position and orientation, often with a simple flick of their wrists. We provide a manually defined gesture-key mapping model of the QWERTY keys in 3D space. Experiments containing both quantitative and qualitative measurements are conducted and discussed this paper, which shows the potential of our method.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA

    Tian Yang, Powen Yao & Michael Zyda

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  1. Tian Yang
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  2. Powen Yao
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  3. Michael Zyda
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Correspondence to Tian Yang .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, USA

    Jessie Y. C. Chen

  2. U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, Orlando, FL, USA

    Gino Fragomeni

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Yang, T., Yao, P., Zyda, M. (2022). Flick Typing: A New VR Text Input System Based on Space Gestures. In: Chen, J.Y.C., Fragomeni, G. (eds) Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality: Design and Development. HCII 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13317. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05939-1_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05939-1_26

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-05938-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-05939-1

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