Armstrong: An Empirical Examination of Pointing at Non-Dominant Arm-Anchored UIs in Virtual Reality

PubDate: May 8, 2021

Teams: Chatham Labs & University of Toronto；Facebook Reality Labs

Writers: Zhen Li, Joannes Chan, Joshua Walton, Hrvoje Benko, Daniel Wigdor, Michael Glueck

PDF: Armstrong: An Empirical Examination of Pointing at Non-Dominant Arm-Anchored UIs in Virtual Reality

Abstract

In virtual reality (VR) environments, asymmetric bimanual interaction techniques can increase users’ input bandwidth by complementing their perceptual and motor systems (e.g., using the dominant hand to select 3D UI controls anchored around the nondominant arm). However, it is unclear how to optimize the layout of such 3D UI controls for near-body and mid-air interactions. We evaluate the performance and limitations of non-dominant armanchored 3D UIs in VR environments through a bimanual pointing study. Results demonstrated that targets appearing closer to the skin, located around the wrist, or placed on the medial side of the forearm could be selected more quickly than targets farther away from the skin, located around the elbow, or on the lateral side of the forearm. Based on these results, we developed Armstrong guidelines, demonstrated through a Unity plugin to enable designers to create performance-optimized arm-anchored 3D UI layouts.