Poster: Evaluation of a smart tablet´s interface for 3D interaction

The present work highlights current developments and an ongoing experimental evaluation of how a tablet PC can effectively act as an interaction device for 3D manipulation tasks. More specifically, we focused on a 3D docking task. This collaborative project was conducted within the Visionair European project. The goal was to design a versatile interface that was independent of the targeted VR system (from 2D screens to CAVE-like systems). We investigated the usability of tactile (i.e. finger-controlled) tablets that are omnipresent in our daily life, assumed to have intuitive control characteristics and easily connected to a VR system (via WIFI connections). Participants´ performance was evaluated when using a tablet, as compared to a classical mouse interface. Results indicated comparable learning effects (with task repetition) for both devices, but a clear advantage of the tablet´s interface, as concerns the simultaneous use of multiple degrees of freedom of motion of the manipulated object.