Summary:
Murayama et al. presented a two-handed computer control device that allowed the manipulation of on-screen objects. The system, called SPIDAR G&G, consisted of two balls suspended in two horseshoe apparatus with six strings each. The user moved these balls with six degrees of freedom, which translated onto a cursor or object on the computer. The strings also had pull and resisted movement through small motors. Each ball included a pressure button that detected grip.
The authors evaluated the system using a pointer and a target object. The users had to manipulate the pointer and object with both balls in order to accomplish a goal. Three people tested their system and found that the use of two SPIDAR balls, as opposed to one and a keyboard, allowed the users to manipulate the objects faster. Also, haptic feedback helped.
Discussion:
Although the system sounds interesting, I have a lot of issues with the evaluation. The authors used only three people familiar with VR interfaces, which is quite low. A greater concern is that the system was only tested against another form of itself. SPIDAR G&G was only compared against SPIDAR G + keyboard, when really SPIDAR G&G should have been compared to a mouse and keyboard interface, or a joystick and mouse, or two joysticks, or a roller ball, or any number of more common peripherals. As is stands, I have no basis to say that the suspended ball manipulation method is any better than traditional interfaces. The only definite conclusion is that two balls are better than one, and having the balls touch back is beneficial.
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2 comments:
The paper really was lacking in the evaluation part, especially on a device that was new for its time and also very unfamiliar. I do wonder if a reason for their incomplete results can be attributed to some assumption that some of that evaluation work was done in a prior paper discussing the usability of one SPIDAR-G. It's a shame though, because it seemed like a nice peripheral.
They claim that their system can be used in virtual prototyping, virtual scruptureing, free form modeling, medical simulation ....
However, it's really hard to imagine to use this early-stage system in this applications.
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