In this post, I will outline a project that I plan to pursue (in full or in part) for my final project in this semester’s Physical Computing class with Tom Igoe, and possibly for Introduction to Computational Media / Comm Lab: Networked Media with Daniel Shiffman. The idea involves two principal components: a glove-mounted input system and an immersive file/internet browsing experience.
It all began with an observation I made while riding the subway in the SF Bay Area. I saw a young woman using a stenographer’s keyboard on the subway, typing very quickly. I did not want to eavesdrop, so I could not determine what she was doing on the keyboard, but she was clearly producing a lot of output. Since then, I’ve been interested in the question of whether certain individuals who perform large amounts of typing on QWERTY keyboards could benefit from the use of stenographer’s (chorded) keyboards.
More recently, I had a long discussion with my classmate, Tigran Paravyan, about graphical user interfaces, and particularly the possibility of a three-dimensional interface. The interface, as we discussed it, would be for browsing the internet, but could work for browsing files on a personal computer as well. It would exist as a forest of trees, with each tree representing a browsing session that could be returned to at a later time.
Beneath each tree, on the ground, the current browsing session would be projected. The branches of the tree could contain ornaments with files or pages linked to from the current page, with progressively more remote files or pages on higher branches of the trees. The user’s browsing history would be displayed in similar structures in the roots of the trees. A user would be able to walk, climb, dig, or fly through the environment as necessary to view the desired files or pages.
The input device we discussed would be a glove with force-sensitive resistors (FSRs) in the finger tips. A user could touch her thumb to her index finger (or press her index finger on her leg, or on a table) to perform one of the four actions (walk, climb, dig, or fly), and her three other fingers (thumbs excluded) would be mapped to the three other actions. Speed of movement would be determined be the pressure a user applies to each pad. Turning could be accomplished by pressing the left hand’s pad(s) or right hand’s pad(s) independently, pressing both at the same time to move forward. Tilt sensors or accelerometers in the gloves could be mapped to other actions, such as zooming in on a particular file or page.
Alternatively, “walking” with one’s hands could translate to walking (like in the speculative video game in the movie Her—except with more tapping—see clip below), and one of the finger pads could be mapped to an auxiliary action.
NSFW LANGUAGE WARNING
Below are various notes and sketches I made in my notepad to outline this project. I plan to discuss it with Tom Igoe on Thursday and with Daniel Shiffman shortly thereafter.
Edit: Adding (low torque) servos and stiff metal plates would result in gloves that could “feel” virtual objects. Also, I purchased this pair of motorcycle gloves to begin working with.
Here are some drawings from my notebook:
