Browsing by Author "Ivkovic, Z."

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    Improving Digital Handoff Using the Space Above the Table
    (ACM, 2013) Sutcliffe, S. W. T.; Ivkovic, Z.; Flatla, D. R.; Pavlovych, A.; Stavness, I.; Gutwin, C.
    Object handoff - that is, passing an object or tool to another person - is an extremely common activity in collaborative tabletop work. On digital tables, object handoff is typically accomplished by sliding them on the table surface - but surface-only interactions can be slow and error-prone, particularly when there are multiple people carrying out multiple handoffs. An alternative approach is to use the space above the table for object handoff; this provides more room to move, but requires above-surface tracking. We have developed two above-the-surface handoff techniques that use simple and inexpensive tracking: a force-field technique that uses a depth camera to determine hand proximity, and an electromagnetic-field technique called ElectroTouch that provides positive indication when people touch hands over the table. We compared the new techniques to three kinds of surface-only handoff (sliding, flicking, and surface-only Force-Fields). The study showed that the above-surface techniques significantly improved both speed and accuracy, and that ElectroTouch was the best technique overall. This work provides designers with practical new techniques for substantially increasing performance and interaction richness on digital tables.
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    KinectArms: a Toolkit for Capturing and Displaying Arm Embodiments in Distributed Tabletop Groupware.
    (ACM, 2013) Genest, A. M.; Gutwin, C.; Tang, A.; Kalyn, M.; Ivkovic, Z.
    Gestures are a ubiquitous part of human communication over tables, but when tables are distributed, gestures become difficult to capture and represent. There are several problems: extracting arm images from video, representing the height of the gesture, and making the arm embodiment visible and understandable at the remote table. Current solutions to these problems are often expensive, complex to use, and difficult to set up. We have developed a new toolkit - KinectArms - that quickly and easily captures and displays arm embodiments. KinectArms uses a depth camera to segment the video and determine gesture height, and provides several visual effects for representing arms, showing gesture height, and enhancing visibility. KinectArms lets designers add rich arm embodiments to their systems without undue cost or development effort, greatly improving the expressiveness and usability of distributed tabletop groupware.