TapSix: A Palm-Worn Glove with a Low-Cost Camera Sensor that Turns a Tactile Surface into a Six-Key Chorded Keyboard by Detection Finger Taps

ABSTRACT

TapSix is a one-handed wearable keyboard that enables typing in situations where using a keyboard is not possible. It detects finger taps on six virtual keys on a tactile surface while users can type without paying visual attention to their fingers. Its unique palm-worn design provides the stable view of all five fingers for the low-cost camera sensor, even when there is unusual motion in the upper limb. The captured image is processed using the proposed algorithm that both robustly detects finger taps on keys using only geometric features and measures the distance between each finger and the tactile surface. A new letter-to-tap mapping that fully utilizes the six keys in light of learnability, anatomical comfort, and algorithm accuracy is also proposed. We demonstrate the utility of TapSix in a virtual reality environment and evaluate the algorithm’s accuracy, typing performance, and user acceptance by comparing it with three commercial virtual reality interfaces.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the reviewers for their constructive feedback. This research was supported by the MSIT (Ministry of Science and ICT), Korea, and ITRC (Information Technology Research Center) under Grant IITP-2017-1711054928 and the IITP (Institute for Information & Communications Technology Promotion) and MSIP under Grant 1711055097.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dongseok Yang

Dongseok Yang is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Applied Computer Engineering, Dankook University, and is a researcher at Wearable Thinking Center. He was a software engineer to develop HCI devices for rehabilitation in Neofect Inc. His interests include interaction with vision, image processing, and interaction devices.

Kanghee Lee

Kanghee Lee is an associate professor at the Global School of Media, Soongsil University. He received his Phd in Robotics, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in 2006. He was a robotics researcher at Samsung Electronics. His interests include robot technology for media, interaction design, and expert system.

Younggeun Choi

Younggeun Choi is an associate professor at the Department of Applied Computer Engineering, Dankook University and is a director of Wearable Thinking Center, a national IT research center. He received his PhD in Computer Science, from University of Southern California in 2010. His interests include wearable technology, and HCI.