Empirical Characterization of Natural Hand Motion in Pointing Tasks at Large Displays

Recently, large displays have become more prevalent, but the usability of 3D interaction with large displays still needs more attention. One way to improve the usability of 3D interaction is to investigate natural human behavior during 3D interactions and then to reflect that behavior in 3D interface design. 3D interaction with large displays is natural and intuitive, similar to how we work in the real world. Reflecting natural human behavior in 3D interfaces might improve the usability of interacting with large displays. It is interesting to note that there has been no attempt to investigate natural human behavior for the purpose of reflecting it in 3D interface design. The objective of this study was to characterize the natural hand motions when interacting with a large display, especially for pointing tasks, which are fundamental and frequent tasks in human–computer interaction. We conducted an experiment to capture the characteristics of users’ natural hand motions in pointing tasks. Twenty-eight participants (mean age: 25.04 years, 15 males and 13 females) were employed in this experiment. The participants performed pointing tasks for two target amplitudes (32 cm and 53 cm) and eight directions (equally spaced around the circumference of circles with radii of two levels of target amplitude) while standing 2.5 m from the display. The results revealed that their hand motions showed specific patterns according to the relative target position from the users.