Exploring task performance and user's preference of mid-air hand interaction in a 3D docking task experiment

While the technology for input (Leap Motion, Kinect, etc.) as well as output (VR headsets, large projection walls, etc.) is market ready, only few solutions for natural interaction with such devices exist. With regard to natural 3D interaction, the human hand seems to be the ideal tool for direct manipulation [2]. But, 3D interaction require more complex interaction techniques, which consequently cause higher levels of user instrumentation [1] and workload, such as physical demand or frustration. Here, a VR approach might be beneficial to the user's preference. In this poster we propose an approach for mid-air hand interaction with 3D content in a furniture arrangement scenario. We evaluate our technique in a 3D docking task on a large projected display versus wearing a VR headset. Our experimental results show that the translation and rotation precision benefits from the usage of a projection wall, whereas the participants preferred the HMD with regard to user experience and task workload.