Novel interaction techniques for object manipulation on tabletops

Abstract

Interactive tabletops foster collaborative work by supporting face-to-face communication and by offering an interactive surface to continually visualize and integrate the current state of work. Through multi-touch technology, multiple fingers and even parts of the hand can be recognized. Hence, natural interaction with graphical objects can be enhanced. However, ergonomic constraints in shape, size and agility of the hand and fingers can reduce effective and efficient object manipulation. By virtually extending the representation of the fingers and the transformed objects themselves we seek to overcome these limitations. Common collaborative tasks on large touch surfaces are transformation and spatial grouping of graphical objects. Therefore, we present two novel interaction techniques: Scoop Net and Pinch Helper. Scoop Net is based on naive physics and allows users to select and move multiple objects in one seamless action. Pinch Helper supports the execution of a pinch gesture by transforming objects that are too small to be targeted by multiple fingers.