Skip to main content

Do with have a video?

Yes, we have a video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXlmus93o68

I wasn't intending to work on any code this weekend but I felt compelled to try out the recognition server and run another set of tests but with the Logitech C900 in place. Results were an improvement on the PS3 eye, in part due to the better low light capabilities, in part due to the camera placement, and in part due to the wider angle.

Some anecdotal notes :

The recognition server provided seems to perform better that the unistroke implementation - I still need to sit down and do the numbers but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't significantly better.

I suspect recall for all but the most basic figures/shapes provided via the default unistroke implementation will be poor amongst users. On the flip side, most of us know the alphabet!

Big problem with the use of fiducials on the end of the fingers - they become obscured during natural hand movements! I ended up cupping the marker in my hand and squeezing it to cover it so the I had control of the markers visability. Keeping the fiducial visible requires holding the hand in a position that is simply not ergonomic.

After a few hours usage my wrist aches (but then I do suffer from PA).

I had the advantage of visual and audible feedback during this test - I suspect the performance will deteriorate with that removed. 

Another big problem is drawing letters that require multiple strokes - i, k, f, t, x, 4 etc all cause problems - have yet to test capitals.

obviously no support for correction or refinement - while this could be supported I cant see it being possible without visual feedback...hence reduces the impact of the system on improved situational awareness.

Ramifications - The original sixth sense system had very poor ergonomics as well as suffering from a range of technical issues. Choice of the unistroke recognition engine likely non-optimal (may be implementation dependent though), will need to revisit.

Where's the code then you ask? I may just throw stuff up over the next few days, but my god is it tatty but I'm not going to allow code shame to stop me. I'd like to have something which performs somewhat better than the current version in terms of the interaction support before I do so though.....

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Recording/Playback

I've been busy with whipping my literature review and methodology sections together for the last few weeks (with the occasional diversion to tout the surveys, still a very low response so far *sadface*) and I'm heading towards crunch time now where I'm going to have to bring everything together for a draft version early next months. Since I'm now more in a documenting than development phase I've little work done on the prototype apart from to add recording/playback capabilities so that a session can be "recorded" and then I can explore if changes to the gestural interface improve recognition (although that isn't a major aim at this point). Again, a quick plea to anyone reading, just a few more responses to the gesture and display surveys and I'll be able to start my analysis for that data so if you have 5 minutes it would be greatly appreciated.

Getting the design right vs getting the right design

So today I've been looking at ways to make the text input interaction more fluid and investigating if I can able some level of error correction (i.e. a spell checker). 1) 2 hours of use off and on and my arm aches, my back aches, my wrist aches. Even with the minimal arm movement that is required, my forearm still needs supporting and to spell a 5 letter words I am still moving the focal point about....6 inches across which is enough to induce fatigue over time. If I had more time I would do an about turn and look at just using a single finger (although that reintroduces the segmentation issue which the pinch technique solves).... 2) Writing without visual feedback is more taxing than I had thought. I originally did an experiment which involved people walking and writing at the same time as a "proof of concept" exploration. I suspect I had the task wrong though - I should have had them do it blindfolded! Luckily I've still time to repeat that experiment. 3) The ...

Update.

Just an update - while I had originally approached this with the intention of releasing the code as open source my findings regarding....well various aspects of this project, but relevant to this aim, the code itself, means that I'm putting any software development on the back burner for the next few weeks while I perform a study into how people naturally perform gestures. I'm also looking at some options to improve certain show stopping issues with the system (primarily the limited FOV of the webcam). Any code that does emerge for the project, at least for version 0.1 is unlikely to be very robust but I think that can be overcome : I'm currently thinking that broad colour segmentation followed by some form of object matching technique (e.g. SIFT/SURF) should make quite a robust and reasonably fast algorithm for marker detection however if the FOV problem cant be solved, I actually think that ANY vision based system is inappropriate for this sort of interaction style. Y...