Proposal of Japanese Text Input Method without Using Pointing in VR Space

Abstract

In this research, we propose an input method using flick input without pointing for the purpose of reducing the burden and fatigue of the conventional method using pointing in Japanese text input on VR. We developed a prototype of the proposed method and compared it with the two types of keyboards developed by the existing method. The proposed method inputs characters using only the stick operation of the controller. The action of tilting the stick is a pseudo flick operation, and the key selection and flick input are used properly with the index finger trigger of the controller. We asked the subjects to play a typing game on each keyboard, and measured input speed and accuracy, usability from questionnaires, and mental load. While the flick-pointing keyboard has the fastest input speed, there were many erroneous inputs. The proposed method had the slowest input speed, but the input accuracy was higher than that of the flick-pointing keyboard. On the other hand, in terms of usability and mental load, the Japanese syllabary keyboard performed best, and the proposed method and the flick pointing keyboard were found to be comparable.