Xangle: a Pointing Method Using Accelerometers for Wearable Computing

Abstract

Variety of real-world situations are beneficial for wearable computing since it provides information services while users are doing other jobs. Currently, GUI is used in computers, thus pointing devices are needed to use computers. However, it is difficult to use conventional pointing devices in wearable computing environments since such devices are not hands-free. Therefore, we propose a new pointing method using simple gestures with two accelerometers. A user wears small accelerometers on his/her body including hands, elbows, wrists, and legs, for adapting various environments. The cursor is positioned at the intersection of two straight lines, which is synchronized with the angles of the accelerometers. A user attaches small accelerometers to his/her body, including both hands, elbows, wrists, and legs, to be able to use in various environments. In addition, we propose several enhancements of pointing such as speed control and locking function.The evaluation results confirmed that our method was effective in wearable computing environments.