Character Input Methods for Wearable Computers Using a Distance Sensor at the Wrist

Abstract

There has been a significant progress in wearable computing technology. However, the existing character input methods for wearable computers have some defects and are not practical. This paper proposes and evaluates two character input methods for wearable computers using a distance sensor at the wrist and five mechanical switches at the fingertips. The results of our evaluation show that the proposed methods are sufficiently fast and easy to learn for practical use. This paper also discusses reasons for user errors and limitations of the methods.