The virtual keyboard in the VR space is characterized by the user can place the keyboard at any position and angle in the air. The user’s posture changes as the position and angle of the virtual keyboard change. We conducted an experiment to investigate the effects of the position and angle of the virtual keyboard on text entry. We found that the position of the virtual keyboard affected the workload by analyzing the experimental data for each participant in the experiment. In this paper, we analyzed the experimental data for each entry phrase. The results show that the entry speed and usability may be improved by tilting the keyboard toward the back from the user’s point of view. Furthermore, since the fatigue of the arms was larger than the fatigue of the neck, the fatigue could be minimized by designing VR applications so as to place the user’s fingers at a lower position than the user’s eye level.

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As examples for exploring the effects of the motion of artifacts in residential spaces on people's feelings, I created installations in the form of plants. I investigated whether the plant-like movement affected people's mood by evaluating the difference between participants' impressions of artifacts and the effect of the artifact's bio-likeness. I divided 42 participants into 'active mode' and 'still mode' groups. Participants would fill out the temporary mood scale before and 5 minutes after they enter the room. An impression evaluation questionnaire about the lighting fixtures should also be completed afterwards. An analysis of whether or not the presence of movement in a lighting fixture affected people's mood yielded the following results: (1) There was no interaction between the presence of movement and the pre- and postexperience mood states. (2) Participants in both groups increased their average mood score by over 7.5, but only those in the 'active mode' group reported an alleviation of anxiety and fatigue. An analysis between the impression evaluation of the lighting fixtures (with and without movement) and the impact of bio-likeness shows that (3) movement affects the impression evaluation of the three lighting fixtures and that bio-likeness is related to feeling and emotion.

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We present a user interface system “RapTapBath” that converts an existing bathtub into various controllers by tapping locations, tones and patterns with their tap sounds on a bathtub edge. This system utilizes embedded piezoelectric sensors in a bathtub edge to analyze acoustic signals of tap sounds, and also a projector installed above the tub to project menus on the edge. Tap locations are detected by differences in signal arrival times of plural sensors. Tap tones are identified by spectrum patterns with neural-network technique. Tap patterns are detected by tapping timings with their probability calculations in a fixed time. This paper describes the system overview of RapTapBath, and each of the tapping user interface events, their specific detection methods by signal processing techniques, and also their performance evaluations. We also give effective applications for spending bathing time using this system. Finally, discussions of the limitations of current tap UI events and the point of view of interaction design with RapTapBath are described.

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A training improves sight and function of eye-movements. This is called vision training. Vision training has advantage for people because they can improve their eye-function themselves without medical treatment or surgery. However, vision training has a limitation in the diagnosis of eye movement, depends on optometrists’skills and experiences. The dependencies make it difficult to quantitatively evaluate current abilities in the eye-movement. This study aims to develop quantitative assessment indices for vision training which bases on quantitative data and have an equivalent ability of diagnosis by an optometrist. In order to use quantitative data, we measured eye movements with an eye-tracking system. Before the development, we implemented a method to realize re-calibration with a highly precise eye-tracking system while measuring simultaneous head and eye movements. We used the eye-tracking system to exploratory investigate the assessment indices for eye and head movements and then found out three assessment indices. Finally, we evaluated the effectiveness of the assessment indices by comparing the diagnosis results with these for each and an optometrist. We concluded that the assessment indices had a high potential to use the diagnosis.

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Because vehicles and bicycles run on the same roads at different speeds, there are many cases in which vehicles overtake bicycles. In such cases, communication between drivers and bicyclists is crucial for sharing intentions and facilitating cooperative behaviors. However, the main existing communication method is one-way communication from bicyclists and vehicle drivers are unable to communicate. This study aims to clarify the appropriate pattern of communications between vehicle drivers and bicyclists. We considered four communication patterns between a vehicle driver and bicyclist: two-way communication, two patterns of one-way communication, and no communication. We analyze the effects of these communication patterns on the impressions of drivers. In an experiment, participants were asked to perform the actions of communication while viewing a recorded video of a scene in which a bicycle was overtaken by a vehicle approaching from behind. We then asked the participants their impressions of driving and communication. We concluded that from a vehicle's perspective, two-way communication (sending and receiving messages) is the safest and most comfortable communication method. However, from a bicycle’s perspective, it is sufficient to send a one-way message to the other party for comfortable driving.

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