Towards More Paper-like Input: Flexible Input Devices for Foldable Interaction Styles ( UIST – 2008)

Towards More Paper-like Input: Flexible Input Devices for Foldable Interaction Styles ( UIST – 2008)

By: David T. Gallant, Andrew Seniuk, Roel Vertegaal

Summary:
This paper talks about Foldable User Interfaces (FUI) which is a combination of a 3D GUI imbued with the physical properties of a piece of paper. This paper contains Foldable Input Devices (FIDs). It is basically a piece of construction paper with IR reflectors inserted in it that are tracked by computer vision. FIDs allow many interaction techniques including: folding, bending, flipping, stacking, thumb slide, scooping, top corner bend, leafing, squeezing, hovering and shaking. These foldable input devices have been highly influenced by Origami. Some interactions that can be achieved by using the interaction techniques include, but are not limited to: Navigation, browsing, selection, sorting, making origami and zooming. Navigation is done by picking up the FID and moving it. Selection can be achieved by using a transparency sheet and a thumb slide. Origami can be achieved by folding the paper into complex shapes through a series of folds. These folds are made permanent by using a shaking technique. Browsing is accomplished by using the leafing technique to go to the next page in a document. Lastly zooming is achieved by using the hover technique.

Discussion:
At first this paper was a little hard for me to wrap my mind around, but once I got down the concept of a FID it was a rather interesting implementation of a new input device. I had never thought of using a piece of paper as an input device to control something else much like a mouse or keyboard would, but now that it has been mentioned it is a very unique but sensible invention. I am interested to see where this goes over the years and how much smaller, or thinner or devices get, but with better user interaction.