Sreehari Vattakkandy¹, Balagopal Raveendranath¹, John L. Russell², Dmitrii Paniukov²; ¹Texas Tech University, ²Hoververse AI, USA

People often share and interact with touchscreens at public places, like kiosks. Using touchless technology can minimize the spread of germs in such environments. In a touchless interface developed by Hoververse AI, users can interact with a virtual screen projected on tables, walls, etc. based on hand gestures. While using this interface, users get feedback from their body and environment, to scale their actions to improve their performance. In the current study, right-handed users controlled the movement of a cursor on a projected screen. We investigated participants’ accuracy of pointing the cursor precisely at targets present on the screen. On each trial, participants were instructed to follow a 40 BPM metronome to point six times alternating between two target points placed on a vertical, horizontal or diagonal line. The targets were placed either above or below the participants’ shoulder level. Some targets were closer to where the participants stood in front of the screen and others were farther to their right. Participants completed a pre-test, calibration, and post-test phase. In the pretest and post-test, participants did not see the cursor, but it was visible during the calibration phase. The results show that pointing accuracy improved in the post-test, compared to the pre-test. This indicates that participants recalibrated their pointing behavior based on visual feedback from the cursor visible during the intervening calibration phase. Accuracy was also found to be better when the targets were closer on the screen and below the shoulder level, as compared to when they were above the shoulder level and farther away. Additionally, when the two targets were placed horizontally, the pointing accuracy was found to be better, as compared to when they were placed vertically. These results have implications for designing touchless interfaces in environments that need precise interactions, like clinics and hospitals.