Without using your hands, vDo we want to order food? Put your foot in.
Imagine a world in which ordering food, answering a call or changing music doesn’t require the presence of your hands.
Researchers at the University of Waterloo, Canada, have developed technology that allows users to control smartphone applications with simple foot gestures while walking, combining convenience with mobility, according to a study in Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST) 2024.
The idea came to him one cold day when Waterloo computer science professor, Daniel Vogelhe had to stop walking and take his hands out of his pockets to go to his cell phone. He wondered at that moment if these interruptions could be avoided by using… his feet to use cell phone apps.
Later, a team led by Vogel and study co-author Ching-Yi Tsai identified 22 potential “march gestures” — subtle foot movements that alter a person’s walking pattern without interrupting their progress.
These movements were analyzed in terms of usability, ease of execution and social acceptability, says the University of Waterloo.
“Extreme movements, like dance steps or a jump, would probably be easy for a system to recognize, but they could be more difficult to execute and would deviate too much from normal gait for people to feel comfortable doing them in public.” , said Vogel: “We didn’t want users to feel like someone from Monty Python’s Ministry of Dizzy Rides!”
The researchers narrowed down the list of 22 walking gestures to 7 that they found to be optimal. These were integrated into a prototype interface for augmented reality (AR) headsets.
Participants wearing the headphones performed tasks such as playing music, adjusting the volume, ordering a latte and accepting or declining phone calls — all without hands and while walking.
The results are promising. The system reached a 92% accuracy rate in gesture recognition and participants found the technology intuitive, useful and enjoyable, although the authors admit that “we are not yet at a stage where AR headsets are widely used”.
“There is a long history of using feet to control machines,” said Ching-Yi Tsai, the study’s lead author, citing the use of pedals in a car as a major example, “but very little research has been done to use the way we walk. as input to a device.”
