Simplifying the making of probes, prototypes and toolkits in mobile interaction research using tasker

This paper presents a technique to support the making of mobile interaction interfaces for controlling the smartphone. We often use smartphones while moving, resulting in non-optimal or even unsafe interactions. Better mobile interactions need to be created with locomotion in mind and experienced in practice. But making and testing new interaction interfaces is time-consuming. It often involves the making of an input device; establishing a connection between device and smartphone; and implementing an application on the phone for testing interactions with the input device. This paper reports from three ongoing projects on how a commercial available automation tool called Tasker can be used for coupling phone functionalities to new input devices, eliminating the need for implementing a complete phone application, and enabling flexible, reusable, and easy making of interaction interfaces for smartphones.