HaptiGlow: Helping Users Position their Hands for Better Mid-Air Gestures and Ultrasound Haptic Feedback

We present HaptiGlow, a technique that combines ultrasound haptics with peripheral visual feedback to help users find where to place their hand for improved mid-air interaction. Hand position is important. If a user’s hand is poorly placed, input sensors may have difficulty recognising their gestures. Mid-air haptic feedback is also hard to perceive when the hand is in a poor position. Our novel feedback addresses this important usability problem. Our results show the combination of ultrasound haptics and peripheral visuals is effective, with the strengths of each leading to accurate (23mm) and fast (4.6s) guidance in a 3D targeting task. Our technique improves midair interaction by easily helping users find a good hand position.