HulaMove: Using Commodity IMU for Waist Interaction

Jennifer Mankoff

Abstract:

We present HulaMove, a novel interaction technique that leverages
the movement of the waist as a new eyes-free and hands-free input method for both the physical world and the virtual world. We
frst conducted a user study (N=12) to understand users’ ability to
control their waist. We found that users could easily discriminate
eight shifting directions and two rotating orientations, and quickly
confrm actions by returning to the original position (quick return).
We developed a design space with eight gestures for waist interaction based on the results and implemented an IMU-based real-time
system. Using a hierarchical machine learning model, our system
could recognize waist gestures at an accuracy of 97.5%. Finally, we
conducted a second user study (N=12) for usability testing in both
real-world scenarios and virtual reality settings. Our usability study
indicated that HulaMove signifcantly reduced interaction time by
41.8% compared to a touch screen method, and greatly improved
users’ sense of presence in the virtual world. This novel technique
provides an additional input method when users’ eyes or hands
are busy, accelerates users’ daily operations, and augments their
immersive experience in the virtual world.