Tap-Kick-Click: Foot Interaction for a Standing Desk

William Saunders, Daniel Vogel

Abstract: Foot interaction techniques for controlling conventional desktop applications at a standing desk are described. Indirect, discrete two-foot input using combinations of spatial kicks, taps, jumps, and standing postures are tracked using a depth camera and instrumented shoes. An implemented system shows how visual feedback and interface augmentation can make foot input compatible with existing desktop applications. Application scenarios using the system demonstrate productive pure foot input breaks with real application tasks like web browsing and code debugging, as well as using feet as a secondary input channel with mouse and keyboard. An evaluation validates the usability of the approach.