Haptic Constraints for a Bimanual Command Selection and Location Task

Haptic technology has the potential to make many everyday com- puting tasks faster, more precise, and more enjoyable. The com- mon interaction task of command selection and location seems a suitable candidate for such improvement. Previous bimanual inter- action techniques for this task have enjoyed relative success, but well designed unimanual techniques have proven faster. This work investigates the addition of haptic feedback to a bimanual technique for this task. We compared performance of 12 participants on two implementations of a bimanual interaction technique for this task. One implementation provided only graphical feedback, while the other additionally provided haptic feedback for the non-dominant hand. The haptic condition produced faster performance. However, the improvement was due more to faster movement times for the non-dominant hand rather than simultaneous movement. We dis- cuss our results in the context of the motor control literature, and review the implications of our findings for future haptic interface designs.