A Fitts' Law Evaluation of Hands-Free and Hands-On Input on a Laptop Computer.

We used the Fitts’ law two-dimensional task in ISO 9241-9 to evaluate hands-free and hands-on point-select tasks on a laptop computer. For the hands-free method, we required a tool that can simulate the functionalities of a mouse to point and select without having to touch the device. We used a face tracking software called Camera Mouse in combination with dwell-time selection. This was compared with three hands-on methods, a touchpad with dwell-time selection, a touchpad with tap selection, and face tracking with tap selection. For hands-free input, throughput was 0.65 bps. The other conditions yielded higher throughputs, the highest being 2.30 bps for the touchpad with tap selection. The hands-free condition demonstrated erratic cursor control with frequent target re-entries before selection, particularly for dwell-time selection. Subjective responses were neutral or slightly favourable for hands-free input.