FlexStylus: leveraging flexion input for pen interaction

Nicholas Fellion (1) , Thomas Pietrzak (2, 3, 4) , Audrey Girouard (1)

1 Carleton University
2 MJOLNIR - Computing tools to empower users
3 Université de Lille, Sciences et Technologies
4 CRIStAL - Centre de Recherche en Informatique, Signal et Automatique de Lille - UMR 9189

FlexStylus, a flexible stylus, detects deformation of the barrel as a vector with both a rotational and an absolute value, providing two degrees of freedom with the goal of improving the expressivity of digital art using a stylus device. We outline the construction of the prototype and the principles behind the sensing method, which uses a cluster of four fibre-optic based deformation sensors. We propose interaction techniques using the FlexStylus to improve menu navigation and tool selection. Finally, we describe a study comparing users' ability to match a changing target value using a commercial pressure stylus and the FlexStylus' absolute deformation. When using the FlexStylus, users had a significantly higher accuracy overall. This suggests that deformation may be a useful input method for future work considering stylus augmentation.

Mots clés: Pen interaction; Input technique; Bending; Deformation; Augmented Stylus; Interactive Device; Input Device; Human - Computer Interaction

Domaines: Interface homme-machine [cs.HC]

Nicholas Fellion, Thomas Pietrzak, Audrey Girouard. FlexStylus: leveraging flexion input for pen interaction. Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST 2017), Oct 2017, Québec, Canada. pp.2482 - 2489, ⟨10.1088/0957-0233/13/10/303⟩. ⟨hal-01586668⟩