Evaluation of tangible user interfaces for command and control in virtual environments

One of the difficulties that arise in trying to navigate through or interact with a 3D virtual environment is the fact that the standard 2D mouse with only two degrees of freedom does not lend itself to being used effectively where six degrees of motion are possible. Through the use of both a mouse and keyboard, one is able to interact in three degrees but never in all six at the same time, thus making interaction cumbersome at best. We test out a series of both commercial-off-the-shelf and in-house prototype tangible user interfaces (TUIs) to characterize multiple interaction methods within a virtual environment for command and control applications. Various aspects of navigation, including moving through the virtual world, as well as directly manipulating the world itself, are compared. We attempt to determine which interfaces are most appropriate for specific types of command and control tasks. We conclude with recommendations for the use of TUIs as well as ideas for future research.