Magic-Tap: A Kinematics-Driven Virtual Hand Selection Technique in AR/VR

This study explores the design of a selection technique in virtual environments leveraging kinematic data derived from hand movements. We first identified the intrinsic challenges of virtual hand selection techniques, particularly in complex settings, including Accidental Selection, Slow Selection, Failed Selection, and Fragmented Selection. To mitigate these issues, we introduce Magic-Tap, a selection technique that ascertains the trigger of an object based on real-time variations in virtual hand acceleration and speed, seamlessly integrating the pointing and triggering processes without requiring explicit triggering signals. The parameter settings of Magic-Tap were fine-tuned through Study One, ameliorating its trigger rate, error rate, and trigger time. Furthermore, we compared Magic-Tap with three conventional virtual hand selection techniques (Touch, Dwell-Time, and Pinch) in Study Two. The results indicate that the task completion time of Magic-Tap is comparable to Touch in all situations while exhibiting an error rate as low as Dwell-Time and Pinch.