On the Usability and Effectiveness of Different Interaction Types in Augmented Reality

One of the key challenges of augmented reality (AR) interfaces is to design effective hand-based interaction supported by computer vision. Hand-based interaction requires free-hands tracking to support user interaction in AR for which this article presents a novel approach. This approach makes it possible to compare different types of hand-based interaction in AR for navigating using a spatial user interface. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of a study with 25 subjects indicate that tangible interaction is the preferred type of interaction with which to determine the position of the user interface in AR and to physically point to a preferred option for navigation in augmented reality.