The event is a key forum for HCI software and technology, providing an opportunity for researchers to share and learn about the latest advances in the field, from traditional and web interfaces to wearable computing, virtual and augmented reality, and computer-supported collaboration.
Researchers at Microsoft traditionally are active contributors to UIST, and this year is no exception, with 10 of the 62 technical papers being presented having been written by researchers from Microsoft. Microsoft Research staff members also support the event by serving on the 2012 program committee, helping to organize individual programs, chairing various sessions, and hosting the annual Women of UIST Luncheon.
Microsoft Research’s work in HCI helps the company achieve its long-term vision of creating intuitive interfaces that not only revolutionize interactions between humans and computers, but that also empower people from of all walks of life. Digits is one of several research projects presented during UIST 2012 that help further this vision.
Digits: Freehand 3D Interactions Anywhere Using a Wrist-Worn Gloveless Sensor describes technology that recovers the full 3-D pose of the user's hand. The paper—co-authored by David Kim, a Microsoft Research Ph.D. Fellow from Newcastle University's Culture Lab; Otmar Hilliges, Shahram Izadi, Alex Butler, and Jiawen Chen of Microsoft Research’s U.K.-based Cambridge lab; Iason Oikonomidis of Greece’s Foundation for Research & Technology; and Patrick Olivier of Newcastle University’s Culture Lab—describes Digits, a wrist-worn sensor for freehand 3-D interactions on the move. By instrumenting only the wrist, the user’s entire hand is left to interact freely without “data gloves,” input devices worn as gloves that are most often used in virtual-reality applications to facilitate tactile sensing and fine-motion control. The Digits prototype, whose electronics are self-contained on the user's wrist, optically image the entirety of the user's hand, enabling freehand interactions in a mobile setting.
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