Tagged Handles:
Merging Discrete and Continuous Manual Control

Proceedings of CHI 2000
Karon E. MacLean
Interval Research Corp.
maclean@interval.com
Scott S. Snibbe
Interval Research Corp.
snibbe@interval.com
Golan Levin
MIT Media Lab
golan@mit.media.edu
ABSTRACT
Discrete and continuous modes of manual control are fundamentally different: buttons select or change state, while handles persistently modulate an analog parameter. User interfaces for many electronically aided tasks afford only one of these modes when both are needed. We describe an integration of two kinds of physical interfaces (tagged objects and force feedback) that enables seamless execution of such multimodal tasks while applying the benefits of physicality; and demonstrate application scenarios with conceptual and engineering prototypes. Our emphasis is on sharing insights gained in a design case study, including expert user reactions.
KEYWORDS
Discrete, continuous, haptic, force feedback, tagged object, tangible, tool, token, container, design process.
A Tagged Handle Prototype
Photo by Karon MacLean

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