Three state virtual keyboards which differentiate contact events between released, touched, and pressed states have the potential to improve overall typing experience and reduce the gap between virtual keyboards and physical keyboards. Incorporating force sensitivity, three-state virtual keyboards can utilize a force threshold to better classify a contact event. However, our limited knowledge of how force plays a role during typing on virtual keyboards limits further progress. Through a series of studies we observe that using a uniform threshold is not an optimal approach. Furthermore, the force being applied while typing varies significantly across the keys and among participants. As such, we propose three different approaches to further improve the uniform threshold. We show that a carefully selected non-uniform threshold function could be sufficient in delineating typing events on a three-state keyboard. Finally, we conclude our work with lessons learned, suggestion for future improvements, and comparisons with current methods available.

Augmented Reality (AR) allows virtual object projection with an unblocked view of the physical world which provides reference and other people. The mixed scene provides an agile platform for communication and collaboration, especially on a product that would be difficult or expensive to present otherwise. In the boating industry, high customization leaves dealers with a high cost on inventory, financially and spatially. In this work, we present BoatAR, a multi-user AR boat configuration system designed for addressing these issues. A prototype system was implemented using HoloLens with shared experience, and demonstrated to a group of boat dealers and received positive feedback. BoatAR provided an example of how a multi-user AR system could help in the conventional industry.