The uses of handheld mobile devices are diverse, yet interaction is not; touchscreens are the singular primary interface on most mobiles. Touch interaction has usability issues (e.g., the “fat fingers problem”) which impair the fine control of small interface elements, such as when working with text. Beyond text entry, this includes tasks like placing the in-text cursor (caret), text selection, and copy/paste. Current solutions for touch usability issues do not address complex uses like working with text. We propose deformable interaction, specifically bend, added alongside touch to support working with text on mobile. We explore this through a study of BendAide, a novel deformable 3D printed case for mobiles that adds bend interaction to the device. We found that people perceive different advantages between bend and touch and that they will alternate between these inputs based on task demands and their personal abilities. Adding alternate input options to mobile could reduce the complexity of on-display interfaces and interactions and give people more choice in how they use their devices.

Deformable surfaces with interactive capabilities provide opportunities for new mobile interfaces such as wearables. Yet current fabrication and prototyping techniques for deformable surfaces, that are both flexible and stretchable, are still limited by complex structural design and mechanical surface rigidity. We propose a simplified rapid fabrication technique that utilizes multi-material 3D printing for developing customizable and stretchable surfaces for mobile wearables with interactive capabilities embedded during the 3D printing process. Our prototype, FlexiWear, is a dynamic surface with embedded electronic components that can adapt to mobile body shape/movement and applied to contexts such as healthcare and sports wearables. We describe our design and fabrication approach using a commercial desktop 3D printer, the interaction techniques supported, and possible application scenarios for wearables and deformable mobile interfaces. Our approach aims to support rapid development and exploration of deformable surfaces that can adapt to body shape/movement.

Handheld mobile device use is dominated by touch interfaces; keyboards and other physical inputs are disappearing. In parallel, there is a trend towards more sophisticated devices supporting complex use. While touch devices are usable, the user experience is not optimal for all people or across all tasks. Augmenting touch devices with deformable interactions can support usability. I identify open research questions: how to pair deformation and touch, what are design questions for augmented devices, and what benefits they can provide to people? I outline work to date, highlighting a deformable mobile phone case.

One-handed mobile use, which is predominantly thumb-driven, presents interaction challenges like screen occlusion, reachability of far and inside corners, and an increased chance of dropping the device. We adopt a Research through Design approach around single-hand mobile interaction by exploring a variety of back-of-device tangibles (including a touchpad, scroller, magnetic button, push button, slider, stretchable spiral and a ring joystick). The latter 'joy'-stick was inspired from the recent popular but passive ring phone 'holders', which we combined into ?JoyHolder' - a joystick-based interactive phone holder for tangible back-of-device input interactions. We demonstrate our low-fidelity and medium-fidelity prototypes (using crafting and digital fabrication methods) and our interactive JoyHolder to encourage discussion on tangible back-of-device interactions. Preliminary insights from a pilot-study we ran reflects the hesitation for adopting some of these tangibles, the potential of others and the importance of physical feedback while using back-of-device input modalities.

When compared to mainstream touch/button-centric devices, deformable devices enable a more organic and tangible way for human-computer interaction. This studio provides participants an opportunity to have hands-on experience in fabricating controllers that use various deformation inputs (e.g., bending, stretching), and promote novel interaction mechanisms using hand gestures. Participants will learn different types of deformation inputs and create their own sensors. They will work in groups to design deformable controllers using both the sensors they make in-session and/or pre-built ones, to afford novel hand gestural inputs beyond conventional touches and clicks. The main objectives of this studio are to facilitate exchange of experience in fabricating deformable sensors/materials, and to foster creativity in using such controllers as inputs with hand gestures.

Recent work has explored how on-the-wrist devices can be augmented with displays, sensors, and aesthetics to produce a new genre of wearable, digital jewelry. Most often, these devices are augmented with hardware (e.g., touch-screens, gyroscopes) to receive wearer input. Breakthroughs in sensing materials allow novel inputs such as squeeze, bend, and stretch, which may be more suited to interaction with a discreet wearable.

Smartphones are becoming larger, mainly because bigger screens offer a better experience for viewing content. One drawback of larger screens is that they make single-hand interactions difficult because of hard to reach touch targets and of the need to re-grip the device, both factors significantly reducing their usability. Flexible smartphones offer an opportunity for addressing this issue. We first set out to determine the use of common single-hand mobile interactions through an online survey. Then, we designed and evaluated one-handed deformable gestures that offer the potential for addressing the finger reach limitation on large smartphones. We identified that the top right up bend and the center squeeze up gestures are the fastest and preferred gestures. We found no hand preference, which indicates that the gestures could be implemented to fit the needs of a wider range of the population, instead of favoring right-handed users. Finally, we discuss the impact on deformable gestures on one-handed interactions issues.

Caret movement is difficult with touch input because of finger occlusion and the imprecision of interacting with a small display using fingers. We hypothesize that bend might provide a better text manipulation solution. We propose bend gestures to move a single caret or dual carets without requiring hand repositioning. We create a deformable prototype and implement the gestures. We present our bend interactions for caret manipulation and discuss our prototype.