TEXTile: Eyes-free text input on smart glasses using touch enabled textile on the forearm

Smart glasses are autonomous and efficient computers that can perform complex tasks through mobile applications. This paper focuses on text input for mobile context. We present a new connected fabric to smart glasses as a device for text entry. This device, integrated into clothing, provides a new interaction technique called TEXTile. It allows typing without requiring users to hold a device. Users can put fingers anywhere on the fabric surface and release them, without needing to look at the fabric or using markers on the fabric. The text entry technique is based on eight combinations of fingers in contact or released, identified as pleasant among 15 in a survey involving 74 participants. A first user’s study with 20 participants establishes that the eight combinations for TEXTile were significantly reliable (98.95% recognition rate). A second study with nine participants evaluates the learning curve of TEXTile. Users achieved a mean typing of 8.11 WPM at the end of ten 12-min sessions, which can be slow, but sufficient with short text compared to other advantages of the technique. Results show low error rates for tasks completed and good usability (76% in SUS questionnaire). The NASA-TLX questionnaire establishes there is no important mental or physical workload to accomplish the task.