Hands-Free Input Interface Using Mimetic Muscle Movements for Wearable Computer

Abstract

In recent years, we have many chances to operate cellular phone to browse e-mails or web sites. However, operating cellular phone in transit may cause dangerous conditions. This paper describes the ergonomic evaluation of hands-free input interface for wearable computing. The Interface is designed to operate the computer by mimetic muscle movements, which are detected by piezo films attached to the surface of the skin. In order to evaluate the input interface using facial actions, we measured user’s behavior and mental state by wearable measuring device. The user’s behavior is observed by the CCD camera and pedometer, and user’s mental workload is measured by the RRV (variance of R-R intervals of ECG). We evaluated the efficiency of the developed interface by comparing with cellular phone, which can connect to the Internet. We proved that the input interface using mimetic muscle movements has high compatibility between computer operation and daily activities.