WatchMI: Pressure Touch, Twist and Pan Gesture Input on Unmodified Smartwatches

WatchMI is a system that enhances smartwatch touch interaction by supporting continuous pressure touch, twist, and pan gestures through software that analyzes data from the watch’s built-in Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) in real-time. This approach requires no additional hardware or modifications. Evaluations show that the input methods are accurate, noise-resistant, and user-friendly, and can be implemented on various smartwatches. The system’s potential is demonstrated through seven applications, including map navigation, alarm clock, music player, text entry, file exploration, and remote device or game character control.

@inproceedings{10.1145/2935334.2935375,
  author = {Yeo, Hui-Shyong and Lee, Juyoung and Bianchi, Andrea and Quigley, Aaron},
  title = {WatchMI: pressure touch, twist and pan gesture input on unmodified smartwatches},
  year = {2016},
  isbn = {9781450344081},
  publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
  address = {New York, NY, USA},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/2935334.2935375},
  doi = {10.1145/2935334.2935375},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services},
  pages = {394–399},
  numpages = {6},
  keywords = {rich touch, small screen, smart watch, wearable devices},
  location = {Florence, Italy},
  series = {MobileHCI '16}
}

Additional Publications

Hui-Shyong Yeo, Juyoung Lee, Andrea Bianchi, Aaron Quigley. 2016. WatchMI: applications of watch movement input on unmodified smartwatches. In Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services Adjunct (MobileHCI '16). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 594–598. https://doi.org/10.1145/2957265.2961825

Hui-Shyong Yeo, Juyoung Lee, Andrea Bianchi, Aaron Quigley. 2016. Sidetap & Slingshot Gestures on Unmodified Smartwatches. In Proceedings of the 29th Annual Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST '16 Adjunct). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 189–190. https://doi.org/10.1145/2984751.2984763