Kickables: Tangibles for Feet

Abstract

We introduce the concept of tangibles that users can manipulate with their feet. We call them kickables. Unlike traditional tangibles, kickables allow for very large interaction surfaces as kickables reside on the ground. The main benefit of kickables over other foot-based modalities, such as foot touch, is their strong affordance, which we validate in two user studies. This affordance makes kickables well-suited for walk-up installations, such as tradeshows or museum exhibits.

We present a custom design as well as five families of standard kickables to help application designers create kickable applications faster. Each family supports multiple standard controls, such as push buttons, switches, dials, and sliders. Each type explores a different design principle, in particular different mechanical constraints. We demonstrate an implementation on our pressure-sensing floor.