Design and Assessment of Two Handling Interaction Techniques for 3D Virtual Objects Using the Myo Armband

Hand gesture recognition using electromyography signals (EMG) has attracted increased attention due to the rise of cheaper wearable devices that can record accurate EMG data. One of the outstanding devices in this area is the Myo armband, equipped with eight EMG sensors and a nine-axis inertial measurement unit. The use of Myo armband in virtual reality, however, is very limited, because it can only recognize five pre-set gestures. In this work, we do not use these gestures, but the raw data provided by the device in order to measure the force applied to a gesture and to use Myo vibrations as a feedback system, aiming to improve the user experience. We propose two techniques designed to explore the capabilities of the Myo armband as an interaction tool for input and feedback in a VRE. The objective is to evaluate the usability of the Myo as an input and output device for selection and manipulation of 3D objects in virtual reality environments. The proposed techniques were evaluated by conducting user tests with ten users. We analyzed the usefulness, efficiency, effectiveness, learnability and satisfaction of each technique and we conclude that both techniques had high usability grades, demonstrating that Myo armband can be used to perform selection and manipulation task, and it can enrich the experience making it more realistic by using the possibility of measuring the strength applied to the gesture and the vibration feedback system.