SEQUENCE: a remote control technique to select objects by matching their rhythm

We present SEQUENCE, a novel interaction technique for selecting objects from a distance. Objects display different rhythmic patterns by means of animated dots, and users can select one of them by matching the pattern through a sequence of taps on a smartphone. The technique works by exploiting the temporal coincidences between patterns displayed by objects and sequences of taps performed on a smartphone: if a sequence matches with the pattern displayed by an object, the latter is selected. We propose two different alternatives for displaying rhythmic sequences associated with objects: the first one uses fixed dots (FD), the second one rotating dots (RD). Moreover, we performed two evaluations on such alternatives. The first evaluation, carried out with five participants, was aimed to discover the most appropriate speed for displaying animated rhythmic patterns. The second evaluation, carried out on 12 participants, was aimed to discover errors (i.e., activation of unwanted objects), missed activations (within a certain time), and time of activations. Overall, the proposed design alternatives perform in similar ways (errors, 2.8% for FD and 3.7% for RD; missed, 1.3% for FD and 0.9% for RD; time of activation, 3862 ms for FD and 3789 ms for RD).