RubberEdge: Reducing Clutching by Combining Position and Rate Control with Elastic Feedback

TL;DR

This paper introduces RubberEdge, a hybrid position-rate control device with elastic feedback that reduces clutching and improves precision in selection tasks by combining control methods and eliminating trajectory discontinuities.

Contribution

It presents a novel hybrid control approach with elastic feedback that outperforms traditional position control in clutching scenarios and provides predictive models and initial user feedback.

Findings

Hybrid control outperforms position control by 20% in clutching scenarios.

RubberEdge eliminates trajectory and velocity discontinuities.

Prototype demonstrates improved control and user experience.

Abstract

Position control devices enable precise selection, but significant clutching degrades performance. Clutching can be reduced with high control-display gain or pointer acceleration, but there are human and device limits. Elastic rate control eliminates clutching completely, but can make precise selection difficult. We show that hybrid position-rate control can outperform position control by 20% when there is significant clutching, even when using pointer acceleration. Unlike previous work, our RubberEdge technique eliminates trajectory and velocity discontinuities. We derive predictive models for position control with clutching and hybrid control, and present a prototype RubberEdge position-rate control device including initial user feedback.