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Schönwerth, Nicole ; Schmid, Andreas ; Wimmer, Raphael ; Henze, Niels

Exploring Foot-Operated Input for Desktop Applications

Schönwerth, Nicole , Schmid, Andreas , Wimmer, Raphael and Henze, Niels (2025) Exploring Foot-Operated Input for Desktop Applications. In: Mensch und Computer (MuC) 2025, August 31 - September 03, Chemnitz.

Date of publication of this fulltext: 01 Sep 2025 05:23
Conference or workshop item
DOI to cite this document: 10.5283/epub.77577


Abstract

There is a rich history of foot-operated machinery, ranging from treadmill-powered lathes to modern vehicles. Even though early HCI research explored general-purpose foot input, most modern day research on this topic focuses either on gesture-based interaction or very specific application scenarios. Today, working on a desktop or laptop computer relies almost exclusively on users’ hands, leaving ...

There is a rich history of foot-operated machinery, ranging from treadmill-powered lathes to modern vehicles. Even though early HCI research explored general-purpose foot input, most modern day research on this topic focuses either on gesture-based interaction or very specific application scenarios. Today, working on a desktop or laptop computer relies almost exclusively on users’ hands, leaving their feet unoccupied. Therefore, we explore how foot-operated input devices can be incorporated in modern office workflows. We first gathered design requirements and use cases in multiple focus groups sessions. Based on our findings, we conducted a five-day diary study with twelve participants incorporating off-the-shelf footswitches with customizable functions into their usual workflows. Throughout the study, all participants continued to use the footswitches mainly for secondary tasks, such as controlling media playback or triggering shortcuts. We conclude that even simple foot-operated input devices with customizable functions can improve user experience and help users work more efficiently.



Involved Institutions


Details

Item typeConference or workshop item (Paper)
Journal or Publication TitleMensch und Computer 2025
Open Access Type:Assoc. of Comp. Machinery (ACM)
Page Range:pp. 270-280
Date30 August 2025
InstitutionsLanguages and Literatures > Institut für Information und Medien, Sprache und Kultur (I:IMSK) > Lehrstuhl für Medieninformatik (Prof. Dr. Christian Wolff) > Physical-Digital Affordances (Dr. Raphael Wimmer)
Informatics and Data Science > Department Human-Centered Computing > Lehrstuhl für Medieninformatik (Prof. Dr. Christian Wolff) > Physical-Digital Affordances (Dr. Raphael Wimmer)
Informatics and Data Science > Department Human-Centered Computing > Physical-Digital Affordances (Dr. Raphael Wimmer)

Languages and Literatures > Institut für Information und Medien, Sprache und Kultur (I:IMSK) > Professur für Medieninformatik (Prof. Dr. Niels Henze)
Informatics and Data Science > Department Human-Centered Computing > Professur für Medieninformatik (Prof. Dr. Niels Henze)
Projects
Funded by: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (466608952)
Identification Number
ValueType
10.1145/3743049.3743069DOI
Keywordsfoot, interaction, pedal, human-computer interaction
Dewey Decimal Classification000 Computer science, information & general works > 004 Computer science
StatusPublished
RefereedYes, this version has been refereed
Created at the University of RegensburgYes
URN of the UB Regensburgurn:nbn:de:bvb:355-epub-775778
Item ID77577

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