Handwriting in VR as a Text Input Method

Sammanfattning: This thesis discusses handwriting as a possible text input method for Virtual Reality (VR) with a goal of comparing handwriting with a virtual keyboard input method. VR applications have different approaches to text input and there is no standard for how the user should enter text. Text input methods are important for the user in many cases, e.g when they document, communicate or enter their login information. The goal of the study was to understand how a handwriting input would compare to pointing at a virtual keyboard, which is the most common approach to the problem. A prototype was built using Tesseract for character recognition and Unity to create a basic virtual environment. This prototype was then evaluated with a user study, comparing it to the de facto standard virtual keyboard input method. The user study had a usability and desirability questionnaire approach and also uses Sutcliffe's heuristics for evaluation of virtual environments. Interviews were performed with each test user. The results suggested that the virtual keyboard performs better except for how engaging the input method was. From the interviews a common comment was that the handwriting input method was more fun and engaging. Further applications of the handwriting input method are discussed as well as why the users favored the virtual keyboard method.