Gestural Input with Tangible Cubes on a Surface for Musical Expression: a Family of Experiments
(2026) Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction — Vol. 10, n° 8, p. ISS004 (2026)
Files
TopoCubes-ISS2026.pdf
Open Access - Adobe PDF
- 6.38 MB
Details
- Authors
- Abstract
- Cubes are increasingly used in tangible interaction, particularly when arranged in a topology on a surface such as a tabletop. To better understand how end users manipulate cubes as gestural input for tangible interaction on a surface, we report empirical findings from a family of three experiments conducted with AudioCubes, a set of tangible cubes containing wireless computers with built-in sound and signal generating and processing capabilities that sense their topology for four action types on a surface: positioning, moving, rotating, and arranging. The two first experiments investigate the usability of AudioCubes through a controlled study with and without an active training, inside and outside a laboratory. The third experiment determines which gestures are spontaneously produced by end users in an uncontrolled study and how they articulate these gestures by fingers. Tangible cubes offer a usable and intuitive medium for gestural interaction. Participants consistently favored face-based interactions over edges and corners, simpler one-to-one mappings over complex multi-object procedures, and physically stable arrangements over precision-dependent gestures. Usable cube interfaces should prioritize grasping, pushing, rotating, and aligning through cube faces, while minimizing reliance on corner-based or highly constrained actions. The actual composition of cubes covers only 32% of the theoretical space of 169 spatial compositions. Some practical implications for designing gestural input with tangible cubes on a surface, such as a tabletop, are offered.
- Affiliations
Citations
Latreche, N., Schiettecatte, B., Attygalle, N., & Vanderdonckt, J. (2026). Gestural Input with Tangible Cubes on a Surface for Musical Expression: a Family of Experiments. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 10(8), ISS004. https://doi.org/10.1145/3859316 (Original work published 2026)