VRKeyboard

A Survey and Implementation of Fast-Input Typing Methods in Virtual Reality

- Date(s): May 2020
- Topics: Virtual Reality (VR), Information Interfaces and Presentation, User Experience (UX)
- Methods: Human Subjects Experimentation, Surveys & Questionnaires
- Tech Stack: Oculus Quest, Unity3D, C#/CSharp
- Collaborators:
  - Katie Donahoe (kd459@cornell.edu)
  - Prithvi Sriram (ps976@cornell.edu)
  - Harald Haraldsson (Website, hh586@cornell.edu)
- Links: Project Page PDF

The Virtual Keyboard (VRKeyboard) is a project aimed to provide users of the Oculus Quest with a fast keyboard input channel.

One fascinating aspect about Virtual Reality is the lack of any realized method to input text within a reasonably quick time frame. While virtual keyboards currently exist such as Microsoft’s HMDisplay-based VR Keyboard and Normal.’s Open-Source Keyboard, many of these available options are either highly experimental or offer experiences that are not intuitive in their nature. This project aims to create a drag-and-drop keyboard within Unity that is both intuitive to use for most users, reduces cognitive overload on the user, and allows for accurate text input.

Functionality

Character Selection via Joystick orientation; a 2nd inner layer toggable by index trigger hold on the controller holding the keyboard.
Character Input and Delete via button press on controller not holding the keyboard.
Holding the Input and Delete buttons acts similarly to holding a key on a normal keyboard.