Maxime Guillon - Expansion de cibles pour le pointage et la sélection : Application à l'interaction à distance en chirurgie augmentée

Pointing to/ Selecting targets is an elementary task universally present in graphical user interfaces (GUI). This task can be difficult to perform if the control of the cursor is not easy or if the target is far away or small. Thus facilitating target selection is a fundamental and active research topic in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and researchers have proposed numerous targeting assistance techniques. Our research focuses on targeting assistance techniques that allocate larger activation areas to targets. Such target expansion techniques rely on two basic elements : the expansion algorithm and the visual aid. The expansion algorithm distributes partly or wholly the free space among the targets. The visual aid presents the resulting target expansion to the users. Our work is dedicated to the visual aid that enables the users to take full advantage of the target expansion technique during the pointing/selection tasks. We first propose a three-axes design space for visual aid mechanisms. We further define a matrix-based notation for concisely describing a target expansion technique along the three design axes. We provide an analytical exploration of the design space by classifying existing target expansion techniques and by designing eight novel target expansion techniques, thus demonstrating the generative power of the design space. We also provide an experimental exploration of the design space by conducting two in-lab experiments. Based on the experimental results, we build a set of design recommendations. We then put forward a conceptual predictive model of performance. The model relies on a systematic analysis of the relevance of the visual aid provided by a target expansion technique based on the three goal-oriented phases of a selection task : the starting phase to initiate the movement towards the target, the transfer phase to bring the cursor into the goal target and the selection validation phase. To test the model we consider experimental results of the literature and of a third conducted in-lab experiment. Our contributions are applied to the field of Augmented Surgery and in particular interaction with a distant screen during a surgery in the operating theatre. As part of a Aesculap-CIFRE thesis, the next version of the product Aesculap’s OrthoPilot® Navigation System for orthopaedic surgery will include a target expansion technique for facilitating target selection by the surgeon in the operating theatre. We also provide a new foot gesture-based technique, namely Medical TapTap, for the validation of selection in the operating theatre.