Bend and Twist Interactions in Practice

The interaction models that are currently dominant in smartphones neglect the capabilities that human hands have to extract information and manipulate objects dexterously. In response to this, tangible, organic and deformable UIs have been proposed. Research is showing that interacting by deforming a UI offers a great amount of control over continuous parameters, and an excellent user experience (UX). In a series of studies conducted with deformable devices that can be bent and twisted, we have learnt what the physical properties of the deformable device should be like. In addition, we now understand better how the type of deformation gesture and the extent of the deformation affect performance and UX. When reviewing these studies, we find that these design techniques offer a great deal of tolerance towards achieving satisfactory, even delightful, interactive experiences even when deviating from the ideal properties and conditions, possibly due to the high degree of adaptability of the human somatosensory system to interact with a rich physical environment.