A Multimedia Handwriting Learning and Evaluation Tool

In this paper, we present a multimedia system designed to facilitate learning of alphabetical handwriting of various languages by incorporating visual, auditory, and haptic feedback. An XML-based schema has been used to easily introduce new characters from other languages. The system supports two modes of operation: a learning mode and an evaluation mode. In the learning mode, a user can see, hear, and feel the letters and is guided (either partially or fully) to recreate their shapes. On the other hand, the evaluation mode tests the performance of students by comparing the trajectory/stroke and force information of the test character and a reference character. A pattern recognition algorithm, named Dynamic Time Warping (DTW), has been used to measure this similarity and give the student a pass/fail grade. We also verify the effectives of the DTW algorithm by trying several shapes and see how the difference value is changing.