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Lukas Mecke, Ismael Prieto Romero, Sarah Delgado Rodriguez, Florian Alt
Exploring the Use of Electromagnets to Influence Key Targeting on Physical Keyboards
In CHI EA '23: Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. April 20, 2023. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA. (bib)

In this work, we explore the use of force induced through electromagnets to influence finger movement while using a keyboard. To achieve this we generate a magnetic field below a keyboard and place a permanent magnet on the userâs finger as a minimally invasive approach to dynamically induce variable force. Contrary to other approaches our setup can thus generate forces even at a distance from the keyboard. We explore this concept by building a prototype and analyzing different configurations of electromagnets (i.e., attraction and repulsion) and placements of a permanent magnet on the userâs fingers in a preliminary study (N=4). Our force measurements show that we can induce 3.56 N at a distance of 10 mm. Placing the magnet on the index finger allowed for influencing key press times and was perceived as comfortable. Finally, we discuss implications and potential application areas like mid-air feedback and guidance.