BotMap is an actuated tabletop TUI (based on robots) that supports non-visual panning and zooming.

Collaborators and/or co-authors: Bernard Oriola, Marc Macé, Christophe Jouffrais.

Publications / videos

BotMap: Non-Visual Panning and Zooming with an Actuated Tabletop Tangible Interface. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction. 2018.
Video

In short

test

BotMap is an actuated tabletop TUI that enables visually impaired users to explore maps by panning and zooming.

Small robots represent landmarks and move to their correct position whenever the map is refreshed. Users can interact with the robots to retrieve the names of the landmarks they represent and a number of voice commands facilitates the exploration.

We designed two interfaces, named Keyboard and Sliders, which enable users to pan and zoom. Audio feedback is provided to help users understand which part of the map is currently displayed.

We conducted three user studies:

  1. A first study with 10 blindfolded participants demonstrated the usability of the two interfaces in terms of navigation, with a slight advantage for the Keyboard interface.
  2. A second study with 8 visually impaired participants showed that visually impaired users can understand pan & zoom maps and that they were able to perform panning and zooming actions, although this was cognitively demanding.
  3. 3 blindfolded and 3 visually impaired performed a realistic task using a map of Africa and gave feedback on the usability of three navigational aids.