Usability of binary momentary physical buttons versus binary momentary virtual buttons

This paper presents the results of an experiment that compares interactions with physical and virtual projected buttons. The virtual projected buttons act like a touch screen; they are flat, provide no depth feedback when pressed, and activate on touch regardless of how much pressure is used. This study investigates whether these properties changed how users interacted with the buttons, and if they impacted on the performance of button operation. In the experiment, participants pressed physical and virtual buttons while their movements were recorded with a VICON (Oxford, UK) motion tracking system. The recorded data provides detailed information on how the two types of buttons differ in ergonomic performance factors, such as how quickly the participants reacted, or how quickly they moved to press the button.