This week I conducted my own internal testing with the Myo armband. I wanted to focuses on how the Myo felt when completing tasks on a desktop screen (my 1680px wide laptop) and a very large screen (the 2440px projector). I also created a series of questions to ask myself and future users I will be testing.  So, if you are interested, let’s walkthrough how my testing session went and what my initial findings are.

##Gesture Testing Agenda

1. Introduction & Overview of Test
   • User puts on Myo band while it warms up.
2. Conventions Questionnaire
3. Calibrate Myo Device
4. Myo Tutorial Tasks
5. Myo Tasks on Desktop
6. Myo Tasks on Projector
7. Follow-up Questionnaire

##Internal Testing Review

###Desktop Testing

Tutorial Tasks: Hitting the four corners was pretty easy. I did not feel like my arm needed to travel to far. The “painting” my name task was a lot more fun and enjoyable.

Button Task: I could absolutely not click the 20x20 box and the 40x40 hit state was difficult too. From just this, it seems Gesture UI elements should be at least 60px wide or bigger.

Scroll Task: Just like dragging to paint my name was easy on the tutorial, so is was with dragging the scrollbar. The bar definitely needed to be increased in size though. And since you can still scroll as long as the mouse is clicked, and the mouse is not on the bar itself, precision is not an issue.

Dragging Task:  This was more responsive than I thought it would be. The only issue was letting go of the circle. There was a slight delay and I would already move the mouse by then and move the circle again.

Input Task: The radio and check boxes are impossible to click. Okay, not impossible, but it takes around 8+ attempts to get it. The drop down and text input have bigger hit states and are possible with 2 attempts.

Projector Testing

Tutorial Tasks: Already I started to run into issues here. It seemed impossible to hit each corner for the tutorial. I had to bend my arms in weird ways. I also found myself moving closer to the screen. The drawing was just as easy though, but I found myself staying away from the edges of the screen.

Button Tasks: I could not hit the 40px and 20px wide buttons. The 100px, 80px, and 60px buttons were doable with one click. I actually skipped the last two because they were too hard.

Scroll Task: This took 2 attempts to start working but after I got it, it was not any harder than the desktop test.

Drag Task: Found there was no noticeable difference between projector and desktop.

Input Tasks: Again, no noticeable difference. Radio & checkboxes still hard.

##Reflection

1. Dragging is gesture’s best friend. Dragging is gestures best friend. It’s broad and border-line fun. Action that require sweeping motions seem to be more natural than trying to “click” with the Myo. This lines up with the common saying, “You can’t out mouse the mouse.”

2. Distance not natural for projector. Knowing where to stand (or sit) when working on the laptop is a lot more natural than using the projector.  I had to move closer and further away a lot with the projector to find what fit. I ended up being like 6 feet away.

3. Projector is not as precise as desktop.  The test showed that clicking buttons was harder on projector than desktop, but I am not sure why. The threshold was 40-60px on desktop and 60-80px on projector.

4. Wave-In and Wave-Right are easiest gestures. Gestures that were not clicking, like waving, were the easiest and most natural. We don’t naturally make hard clenched fists (and sometimes that hurt). Also Myo seems to mix up an open palm and closed a lot more what waving left or right.

Next up! Now its time to test on other people and see if these result match.