Engineers Counter Cyberslacking With A Tap-Kick- Click System

The dynamics of productivity are taking a new turn as researchers across the world are putting in their energies to make things more interesting and simpler for people. A team of researchers recently developed a new way for putting your feet in action as you spend your day on a standing desk. Called as the Tap-Kick-Click system, this one comes installed with a depth camera and pair of instrumented shoes that keep a check on your foot movements. These directly convert your action into on-screen application control.

This modus operandi has been showcased on a Web Browser, a code debugger, and a document reader, it can also be applied to a number of other applications. One of these applications can prove to be a blessing for slackers all over the world. As soon as the user would log into any social media site or any other “cyberslacking” site, it will make the user stand in an uncomfortable position which will be a natural deterrent for time wastage on any such site.

Daniel Vogel, a professor at University of Waterloo explains, “People already use a standing desk to be healthier and more productive. Increasing physical activity by using your feet to enter commands is our main focus, but the anti-cyberslacking pose is something that really pushes the whole idea farther. Some people already install software to completely block sites like Facebook when they want to get work done. Out technique lets people use those sites, but since they need to stand in an uncomfortable post while viewing them, they’re naturally encouraged to keep it brief.”

Apart from keeping cyberslacking low, this system will mainly play a key role in adding some physical action to those people who are compelled to sit on desk all day. It will definitely help in breaking the monotony for those people and adding some action to their boring one-posture day. It will give better control to their feet and giving some rest to their hands. Though the control is limited, the dexterity of feet will help in improving the employee’s’ health.

As Vogel further explains, “There’s plenty of research showing that using feet to type or move a cursor isn’t a very good idea. We demonstrate that with the eight style of interaction, feet are a good fit for slower tasks with intermittent input, like scrolling a webpage while reading or interactive code debugging. We hope our system can make computing more physically active and maybe even a bit more fun.”

If you add working on computer input systems with foot movement, the energy spent on keyboard and mouse input will be relatively less. Not only does it helps in keeping employees from wasting their time on unwanted sites, it will definitely help in increasing their physical movement. AX