The Alchemist: A Gesture-Based 3D User Interface for Engaging Arithmetic Calculations

Published in IEEE VR, 2024

This paper presents our solution to the IEEE VR 2024 3DUI contest. We present The Alchemist, a VR experience tailored to aid children in practicing and mastering the four fundamental mathematical operators. In The Alchemist, players embark on a fantastical journey where they must prepare three potions to break a malevolent curse imprisoning the Gobbler kingdom. Our contributions include the development of a novel number input interface, Pinwheel, an extension of PizzaText, as well as four novel gestures, each corresponding to a distinct mathematical operator, designed to assist children in retaining practice with these operations. Preliminary tests indicate that Pinwheel and the four associated gestures facilitate the quick and efficient execution of mathematical operations.

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