A Meta-Bayesian Approach for Rapid Online Parametric Optimization for Wrist-based Interactions

Wrist-based input often requires tuning parameter settings in correspondence to between-user and between-session differences, such as variations in hand anatomy, wearing position, posture, etc. Traditionally, users either work with predefined parameter values not optimized for individuals or undergo time-consuming calibration processes. We propose an online Bayesian Optimization (BO)-based method for rapidly determining the user-specific optimal settings of wrist-based pointing. Specifically, we develop a meta-Bayesian optimization (meta-BO) method, differing from traditional human-in-the-loop BO: By incorporating meta-learning of prior optimization data from a user population with BO, meta-BO enables rapid calibration of parameters for new users with a handful of trials. We evaluate our method with two representative and distinct wrist-based interactions: absolute and relative pointing. On a weighted-sum metric that consists of completion time, aiming error, and trajectory quality, meta-BO improves absolute pointing performance by 22.92% and 21.35% compared to BO and manual calibration, and improves relative pointing performance by 25.43% and 13.60%.