Tangible Interfaces and Graspable Interfaces
This page gives a access to web ressources on Tangible User Interfaces and related approaches (Graspable Interfaces, Tangible Interaction, Mixed Reality). It is limited mostly to web pages and project or persons home pages. If you know something which is missing here, please tell me.OVERVIEW:
Outdated links which I'd like to keep for historical reasons or links which might show up again (or be refound)
are shown in dark red ....
What are Tangible Interfaces - Definitions
Projects, People and Research Groups - start
Paper-based Tangibles or Interactive Paper
Self-Describing Building Blocks - 3D Modelling
Tangible, interactive Toys - Games & Toys
interactive music or composing instruments - Music Applications
Design & Interaction Design Approaches to TUI-Design - Design
Mixed & Augmented Reality and Tangible Interaction - MR, AR and more
Technology Stuff: Technology
Bibliographies and other ressources: Ressources
Author contact
Ullmer
& Ishii on Tangible Interfaces (this definition is the most wide spread):
Generally graspable and tangible interfaces are systems relating to the use
of physical artifacts as representations and controls for digital information.
A central characteristic of tangible interfaces is the seamless integration
of representation and control, with physical objects being both representation
of information and as physical controls for directly manipulating their underlying
associations. Input and Output devices fall together.
There are 4 characteristics concerning representation and control:
1.Physical representations are computationally coupled to underlying
digital information.
2.Physical representations embody mechanisms for interactive control.
3.Physical representations are perceptually coupled to actively mediated
digital representations.
(visual augmentation via projection,
sound...)
4.Physical state of tangibles embodies key aspects of the digital state
of a system.
(TUIs are persistent: turn off the electrical power and
there is still something meaningfull there what can be interpreted)
And: (this should be heaved up to be characteristics as well)
- Tangible interfaces rely on a balance between physical and digital representations.
Digital representations are needed to mediate dynamic information.
- The elements of TUIs are spatially re-configurable (in contrast to tangible
digital appliances) (pointed out in Brygg Ullmers PhD-thesis)
From the thesis of Volker Brauer (artec) about "Gegenständliche
Schnittstellen"
(an area combining some Augmented Environments and Tangible Interfaces, thus
the description also applies to some Augmented Environments which offer a
shared environment and natural interaction)
Physical spatiality describes the co-presence of user, objects
and other users in one interaction space. This space is a hybrid.
Physical objects have a double affiliation to real/physical and virtual/digital
space, but must still obey laws of the physical world. Because of co-presence
of users and objects, interaction takes place IN the user interface. Therefore
input and output space coincide. The user experiences a bodily
shared space, his/her body is in the same space as the interaction objects.
Haptic directness denotes direct manipulation where the physical,
graspable objects themselves are the interface. The user has direct contact
with the interface elements Interaction is unmediated and intuitive,
leading to ‘direct engagement’. Unmediated, direct manipulation results in
isomorphic and structure-preserving operations.
What does it mean for an object to be ‘graspable’? (from
one of my own papers)
It means that it is of material nature, following physical laws, is situated
in an environment and can be experienced by the living body. One interacts
directly with graspable objects, touching and feeling them. The word tangible
expresses the doubleness of touch -- being touched by the same thing that
one touches, being active and passive at once. Grasping refers to the
act of enclosing something with ones digits. Our hands are the most sensorised
part of our body and their representation occupies a rather large part of
our brain. They have been our foremost and most versatile, creative instruments
for ages until technology reduced their utilisation to clicking and pointing.
George W. Fitzmaurice together with Hiroshii Ishii and William Buxton 1995 introduced Bricks,
tangible new input devices that allow direct control of electronic or virtual
objects through physical handles for control, and coined the term "Graspable
User Interface".
Fitzmaurice
dissertation defines and explores Graspable User Interfaces, putting
emphasis on the fact that input control can then be "space-multiplexed", that
is different devices can be attached to different functions, each independently
(but possibly simultaneously) accessible. This allows a larger expressive
range of gestures and grasping behaviors but also to leverage off of a user's
innate
spatial reasoning skills and everyday knowledge of object manipulations. 2-handed
interaction was another major point in this thesis.
Real Reality is a specific
approach highly related with Tangible Interfaces and was developed at the
research center artec in Bremen (now: artecLAB).
Projects around Real Reality have been: RUGAMS,
Eugabe,
BREVIE
Real Reality focuses on bridging between two different modelling worlds -
real physical world and virtual worlds, and on the use of functional physical
models (that is models having real functionality, instead of only using bricks
or blocks without any behavior).
DERIVE extended the
concept and mixed it with ideas from mixed environments to enable distributed,
mixed modelling of pneumatic circuits. HyperTubes connect real parts
of a circuit with purely virtual, simulated circuits and with other real circuits
which are in another part of the world.
My own research focuses on the use of tangible interfaces in cooperative
& collaborative settings, esp. for designing and problem-solving:
Look at my publications on analysis of group interaction with tangible media and design issues related
to this issue.
MIT's Tangible Media Group (led by Hiroshii Ishii) focuses on Tangible Interfaces and introduced the term "tangible user interfaces". Most of their projects and publications are relevant for Tangibles, starting with the MetaDesk, and eg. Triangles, URP, MediaBlocks, IlluminatingLight, IlluminatingClay.... A related approach pursued by this group is Ambient Media, which can be explained as using physcical objects and environments as display device, devoid of the input/manipulation facility of Tangible Interfaces.....
There are several other MIT Groups with projects related to Tangibles:
Hyperinstruments
Group,
The Lifelong Kindergarden Group: Programmable Bricks,
Beyond Black Boxes,
Toys to think with
(e.g programmable beads)
Gesture & Narrative Language Group: Creating stories with a blank-page
book and wooden animals: AnimalBlocks
Embedding story telling functionality
into toys: Sage,
Rosebud
(link lost), SAM,
Storymat
Synthetic Characters Group: the Swamped
Project - Using Plush Toys to Direct Autonomous Animated Characters
Tangible Viewpoints a system for interacting with a multiple point-of-view story, by Ali Mazelek The interface uses wirelessly sensed graspable pawns on a top-projected surface to navigate through the story. When a pawn is placed on the sensing surface, the story segments associated with its character's point-of-view are projected around it and can be interacted with.
The Origami Desk is an interactive desk with sensing and projecting, where users learn to fold paper into Origami shapes. The desk shows videos that demonstrate what the hands should do, projects lines onto the paper indicating folds, and monitors the paper folding to give feedback. Origami Desk utilizes projection, electric field sensing, and low-cost radio-frequency identification tags integrated into the paper
Datatiles: Jun Rekimoto at Sony worked on one project with Brygg Ullmer of MIT's Tangible
Media Group
Brygg Ullmer now is at ZIB
in Berlin and started experimenting with using tangible interfaces for scientific
visualisation.
Center for
Lifelong Learning & Design (L3D) in Boulder, Colorado :
The
EDC(Envisionment & Discovery Collaboratory) is a system to support
community participation in public planning and design. There are now 2 versions,
an (older) SmartBoard version, based on a touchscreen hardware, and (new)
the PitA-BOARD which is based on a chessboard-like grid, which can
detect tokens. The system is inspired by the game board of physical design
games, but augments the tactile aspects of physical game pieces with dynamic
capabilities of compuational simulation.
When I visited at the L3D lab, we did an exploratory assessment of both
systems - resulting reporting publications can be found on my publications
page (DIS 2002, PDC 2002). Research on the EDC is pursued by Gerhard
Fischer, Hal Eden, Eric Scharff, Ernie Arias and other members of L3D.
- new PitA-Board
Website
Hypergami has been developed by Mike and Ann Eisenberg from L3D. These are software environments for designing and building paper sculpture using polyhedra and custom variants of polyhedra. In some ways, this is the other way around - creating something physical by interacting with the virtual....
Masanori Sugimotos Interaction Technology Laboratory (unfortunately mostly in Japanese...) worked with L3D and uses similar technology to L3D's PitA-Board for an educational game in environmental issues for children
TICLE (Tangible Interfaces for Collaborative Learning Environments): A tangible
interface enable computer systems to
"watch" as children work together on puzzles and other educational tasks
in a physical environment. The system may then act as a "guide on the side".
System developed for the Goudreau Museum of Mathematics in Art and Science,
where visitors can play with 22 mathematical puzzles.
Cubicle - Tangible cuboid
interfaces: a multifaceted,
multi-sensory wireless tangible input device
Interactive
Institute, Sweden: started some Tangible Interfaces Projects, e.g
Tags
The Narrative
Toys Group at Interactive Institute with Psst! the Programmable SoundScape Toy, the Communicating
Dolls, BeastyBox.
Candle Altar The Creation of an Artifact to Facilitate Spirituality
DMG
(Design Machine Group) researches how the digital change effects design.Subsection
on "physical computing"
Navigational
Blocks (4 wooden blocks to interact with a history information booth of
Seattle's Pioneer Square) and
the Tangible MouseHaus (physical front end to pedestrain behavior simulation)
Another site on MouseHaus Table
for supporting discussion and participation in urban planning . Unlike other tangible interaction projects,
MouseHaus enables users to employ ordinary materials in the
interface. Users register objects to represent urban design
elements by showing them under the camera, then they use the
objects to construct a street layout for simulation.
Wendy Mackay: did several projects on Augmented resp. Interactive Paper, one could also term it "paper-based tangibles" (Video Mosaic - paper storyboards to control on-line video editing system, Ariel - paper engineering drawings as interface, Caméléon - flight strips in air traffic control). Her work combines detailed ethnographic work place studies, researching existing work practices around artifacts, and developing technology for these settings.
The Designers Outpost A task-centered tangible interface for web site information design, that combines the affordances of paper and a large physical workspace with the advantages of electronic media to support the early phases of collaborative information design for the web.
RASA: a
computer augmented environment for military command and control, augments
a map and paper scraps and allows multimodal interaction (speech, handwriting,
gesture)
Paper++ project aims
to develop and assess innovative concepts and systems enriching the use
of paper in everyday settings; the home; the classroom and other public
spaces.
Pulp Computing
project (Paper based interfaces to digital media) at HP Labs, Palo Alto,
Nomadic Computing Department aiming to integrate paper-based resources
into our personal computing environments.
MERL (Mitsubishi
Electronic Research Laboratory): revitalised and modernized Frazer's and Aish's
original approach: Architectural Interpretation
of 3D Models by using self-describing
Lego-like tangible building blocks.
Research on how a computer might assist by automatically identifying architectural
elements in a 3D model of a building, and rendering those elements in various
styles, with decorative interpretations.
Some other researchers also picked up on Frazers ideas and have started
to advance it and apply it to new areas.
Active
Cube a system of connecting, self-describing cubes. The user constructs
3-D structures in a virtual environment by simply combining the cubes. A
computer recognizes the constructed 3-D structure in real-time. A response
to the interaction is also shown by displays/actuators installed on the cube.
Application areas are seen in: evaluating 3D spatial constructive ability,
educational experiences for children, edutainment, new types of toys, training
to increase skills and speed in assembling objects.
Researchers in this group: Benjamin Watson's on interfaces
and technologies that will improve highly spatial applications of interactive computer graphics. former member Ehud Sharlin
Mechatronic
Design Modelling and Simulation System: John
Frazer and his team revived and improved the original modules of
The Universal Constructor (originally developed by professor John Frazer and
his research team at the Architectural Association in London around 1990)
as a new programmable virtual-physical interface .
Narrative Toys Group at Interactive Institute: Psst! the Programmable SoundScape Toy, the Communicating Dolls, BeastyBox Concept, Student Project Totemette (in Swedish),
Masanori Sugimotos Interaction Technology Laboratory (unfortunately mostly in Japanese...) uses a sensing gameboard for an educational game in environmental issues for children and also for augmented boardgames.
MIT's Lifelong Kindergarden Group: Programmable Bricks,
Beyond Black Boxes,
Toys to think with
(e.g programmable beads)
Gesture & Narrative Language Group: AnimalBlocks Embedding story telling functionality into toys: Sage,
Rosebud,
SAM,
Storymat
Synthetic Characters Group: the Swamped
Project - Using Plush Toys to Direct Autonomous Animated Characters
Subproject of EQUATOR, the Hunting of the Snark.
His Master's Voice (in
German): semi-autononous ball-robots that react to audio and are used as
tokens within a board-game
CACHET (Sterling & Sussex)
exploratory study to investigate communication and interactions
between children and 'smart' toys, finished late 2002
iToys:
Interactive Toys project at IC Cave, Dundee (Scotland): research by Eiman
Kanjo
Studierstube Tangible
AR for Games - (Master thesis, TU Vienna) - using a glass table and marker-based
optical tracking for a ball-game (shooting balloons with a catapult)
Electric
Blocks - A Tangible Programming System with Lego-like (Duplo) bricks.
Seeing, hearing, touching blocks can detect light, sound and touch. Action
blocks emit sound, light or move (a car). Additionaly there are logic blocks
which connect sensor blocks and action blocks
Computer
Augmented tabletop games (Ambiente sub-project at Fraunhofer) STARS
platform enables easys definition of new games (board games, role play games).
Image recognition of "pawns" (play figurines) and illuminated table.
Some design projects by industrial designers or interaction designers might be considered as kind of tangible interfaces. For designers they are simply tangible appliances and products, which now also have some behavior. The relation of form and function has been designers turf all along...
The graduate program at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, some student projects: eg. Pouring Light, Memory Box, (overview of student exhibition)
At the Royal College of Arts, London, the 2002 exhibition of the Interaction Design Students on 'Computer Related Design' showed several projects related to tangibles. Have a look at the Body Scanner, Frigo Frigo (non-working link) , and others.
- ID Studiolab, Delft, is a group of designers, researchers, and students in the department of Industrial Design. The challenge of the ID-StudioLab is to shape the conditions for a satisfactory product experience, thus focusing on experience and emotions.
- the Mads Clausen Institute on Product Development in Southern Denmark and its study program on IT product design (with focus on tangible IT), (Prof. Jacob Buur) & Tangible User Interaction project
J.P. (Tom)
Djajadiningrat does research in Design on tangible interaction, formerly
Delft, now Eindhoven and cooperates with Mads Clausen Institute
his
publications
- Malmö University, school of Arts and Communication K3, teaches and researches on Interaction Design, Media- and Cultural studies, Art and Technology. It consists of several studios (space and virtuality, interactive narratives, and creative environment) some of which are part of the nearby InteractiveInstitute.
- Kunsthochschule für medien köln (Art university for
media, Cologne), student projects in the lab3 interface labor kmw are very diverse,
falling more into the category of art than into design. Current projects
(with text only in German and little online information: Soundslam (sensory boxing bag), and "loose
space"
(Kippkick (table soccer that moves), Teppichtasten (carpet
with button hot spots to control a video game) - outdated links :-<
PainStation is a custom-made two
player table console with a computer game (the classic Pong) that allows to
inflict real pain on ones opponent. Players stand on opposite sites of the
table. The left-hand is positioned on a sensor field, the right hand plays
the game. Missing the ball is not only annoying, it is also painful,
as heat, punches and electroshocks are given to the left hand. The game runs
as long as the left hand is kept on the sensor field. Article in Wired
A dupliance is a device that serves two purposes as a two-in-one appliance. It encompasses an information-related activity as well as supports a particular physical activity. two prototype dupliances; the SkipRope++ and the YoyoPager. Project by Daniel Fällman at Umeå University Institute of Design
Philipps Design is involved in several projects which use Mixed
Reality, Ubiquitous Computing and Tangible Interaction concepts:
- Living
Memory (LiMe) am EC-Project aimed to enliven Community communication.
The LiMe prototype comprises several community nodes forming a distributed
network . It also provides tokens with which to store, transport and share
information. The nodes currently consist of a café table, a
kiosk, a public display, a desktop, a mobile device and a ‘puck’, allowing
users to browse, view, create and store local community content.
- POGO Active tools for a virtual story world: intertwining physical and virtual
media in the process of inventing stories.
- MiMe Multiple
Intimate Media Environments
- Nebula: an interactive projection system to enrich the experience of going to bed,
sleeping and waking up. It provides intuitive and natural ways of physically
participating in a virtual experience, through simple body movements and gestures.
A ceiling projector is linked to a database of content. Once users have selected
the content for projection, they can manipulate it by adjusting their
sleeping positions. Content is selected by placing a smart 'pebble' into
the bedside pocket.
The Placebo
Project by Dunne & Raby
Time's Up - Laboratory for the construction
of experimental situations. Art group/project situated in Linz, Austria. Doing
situationist ?research? around issues of control, perception and biomechanics.
Events/installations like Sensory Circus / Public
Balance Experiences
The EQUATOR
project, is an Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration(IRC) supported
by EPSRC that focuses on the integration of physical and digital interaction.
It investigates into Mixed Reality for performances, use in domestic environments,
enhancing community care, also in Wearables, Augmented Reality and other
avenues of integrating physcial and digital worlds.
The Hunting
of the Snark is a tangible interactive playgood for schildren.
Pin&Play Project: a new
approach of ad-hoc networking among objects that people can attach to
large surfaces, using up to now (smart) pins and wall switches
Shape project (Situating
Hybrid Assemblies in Public Environments) devoted to understanding, developing
and evaluating room-sized assemblies of hybrid, mixed reality artefacts
in public places combining interactive visual, sonic and physical manipulable
devices. The Storytent (pointing with flashlights at tent walls makes things
visible), Ghostship exhibit (interactive art installation). Part of EU Disappearing
Computer inniative
BUILD-IT picked up on the original Bricks-idea.
Physical blocks are used as tangible handles to interact with a projected
model. Handles are temporarily connected and frequently changed to choose
tools, select objects and manipulate them. Thus the system can be categorized
as Augmented Environment with some ideas of Tangibles. The application domain
is factory planning.
Matthias Rauterberg (ETH-Zürich/Uni Eindhoven) & Morten
Fjeld (researched choice of physical handle form and navigation methods):
BUILD-IT
http://www.iha.bepr.ethz.ch/pages/forschung/MMI/Projects/bit/bit.htm
PLAY Research Group and Future Applications Lab at Victoria Interactive Institute (used to be one group) also has related projects, this is not really tangible interfaces, but uses some related ideas (Token-Based Acess to Digital Info & Enhancement of Everyday objects): Projects on Smart_ITs, Amplified Reality
Teco Telecooperation Office, University of Karlsruhe : MediaCup & Smart_ITs
Project (together with PLAY)
mostly Ubiqoutous Computing oriented, now does a project with PLAY
research group: " a vision of computation embedded in the world"; "Smart-Its" - "small-scale embedded
devices that can be attached to everyday objects to augment them with sensing,
perception, computation, and communication, also cooperating with Lancaster
See also smart-its.org and
the RELATE project:
"Assessment of relative positioning technologies for compositional tangible
interfaces"
Proactive Furniture
Assembly at the ETH Zürich - help for assembly by attaching sensors
and lights to the furniture parts
Tiles A Mixed Reality Interface, where interactive
virtual objects are overlaid on the physical environment, that allows users
to dynamically add, remove, copy, duplicate and annotate virtual objects
anywhere in the 3D physical workspace. Paper cards with visual tracking patterns
are attached to a whiteboard. The tiles are detected and augmented (seen
through a semi-transparent HeadMounted Display). (web page does not seem to exist any more....)
ZTiles (new
Tiles version) at the Interaction Design Centre at the University of
Limerick in cooperation with the MIT Media Lab Europe in Dublin. (also this
page and the MIT Europe site)
PLANTILES
interactive stage consisting of fifteen
wood tiles in a 3 by 5 layout with a projected display output.
Depending on where the user stands and how the user moves
on the stage, corresponding movies will be displayed on the output
screen. embeds computational meaning in a spatial
relationship (termed by authors as TUI also not being
really tangible or graspable....)
CAMELOT: Project group on Augmented Reality at GMD/FHG in Bonn, using physical props for Mixed Reality: ARTHUR (Augmented Round Table for Urban Planning), Mixed Reality Stage (testing lighting shows), augmentation is visible using HMDs.
The Ambiente Project of GMD in Darmstadt develops "RoomWare":
computer-augmented workspaces and furniture (interactive tables, whiteboards....)
which are connected in one network. Although the project realizes mostly visions
from Ubiquitous Computing & Augmented Environments, it includes some
ideas of Tangibles (e.g. the passenger to move information or work objects
in-between workspaces)
Bremen Student Project METHEA (Bachelors in Media
Informatics) under supervision of members of artec, showed their results as
an interactive Mixed Reality Installation: Sensoric
Garden (text on web site in German) - at 3 evenings in June
2001, visitors came to the public garden in Bremen (the old theatre hill)
for a post-modern interactive promenade. 7 installations invited to look
and interact
more
photos (got lost due to server crash, need to re-launch
this...)
artdecom project at the University of Lübeck, Germany works with schools, experimenting with Mixed Reality. Dragon's World, an interactive music show or performance produced by a primary (elementary) school class. A learning project across the subjects of technology, art, dance and handicraft, developed a story which was transformed into a Mixed Reality performance. Moving on the stage activated certain "hot spots" and produced sound and images belonging to the story.
»Cyberpunch« Mixed Reality experimental Puppetery (Berlin, Germany): the puppets
move from stage to the screen and into virtual space. Virtual and real puppets
interact with other. Kasper and Gretel play "Punch and Judy" every day, until
Kasper makes a pact with the devil to escape routine and is taken into the
world of cyberspace.
Whisper : wearable
body architecture. An art project on wearable computing and human
senses. The group is developing technology and communication metaphors that
enable networked wearable devices to communicate affective states expressively
in a continuous manner. whisper[s] are wearable body architectures that read
physiological data and transmit this information through graphics, sounds
or haptics. The aesthetic is deliberately ambiguous.
whisper[s] are wearable body architectures that read physiological
data and transmit this information through graphics, sounds or haptics. Our
aesthetic is deliberately ambiguous,
The Automatic Pooltrainer
from Aalborg, developed in the context of graduate student projects and master
theses.
actibits,
a collection of interactive exhibits (using eg. infrared/electronic
batons) designed by Jan Borchers - I should go and try the Virtual
Conductor at the House of Music Museum in Vienna.....
XFR - Experiments in
the Future of Reading. A Xerox Parc project with an exhibition design
and lots of exhibits showing possible/impossible visions of how reading might
change. Only website I could find on this was in Parcs pressroom, due to
the dissolvement of Xerox Parc into Parc.
Studierstube Augmented Reality Project - bunch of projects based on software platform Studierstube developed at Vienna University of Technology
Tangible Hypermedia (Using the AR Toolkit)
Tangible Interfaces for Volume Navigation using 3D interaction props and optical markers at the TU Eindhoven
TUISTER: a multi purpose TUI
device for two-handed interaction with combined input and output capabilities.
The Planar Manipulator Display
- using movable objects on a TUI (with built-in motors)
Tabletop systems & research
MERL's DiamondTouch
system can detect multiple, simultaneous touch events, but also
identify who is touching where. The interaction surface is filled with arrays
of antenna's, each sending a unique signal. Each user has their own receiver,
generally attached to their chair. When a person touches the surface, energy
from nearby antennas is coupled through the user to their receiver. This is
how the system determines who is touching where. DiamondTouch is said to
have a tangibles option !
see also DiamondSpin
Stanfords iTable
(computer-based tabletop display for collaboration)
Tabletop
research at Edgelab, Canada:
organised some workshops
on co-located tabletop collaboration
Phidgets™,
or physical widgets, are software building blocks that help a developer construct
physical user interfaces. Phidgets abstract and package hardware devices
like sensors, motors, power outlets, etc., thus making programming and controlling
physical interface easier.
Now derived into a company and electronic store, that produces and sells
Phidgets™ -- electronic modules for controlling and sensing
the "real world" from your computer. The Phidgets are USB devices,
and use a free software library to interface to your application or development
environment!
iStuff:
toolkit of physical devices, and a flexible software infrastructure for
rapid prototyping. Software framework includes a configurable "Patch
Panel" intermediary to simplify the dynamic mapping of devices to applications.
Some documentation
Other technical stuff
a student report on RFID technology (no promise that everything is correctly described!)
The hardware (sensing board, based on RFID) inside the PitA-Board (L3D,
University of Colorado) comes from DGT , a dutch company producing electronic chess products. The company is willing
to sell the inner hardware without the chessboard cover. Each field has a
2 inches square size. Due to the chessboard-inheritance, the circuitry comes
as 8x8 array, but boards can be arranged in tandem. If the market evolves,
the company may be willing to develop smaller circuitry, providing smaller
sensor fields and thus higher resolution.
circuit bending
- a handbook on how to re-wire audio or toy games: "Circuit-bending is an
electronic art which implements creative audio short-circuiting.
This renegade path of electrons represents a catalytic force capable
of exploding new experimental musical forms forward at a velocity
previously unknown. Anyone at all can do it; no prior knowledge
of electronics is needed. "
The HIT Lab at University of Washington is making available the Augmented Reality tracking libraries (ARTookKit and MagicBook) used as the basis for the Shared Space project and SIGGRAPH demo. The libraries use computer vision techniques to precisely calculate a camera position and orientation relative to a tracking marker. The programmer can then use this information to draw 3D virtual objects that are exactly aligned with a real object.
Z-Tiles pressure sensitive
pads, (site disappeared ???) which respond to weight changes (= movement)
and can be used as surface for floors to make them interactive, developed
at Interaction Design Centre Limerick and Media Lab Europe (one needs Shockwave
to see some of the content)
PLANTILES
interactive stage documentation
which might enable building similar pressure sensitive floor pads
Tactex produced a technology from
fiber optic based pressure sensing material that detects pressure everywhere
on its surface
DDR (Dance Dance Revolution), a new game (machine) in video arcades, is a dancing simulation game that you play with your feet. People dance to a given song and step on certain spots on the platform whenever an arrow blinks. Hits or misses affect the life score, just as in other video games. The game is done as a performance (in public, trying to make dancing look good) or dance collaboratively. Some links AboutDDR, on the Game idea, and I even found a do-it-yourself guide for making such a platform
AnotoPen (by Anoto)- a pen which, when writing on paper with printed micro-patterns, registers the writing via small cameras inside the pen and sends it to the computer network. Enables having the real handwritten document while providing a digital copy. But one needs to buy the special paper.
Vernier LabPro(R) can be used for teaching and experimenting with sensor technology. Its a
small device which plugs into any computer to transfer data previously (or
online) collected via a range of different sensors, which can be bought as
well and plugged into the device (Plug & Play...). There are sensors for
temperature, motion detectors, accelerometers, gas pressure, humidity, light,
EKG .....
Mimio - simply pens enhanced
with signal givers and a whiteboard or flipchart surrounded by two beams detecting
the signals - gives a digital copy of physical writing
FingerWorks.com Zero-Force keyboards
and pointing devices with MultiTouch gesture input.
Soundbeam "- a distance-to-voltage-to-Midi
device which converts physical movements into sound by using information
derived from interruptions of a stream of ultrasonic pulses." -- see also
the CARESS project (EC-funded)
on interactive acoustic environments for school kids
or "The ultimate MIDI controller" by Infusion
EnOcean GmbH sells maintenance-free,
battery-less and cable-less switches and sensors. They enable radio transmission
without batteries or external power supply. Radio switches and sensors “supply
themselves” by available environmental energy. Final products are for example
light switches that emit a radio signal when being pressed. This signal contains
a unique identification number, is registered and identified and lights the
lamp.
Sounds like something that could be useful in TUI-contexts!
Toys that sound useful for "cannibalizing": Neurosmith company
pressure sensing material from Tactex
Hardware-Technology and Software Links taken from Brygg Ullmer's PhD thesis (RFID systems, MIDI etc. )
short bibliography by the Digital Mouse House group
Brygg Ullmer`s course on Giving Physical
Form to Digital Information, Fall 2002 at Hong Kong Polytechnic University,
School of Design
Online Proceedings of Workshop Physical
Interaction - workshop on Real World User Interfaces at Mobile HCI 03
in Udine (italy)
Report of Workshop about TUIs: Eva Hornecker, Lone Malmborg, Hal Eden. Designing Tangible User Interfaces to Support Participation - Report of a PDC 2002 Workshop, 17 pages. artec-paper Nr. 97, Oktober 2002. (technical report) pdf