BendDesk multi-touch furniture
posted Dec 3rd 2010 11:34am by Mike Szczysfiled under: multitouch hacks
The BendDesk is a horizontal and a vertical multi-touch display connected as one curved surface. Think of it as a smart white-board and a multi-touch desk all in one. It can be used to sort and edit information, or to play games. Check out “Bend Invaders”, a game demonstrated in the video after the break. When you touch two fingers to the display the two points are used to aim a laser at the oncoming monsters.
The system uses a combination of two projectors shining on the surface from underneath and behind. A series of LEDs around the edges of the display bathe it in infrared light. Three cameras with IR filters peer at the underside of the acrylic surface and detect touches by distinguishing variances in the IR pattern through a process called Frustrated Total Internal Reflection. If you’re interested in more of the math and science involved there are a couple of papers available from the project site linked at the top of this post.
We’ve seen so many displays using the Kinect lately, it’s refreshing to see one that doesn’t.
[Thanks Ferdinand via Flabber (NSFW)]
tagged: camera, desk, frustratedtotalinternalreflection, infrared, ir, projector
http://hackaday.com/2010/12/03/benddesk-multi-touch-furniture/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+hackaday%2FLgoM+%28Hack+a+Day%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
See the full Screen Video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5VNTPwVvLzE
What is BendDesk?
For most people from many different disciplines a desk is the main workspace. A typical desk is composed of at least one or more vertical displays that show digital content and a larger horizontal area, containing input devices, such as mouse and keyboard, paper-based documents, and everyday objects. These two areas are clearly separated which makes it hard to move documents from one surface to the other. Furthermore, each area employs a different interaction technique. For example, we use the mouse for drawing on vertical displays but physical pens to annotate paper-based documents. BendDesk is our vision of a future workspace that allows continuous interaction between both areas.BendDesk is a multi-touch desk environment that seamlessly combines a vertical and a horizontal surface with a curve into one large interactive workspace. This workspace can be used to display any digital content like documents, photos, or videos. Multi-touch technology allows the user to interact with the entire surface using direct manipulation and multi-touch gestures. We took special care for ergonomics. Users can comfortably sit at the desk and place everyday objects on it. Have a look at the video!
Go there....
http://hci.rwth-aachen.de/benddesk
Pretty Cool Concept!:) I must admit. So far, I haven't been too impressed with Touch Screens in general. It seems to me that waving your hands around on a Coffee Table is just a novelty and would actually slow down your work as compared to good old key board short cuts and a 4 button mouse. And have you ever tried to Read the Screen of a Kiosk in a Public Place? I can Barely Even Read them, with all those Finger Prints and Smudges. As for my Monitor... Touching it, could end up being a Capital Offense!:O But, all of my Quirks aside... Seeing this BendDesk in action, was very impressive!:) Especially with the new challenges in Aiming in a Shoot em Up Game. Imagine this with any new 3D Game... especially if you could move, aim and shoot from any point on the screen. I'm not a big Gamer. But I can already see a few Stubbed fingers and thumbs with this one... and maybe a few broken screens!;O I'm not quite clear as to what the Picture with all the Papers Stuck to the Screen mean. But, this immediately mad me think... What if you could scan those paper Documents into the Computer, just by Sticking them to the Screen and hitting Scan??? Many Possibilities Indeed...
The BendDesk is a horizontal and a vertical multi-touch display
Don
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