This seems to be a prime candidate for rear projection. Since they’re using fabric, it should be relatively easy to see light coming from behind.

Their major changes would be removing the foam padding and changing the force sensitivity options. They would likely be able to maintain or improve force sensitivity accuracy by mounting the sensors around the edges of the fabric. This new model would also likely allow for upward motions such as pinching and grabbing.

Most importantly, switching to rear projection would allow the user to have a more obvious view of the way they’re affecting the image. The front projection made it difficult to see how the image was being warped because there was so much overlap with the user’s hands.

Posted at 12:11 pm on Feb 12th, 2009 by Dean Putney

Interesting idea but I see two problems:
1) It looks like you have to press REALLY hard to do anything so thats not really practical for long periods of time and
2) Using a top down projector means that you can’t see the display every time you’re using it.

Posted at 12:20 pm on Feb 12th, 2009 by Dan

wicked idea, i really like it! another prime example of using an arduino well! unlike my efforts…

rear projection wouldnt work with his method though, as he’s got force sensors under the foam which is projected onto from above.
if it was rear projection you’d need some sort of camera system to read the depth of the hand and fingers pushing on the fabric.

give that man a medal!

Posted at 12:36 pm on Feb 12th, 2009 by vidiot bod

I wonder if he could use a continuous beam-break system to detect the degree which the surface is displaced rather than force sensors? The cross section of the displaced volume will grow as he pushes harder on the screen. That way he could go to rear projection.

Posted at 1:01 pm on Feb 12th, 2009 by dildo baggins

How stretchy are conductive fibers ? Would there be a sufficient change in resistance if you made a cloth with those fibers woven in and pushed down on it ?

Posted at 1:39 pm on Feb 12th, 2009 by Marco

@marco: I’m not sure, but one other possibility would be to use regular fabric and project beams of IR light from the sides. When viewed from the bottom, these series of beams would form a contour map where they hit the fabric.

I could see there being some issues with multi-touch, since the beams could be occluded by other deformations…

Posted at 2:12 pm on Feb 12th, 2009 by Mythgarr

@dan: Ditto. I also see both of those as problems!

Posted at 2:41 pm on Feb 12th, 2009 by marz

Yeah, you can definitely see the person’s hand shaking during the 3D modeling example, maybe others but I didn’t watch any further.

Interesting concept, but I can’t see it being all that useful except in store displays, etc.

Posted at 3:10 pm on Feb 12th, 2009 by Roboguy

The plural of “vertex” is “vertices” : )

Posted at 3:43 pm on Feb 12th, 2009 by Dylan V

@dylan v
Actually, vertex in plural can be either vertices or vertexes.

Posted at 6:07 pm on Feb 12th, 2009 by Caleb Kraft

Hey what song is that? :) Anyone?

Posted at 1:03 pm on Feb 17th, 2009 by Jonatan

this is an amazing concept and idea.
but robo – your right but for one thing.
u need a little imagination just think if money and time and a little evolution could do ?
you would simply make advertisements look retarted , and create a whole seperate entertainment industry aside from every major comp wanting one.
i honeastly can’t wait to see wtf they come out with soon , there is so much new technology that is exponentially growing – i think it will soon be absolutely crazy

– but that was righteous though – peace

Posted at 9:20 pm on Apr 2nd, 2009 by JAk3