Phototransistor Multitouch With A Twist

June 4, 2009 by Caleb Kraft 9 Comments

multitouch

[Alex] sent us this project he’s working on where he’s building a phototransistor based multitouch input system. Though many people have built systems with phototransistors, most of them are quite large and very sensitive light and dark variances. [Alex] has done some fancy background subtraction through software. He believes his is the first to do this. As you can see in the video after the break, it seems impervious to the lamp he is moving around, and still fairly sensitive to his hand. We’re curious to see where he takes this one.

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WiNet, Wireless Arduino Touchscreen

May 30, 2009 by Eliot 20 Comments

winet

Liquidware has put together an interesting kit called the WiNet. It has a battery powered touchscreen controlled by an Arduino. Using an XBee shield, it can send commands to a paired XBee and Arduino attached to a computer. The computer can also update the touchscreen display. This is demoed in the video below. It’s a unique interface, but the TouchShield alone costs $174 so we’re guessing you’re going to be pretty damn confident in your project before you go this route.

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Global Hackdays: Tangible Interfaces

May 26, 2009 by Caleb Kraft 1 Comment

[vimeo=4138521]

June 6th is the date of the upcoming Global Hackday. This time, focusing on cheap tangible interfaces, mainly trackmate. They want as many people to join as possible, even if you’re not comfortable with code. We’ve covered the construction of the trackmate surface before, now build one and get in there and contribute.

Mud Tub: A Tactile Computer Interface

May 11, 2009 by Caleb Kraft 12 Comments

mud

[Tom Gerhardt] has made this very interesting mud interface for a computer. Follow the link to see a video of it in action. It appears as though he’s using a laser grid of some kind to establish elevation. We might be way off on that though, there aren’t any details on the construction. He does mention that it is an open source hardware and software project, so maybe the details are available on request. In the video you can see it running as a projection surface where people are interacting with items directly on the mud. You can also see it being used as an external input device. People play Tetris using it in that example.

UPDATE: [Moon] reports from the ITP show that the tub has a 16×12 grid of generic pressurs sensors on the bottom. These feed into a MacBook Pro which is projecting on the surface. Despite the sparse grid, [Tom] says he gets good resolution by interpolating between sensors; it can detect a resting hand pivoting on the surface.

TouchKit Spark Released

May 8, 2009 by Eliot 14 Comments

touchkitspark

NOR_/D has just released their newest multitouch display system. The TouchKit Spark features a larger 35.4x23inch display surface than its predecessor, the Run. It uses ultrabright IR LEDs around the screen’s border for FTIR multitouch sensing. A high frame per second IR camera is included to increase tracking performance. The screen is fully assembled, but you need to provide your own projector and case. It can be built at table height or as low as 20inches. The device is designed to work with OpenFrameworks, but future software releases will have TUIO support.

Tangible, Changeable, Multitouch Controls

May 1, 2009 by Caleb Kraft 17 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smai_Z_galE]

iPhones and iPod touches have many advantages over the plain iPod. Have you ever wished you could advance tracks without looking though? That is a perfect example of where the current display/ input trends are lacking. There is no tactile feedback. [Chris Harrison], a Ph.D student at Carnegie Mellon has been working on an alternative.

His displays are rear projected and multitouch like many of the other multitouch systems we’ve seen. However, his also offer tactile feedback by changing their physical shape. Much like a vac-u-form, he is using vacuum to deform a flexible surface over different shapes. Not only are they able to do simple 2 state systems where you have smooth, then vacuumed, they can also do a third state by pressurizing the inside of the display. You can see several variations in the video.

TUIO Multitouch On IPhone Via Browser Hack

April 22, 2009 by Caleb Kraft 11 Comments

[vimeo=3975324]

When the MSAFluids Remote multitouch App was rejected, a developer found a way to get virtually the same effect using a safari App. They’re using the TUIO protocol to get the desired remote control. This opens up the door to extending Applications through the browser as well. While this probably wouldn’t allow you to utilize the other sensor inputs from your device, like accelerometer data, it will allow for fast prototyping of applications that don’t need that.