Paper Reading #15: Madgets: Actuating Widgets on Interactive Tabletops

Madgets: Actuating Widgets on Interactive Tabletops
 
UIST 2010

By:
Malte Weiss, Florian Schwarz, Simon Jakubowski, Jan Borchers.

 

• Malte Weiss is currently a PhD student at RWTH Aachen University, Germany. He is in the Media Computing Group.
• Florian Schwarz has a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Massachusetts. He is currently an Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania.
• Simon Jakubowski is currently a research scientist at AlphaFix.
• Jan Borchers has a PhD in Computer Science from Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany. He is currently a professor of Computer Science at RWTH Aachen University, Germany.
  

Summary
Hypothesis
The authors of this paper used electromagnetic actuation combined with optical fibers to track, move and operate physical controls. They also introduce an algorithm that can visually track touches and objects using a sample video.

Methods
They tested six different madgets to see how the system operated with them. They attempted to make their design as light weight and portable as possible. They tried to make their design flexible and easy to use. There weren't any user studies done as far as I could tell.

Results
This system provides a platform that is user friendly and great for widget developers. Creating widgets for this system is incredibly simple and quick and the physical set up is rather simple itself. The application of actuators is simple with simply gluing on markers where you want.

Contents
This design uses a 24" screen for display and the actuation is essentially an array of electromagnets and an Arduino board. The visual sensing done through a transparent acrylic widget controls. The tracking algorithm is aware of the materials of the design and thus is able to track touch and movement.

Discussion
I felt this paper was highly interesting though I found it difficult to understand everything. I was disappointed in the lack of user testing. I also felt they failed to create something that can be used quickly out of the box because while quick, the widgets still take some doing.