Tangible User Interfaces for Creative Problem Solving, Collaboration, and Learning

Paper in proceeding, 2007

The objective behind Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) is to allow users to interact with computers through familiar tangible objects, thereby taking advantage of the richness of the tactile world combined with the power of computer-based simulations. TUIs give physical form to digital information, employing physical artifacts both as representations and controls for computational media. They lend themselves well to collaboration around intelligent tables, or what we call tabletop interaction. At the t2i Lab at Chalmers, we are expanding the boundaries of interactive technology. We do this primarily by constructing TUIs and tabletop, large-display User Interfaces (UI). These can be used in creative problem solving, collaborative work, and science education. Fields of knowledge at the t2i Lab include software (SW) for multimodal UIs, sensors and actuators, analogue and digital hardware (HW), vision-based tracking system utilizing infrared (IR), and visible light. Further areas of investigation are six-degrees-of-freedom (6DOF) UIs, automatic user analysis, and cognitive-perceptual issues.