Tabletop Tangible User Interface Research Articles

BotMap

The development of novel shape-changing or actuated tabletop tangible interfaces opens new perspectives for the design of physical and dynamic maps, especially for visually impaired (VI) users. Such maps would allow non-visual haptic exploration with advanced functions, such as panning and zooming. In this study, we designed an actuated tangible tabletop interface, called BotMap, allowing the exploration of geographic data through non-visual panning and zooming. In BotMap, small robots represent landmarks and move to their correct position whenever the map is refreshed. Users can interact with the robots to retrieve the names of the landmarks they represent. We designed two interfaces, named Keyboard and Sliders, which enable users to pan and zoom. Two evaluations were conducted with, respectively, ten blindfolded and eight VI participants. Results show that both interfaces were usable, with a slight advantage for the Keyboard interface in terms of navigation performance and map comprehension, and that, even when many panning and zooming operations were required, VI participants were able to understand the maps. Most participants managed to accurately reconstruct maps after exploration. Finally, we observed three VI people using the system and performing a classical task consisting in finding the more appropriate itinerary for a journey.

Exploring Social Interaction With a Tangible Music Interface

This article presents a video-based field study of the Reactable, a tabletop tangible user interface (TUI) for music performance, in a hands-on science centre. The goal was to investigate visitors’ social interactions in a public setting. We describe liminality and cross-group interaction, both synchronous with fluid transitions and overlaps in use between groups and asynchronous. Our findings indicate the importance of: (i) facilitating smooth transitions and overlaps between groups and (ii) supporting not only synchronous but also asynchronous group interaction. We discuss the lessons learned on how best to enable liminal situations in the design of interactive tabletops and TUIs for social interaction and particularly collaborative tangible music in public museum settings. • Presentation of a video-based field study describing cross-group interaction. • Description of exemplar vignettes of video for illustrating liminal situations in social interaction. • Discussion of the nature of different levels of cross-group interaction and their relevance for social interaction and collaboration. • Lessons learned in how best to enable liminal situations in the design of collaborative tangible user interfaces for promoting social interaction and collaboration.

ʔeləw̓k̓ʷ – Belongings: Tangible Interactions with Intangible Heritage

ʔeləwkʷ – Belongings is an interactive tabletop using a tangible user interface to explore intangible cultural heritage. The table was designed for the cəsnaʔəm, the city before the city exhibition. This exhibition is a partnership of three major institutions in Vancouver, BC, examining the significant ancient village site on which part of Vancouver was built, as well as Musqueam culture and community today. The tabletop uses replicas of Musqueam belongings excavated from cəsnaʔəm, as well as contemporary objects that are a part of everyday Musqueam life to access information about the long history of salmon fishing and the continuity of related knowledge at cəsnaʔəm. The design of ʔeləwkʷ – Belongings highlights the tensions between fragmentation and continuity that are central to discussions of access and preservation of intangible cultural heritage in the digital age. In this paper we discuss the tangible tabletop interface as a response to the desire to reconnect fragmented collections and physical belongings from cəsnaʔəm with Musqueam intangible cultural knowledge.

Utilisation en classe d’un jeu sérieux sur table interactive avec objets tangibles pour favoriser l’activité des élèves : une évaluation comparative en cours préparatoire

In this study, we evaluate in which extent a tangible tabletop interface can enhance students’ activity involve in playing a serious game. Participants were eleven first grade students. Each group practiced the game in class and then, the same serious game for a tangible tabletop interface. Time on task of each student was measured in the two conditions of practicing the game. Results indicate that the time students spend on task in playing the serious game on a tangible tabletop interface is significantly higher than the time they spend on task when playing the game in class. However, results revealed interindividual differences. Finally, data shown that students’ activity is mostly asynchronous in playing the serious game on a tangible tabletop interface while their activity is mostly synchronous in playing the game in class.

Facilitating shared understanding of work situations using a tangible tabletop interface

As work is an inherently cooperative phenomenon, it requires a common understanding of the nature of collaboration for all involved parties. In this way, explicit articulation work becomes an integral and essential part of collaboration. Implicit aspects of collaboration have impact on the quality of work results, mainly through social norms and observations of working together. Eliciting those aspects interactively helps in avoiding (mutual) misrepresentations and lack of understanding. Tangible articulation support systems allow aligning mental models of how work should be carried out. Stakeholders can develop a common understanding of collaboration in a semantically open and non-intrusive way. They are not burdened by explication features and diagrammatic notations. We have utilised experiences with model-centred learning theory to support explicit articulation work. According to our field studies, the resulting models can be fed back to current work practices and help in preventing problematic work situations.

1P1-H06 ポータブルでマルチモーダルなテーブルトップ型タンジブルユーザーインタフェース(VRとインタフェース)

Recently, various Tabletop Tangible User Interface (TTUI) has been developed. However, most of the TTUIs require special table which includes cameras, and sensors such as touch panel. We developed new TTUI which does not require special table is proposed. In this paper, we propose new input mechanism, feed back mechanism, and applicationes for our the TTUI.

Interactive edutainment system with enhanced personalized user interface framework

We present the Responsive Multimedia System, an interactive edutainment system. The system consists of an AR-based tabletop tangible user interface (ARTable) and a virtual environment manager (VEManager) integrated by enhanced Personalized User Interface Framework. In this system, a user interface and virtual environments are integrated seamlessly by sharing user-centric context. To share user-centric context efficiently, our system optimizes the number of network connection between objects in real and virtual environments. The synchronization problem between ARTable and a virtual environment is solved by calculating coordinates with additional information such as collision with terrain and physics law in a virtual environment as well as user-centric context. Moreover, it reorganizes responses of an object according to a user-centric context and condition-action rules. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system we developed an application on the subject 'Dream of Mee-luck'. According to the experimental results, we found that the proposed system could be a promising technology that enables users to experience an interactive story. In the future, the proposed system can play an important role in developing interactive applications for edutainment.