Haptic/Tactile Interface: Dynamically Changeable Physical Buttons on a Visual Display -

I came across an interesting video clip while researching haptic and tactile interfaces.

Chris Harrison , a Ph.D. student, and Scott E. Hudson, his advisor, are researchers at Carnegie-Mellon's Human-Computer Interaction Institute. They've been working on a variety of methods to provide tactile properties for visual displays



The paper can be accessed on Chris Harrison's website.

This work was also highlighted in a recent article in Popular Science:

Your Next Touchscreen Might Bulge With Inflatable Buttons: Latex overlays inflate to provide the tactile sensation of pressing a button -Dan Smith, 7/21/09

I'm not very fond of buttons, but if something like this could be configured for my remote control, I could control my TV effortlessly while viewing in the dark!

Razorfish's Touch Framework "Razorfashion" - A lot like my idea for an in-home FashionMirrorAdvisor...

Razorfish recently unveiled the Razorfashion application designed to provide shoppers with an engaging retail experience within the "multi-channel shopping ecosystem". I'm not the "shop to you drop" type of gal, but I can see that this concept could be useful in other situations, after a few tweaks.

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Razorfashion Retail Experience from Razorfish - Emerging Experiences on Vimeo.

As soon as I saw this Razorfish Touch "Fashion" demo video, it touched a nerve. I've been playing around with a similar idea, but for my personal use, in the form of an RFID-enabled system. I'd call it something like "FashionMirrorAdvisor".

Instead of showing skinny fashion models like the Razorfashion application, I'd harness the power of built-in web-cam and mirror my own image on the screen. My mirror would dress me up in the morning when I'm way too foggy to think about matching colors and accessories.

My FashionMirrorAdvisor would be my friend. My "smart" friend, since all of my clothes would be RFID-tagged, along with my shoes, jewelry, and other accessories. My make-up, too.

It would be a no-brainer. I really could use this application - just ask my husband!

More often than not, most mornings I find myself staring at the clothes in my closet, frozen in time, unable to formulate a fashion thought. I might set my eyes on a favorite blouse, but blank out when I try to think about the rest of the steps I need to pull my look together.

I know I can't wear my reddish-pink camisole with my dusty-orange/brown slacks, but at 5:15 A.M., who has the time to think about this little detail? My friend, the TouchFashionMirror would prevent me from making this fashion faux-pas.

No problem.

My FashionMirrorAdvisor would show me a few outfits, and dress my real-time moving image on the screen. Since she knows all things, she'd show me ONLY the articles of clothing that were clean, since my RFID system would keep up with all of that. It would be much more functional than a "virtual wardrobe" application.

I could try out different earrings without having to get them out.

If I couldn't find something, the RFID system would take care of this detail. My FashioMirrorAdvisor would know where I misplaced my clothes, accessories, and even my keys, since they would all be tagged. The mirror application would provide me with a nice little map of my house and car, and highlight the location of the item.

My FashionMirrorAdvisor would keep track of my laundry, too. This would be a great feature. So if my dirty laundry was piling up, and I wanted to wear outfit X, Y, or Z over the next few days, I'd receive a gentle reminder that I'd need to do some laundry first!

Another practical feature:

My FashionMirrorAdvisor would also serve as my health consultant, keeping track of my weight and BMI. This data, along with information gained from the webcam, would be combined so that my advisor would NEVER suggest an outfit that would be too...snug.

I could program the system to provide me with gentle reminders if my weight was an issue. My FashionMirrorAdvisor would show me images of myself "before" and "after", outfits included.

Information about the "after" outfits could be fed to the system from the web-catalogs of my favorite fashion retailers, and once I lost those 10 darned pounds, I'd find a nice parcel delivered to my door.

Thanks to my FashionMirrorAdvisor, I know that the outfit would be just right.

UPDATE 5/8/10:  The FashionMirrorAdvisor would be integrated with a mobile app - since I now have a smartphone, this would be quite useful in planning shopping trips centered around the purchase of new clothes, shoes, accessories, and coordinating cosmetics!  I created a little game  that I think would be ideal for this sort of thing, too.

I still want to work on this....someday.

Too many ideas, too little time!


RELATED
From the Razorfish site:
"The Razorfish Emerging Experiences team is a dedicated group of highly experienced professionals focused solely on emerging experiences and technologies. "Effective innovation" is our multifaceted approach to concepting and delivering pioneering solutions for our clients"

"Founded in 2008, Razorfish Emerging Experiences is a cross-functional team composed of strategists, artists, experience designers, and technologists. We’re part of the Razorfish Strategy & Innovation practice led by Shannon Denton. Jonathan Hull is the managing director of the team, Steve Dawson is the technology lead and Luke Hamilton is the creative lead."

Razorfish Emerging Experiences Portfolio

Expore Chicago Installation at O'Hare Airport: Collaboration between HP TouchSmart PC's , GigaPan, and Others

I was going to post the pictures I took today of touch-screens and other displays from the Cleveland airport, but the news about the HP TouchSmart installation at the O'Hare airport was more exciting.

Via Carnegie Mellon: Explore Chicago Via GigaPan
3/30/09
"Panoramas created with GigaPan, a technology developed by Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute and NASA, are featured on a new city Web site. The imagery of iconic Chicago locations can be explored in detail with 50 HP TouchSmart PCs installed throughout the airport by HP and the Chicago Department of Aviation and Office of Tourism."

Via Flickr

"Chicago's Mayor Daley, left, and Hewlett-Packard's, Stephen DeWitt, interact with on of the kiosks for Explore Chicago, a state of the art installation featuring touch screen HP computers and high-tech lounges, offering travelers a way to connect to the Chicago Tourism Center at O'Hare Airport Monday, March 30, 2009. During the unveiling, Mayor Daley, announced plans to use Chicago's recently awarded economic stimulus package of $12M for runway expansions at O'Hare Airport. (AP Images for HP/Stacie Freundberg)"

Interacting and Communicating with HP TouchSmart Notes: Photo, Video, Audio, and More

The HP TouchSmart Notes application can be used in a variety of interesting ways. I have an HP TouchSmart PC, and I like how easy it is to slide the notes about the screen using this multi-modal application. It allows the user to take capture pictures, video, or audio to create notes, as well as traditional "stickies" that allow for typing or finger-writing input. You can even draw or write over photos. It is an application that has many accessibility features. It also supports many of the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

The various notes can be put together in a variety of ways, and allow for video or photo storytelling and interesting ways of leaving messages- even a song or two.

I did some hunting and found the more information about some non-verbal students with autism who are learning verbal skills through this technology at Hope Technology School in Palo Alto, California.

Video of student using the HP TouchSmart Notes application at Hope Technology School:






Here are a few "How Two" videos that demonstrate the TouchSmart Notes features and interactions:

HP TouchSmart Voice Notes


TouchSmart Text Notes


The pictures below are from the HP TouchSmart Notes Application Review , by Peter Redmer 11/14/08



Text/Drawing Note Creation Panel


Icons for selecting input method for notes



Photo notes input panel:



You can draw on your photo-notes:

Phenom's All-in One Touch-Screen Watch Phone: A perfect observational research tool !?

Note: Other pictures from the Phenom site gave a message, "Sorry, Our Photos are Copyrighted", so this is the only photo I was able to obtain. You can see more photos on Phenom's online photo-gallery.

I might have found the ultimate HCI - ubicomp research tool! The Phenom Watch-Phone. It might also come in handy when I'm conducting observations "across settings" in my job as a school psychologist. (Maybe Phenom will give me one for free to test out for a while...I'd be happy to develop some apps for it if it works out for me.)




I was delighted with some of the user-friendly marketing features on the Phenom website. I didn't have to dig and get lost and dig some more to find what I needed. The above videoclip is featured on the home page of the site, which gives gives a good info-tease about the advantages of the watch. The FAQ section is fairly extensive and easy to navigate.

When you explore to the "Gadget Freaks" page, you are provided with an audio presentation, with musical accompaniment, as you view pictures and prices. (You can turn the web page audio if you don't want to listen to the blurb, or turn it on and listen to it again, if you missed something.)

When you click on the picture of the "SpecialOPS Black" version of the watchphone, you are taken to another page where you can inspect different features more closely as you move your mouse around the photo. (Since I have an HP TouchSmart PC, I just moved my finger around the photo- a great effect!)

Here is the description of the SpecialOps phone, taken from the Phenom website:

"The ultimate watch phone for those who like to live on the edge. The SpecialOps is a fully functional GSM cell phone that has a touch screen and an external key pad. The SpecialOps has an MP3&MP4, built-in microphone and speakers, digital and video camera, MicroSD slot and built-in Bluetooth. You can even take notes with your convenient and compact stylus or record your thoughts on the run. See full list of features for more details."

More info from the Phenom website:

Features
-External keypad
-LCD: 1.3 inch TFT260k Pixels
-Touch Screen
-Language: English
-Ring tone: 64 Polyphonic, Supported Formats: Mp3, MIDI, Wave
-Music Format: MP4, Full Screen
-Camera: 130 Pixels
-T-Flash Supported
-Built-in Bluetooth
-Picture Format: JPG, GIF

Basic Functions
-Notebook: 250 Groups
-SMS and MMS Messaging
-User-defined on-off switch
-Game: Picture Mosaic
-Other Function: MP3, MP4, Built-in Speakerphone, Group Messaging MMS, Call Barring

Basic Parameters:
-Network: GSM, GPRS, WAP
-Frequencies: 900/1800/1900MHZ
-Call Time: 2 hours (estimated - per battery)
-Standby Time: 120 hours (estimated - per battery)

Accessories Included
-256MG Micro SD Memory Card
-Data Wire
-Battery
-USB Charger
-Stylus

More about Phenom

Multi-touch Parody of CNN's Magic Map Wall: Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update MegaPixel Giant Touch-map

Most viewers familiar with CNN news know about the "Multi-Touch Collaboration Wall", or Magic Wall, used by John King. David Borhman, a CNN producer, was describes the purpose of the Magic Wall in a quote in a Washington Post article:

"It's a stupendous way to explain a lot of complicated data"..."Fundamentally, our job is to explain things to people, and we need it visually. This lets us do it naturally, without a keyboard or mouse getting in the way....Once you see it, you get it instantly."

This would be fun to play with- for just about everyone! If you don't have ready access to a "magic wall", take a look Fred Armisen's playfulness in a recent Saturday Night Live parody of the CNN Magic wall:


Video clip via Hulu

Update:  Transcript from the 2008 SNL Show

Partial Transcript:

"One thing we are going to look at is Pennsylvania..Have a very good look at Harrisburg.....Get in really close to this. Back a bit, back a little bit, excellent"

"Now the country can be moved up and down, like so....We can also shrink it and put it in your pocket if you need to."

"You can always change the colors. You got blue, blue again, a little bit of red...right over there, a little bit of blue of course, if you want to make something out of green, you got a little face there, some whiskers, we can ..... make a cat. Notice the triangle nose!"

"Let's look at Ohio. Lets look at the Cleveland area. Lets look really really close. Really close. Really really close, You can see the top of a warehouse. We're really going to want look at that. Very, very important, were going to want to look at that."

"You can take Oregon, lets move it out into the ocean. It will be completely surrounded by water. That's very, very dangerous."

"And here is New York.... New York was there in 2004, and you can shake it around like that.. (shakes New York)"

"Actually, what I'm doing is very important, and informational"

"OK, Fred, stop goofing around..."

Fred turns to the map, and with both hands, moves all of the states out of place.


Photo via engadget

"Check out Michigan... I can make it bounce!" (Drags down Michigan on the map, it bounces up and down once it reaches the bottom of the map.)

Rumor has it that Jeff Hans, of Perceptive Pixel, was responsible for the SNL version of the Magic Touch-Wall map.

Update 11/4/08:

CNN article confirms that Jeff Hans is the inventor behind the election 'Magic Wall'.

Jeff Han's 2006 demo of his multi-touch applications at TED.

Update
I thought I'd add the video clip that makes a little fun of Microsoft's Surface:

The atracTable Multi-Touch System from Atracsys

The atracTable is a multi-touch presentation system developed by the Swiss engineering and development group, Atracsys. It is similar to Microsoft's Surface. Interaction on the table can be triggered by laying objects on the table.

(Marc Hottinger and Lionel Tardy , of Amorpik, designed the interface.)

AtracTable FAQ's

From the Atracsys Website -"How does it work":
"atracTable is the combination of a video-based movements tracking system, a computer, a beamer, and a screen.

When you lay an object on the screen, the tracking system recognizes the object wiht a visual tracking tag on the base of the product. At the same time, the tracking system detects the positions and movements of your fingers and of the objects on the screen.

The whole pieces of information concerning the product(s) and the different locations and movements are sent to the computer. The data is processed and sent back to the beamer.

The processing is performed instantaneously. The real-time interaction is obtained by continous detection of fingers and objects movements. The whole technology fits in the table and is invisible for customers".

Another creation by Atracsys is beMerlin, a gesture-based interactive system that plays out as an interactive window. Although it is used for visual merchandising, it looks like it has potential for other uses, such as wayfinding, building directories, interactive museum exhibits, and education.

Click to enlarge image

How it works:

How NOT to create an interactive touch-screen map!

I came across this interactive map that was situated in a kiosk along a skyway at a large, highly respected hospital.

If you are interested in designing usable and useful interactive wayfinding applications, avoid much of what you see in this videoclip!



This isn't an example of good user-centered design.

About Displays: Content Interface- Touch Interaction on a Panasonic Display

Here is a video-clip of a demo from Content Interface using a large touch-enabled Panasonic display.

Interactive web-based science and math: Link to my TechPsych post about ExploreLearning Gizmos

ExploreLearning is a website that offers a variety of engaging math and science activities, called "Gizmos", for students in grades 6-12.


ExploreLearning's Gizmos would be great on large touch-screen surfaces or displays, such as a NextWindow Human Touch, a SmartBoard, or Microsoft's Surface.

Since the activites are designed as learning modules and are web-based, the Gizmos might even work on iPhones!

Check out my TechPsych post for more information and links.

Photo courtesy of ExploreLearning.