Interactive Tables

This is a short list of links to interactive table projects that I’ve accumulated over the past few months.

Intellegent Vibrations has developed what they call an Internet Table. According to their site the surface of the table as a “tap screen” which they go on to describe being for ordering food, drinks or surfing the internet all while being impervious to liquid. Apparently (and I’m referenceing this) the touch screen technology has to do with detecting sound waves at the edges of the glass screen. That explains why you have to “tap” the screen not just touch it. This has other applications including a “tap screen” store window which also appears to be in developement. Honestly the website leaves a lot to be desired so I can’t get very specific. Some images of the table on Craowiki.

UbiTable was developed by Mitsubishi Electronics Research Labs. The table allows users to walk up connect their laptop, camera and “fluidly share, manipulate, exchange, and mark up their contents with each other on a large tabletop surface”.

Jean-Baptiste Haué, Pierre Dillenbourg published their research on three interactive tables at various levels of completion for the CRAFT – School of Computer and Communication Sciences in Switzerland. Their Noise Sensitive Table responds to sound levels aroung the table and records a visual representation of a conversation. (similar idea to the Conversation Table)

The Novo Infotainment Table takes the interactive table back to it’s arcade roots with some spacey styling to compliment the two joystick and multibutton interaction. Although it is called an “Infotainment Table” it is obviously geared toward games.

For all these links I’m drawing from Nicolas Nova’s blog Pasta & Vinegar. Nova himself taught a class which had a project about interactive tables. The outcomes are documented online. Nova also linked to a workshop about collaborative artefacts and that page has an even more extensive list of interactive tables and roomware. It looks like there was quite a lot going on in this field in the last few years that I didn’t know about.