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Desk V.1

Basic Setup

In the FLUIDUM project, the FLUID desk is the smallest prototype of an instrumented environment. We use it as a means to examine new ways of interacting with a possible office environment of the future. The setup consists of an ordinary, empty office table. Above this table is a digital camera hidden in the ceiling. It is used for both taking photos of the table surface as well as for providing a constant video stream, which is necessary in order to analyze activities on the table. The camera is remotely controlled by a PC hidden behind a wall. Also located behind the wall is a standard video beamer, which projects an image through a hole in the wall. In order to redirect this image to the table surface, a mirror is mounted on the wall. Using this setup, we can enable a person sitting on the desk to work with a computer, without even being aware of working with a computer. Working on this table means to both manipluate physical objects as well as digital information on the desk surface and interacting both physically and through gestures with the system.

When the music's over...

Once the computer is turned off, the magic is gone and the user sits again in front of an empty table.

Current Work

• (a) Applications: There are many possible applications for the desk. Further demonstrations are currently under development and will be presented here soon.
• (b) Hardware enhancements: As a next step, we will install four microphones in the corners of the table in order to provide another means of tracking activity on the table. For instance, the user could put down a glass marble as a physical equivalent of a mouse pointer. By calculating the delay of the marble's sound arriving at the microphones, we are able to locate the approximate position, which an be determined more precisely through the use of an additional high resolution image. Using marbles of different material (glass, wood, rubber), which differ in the sound they create when put down on a wooden table top, we hope to create a multifunctional input mechanism with separate input devices for separate purposes.