Tangible user interfaces : past, present and future directions

In the last two decades, Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) have emerged as a new interface type that interlinks the digital and physical worlds. Drawing upon users' knowledge and skills of interaction with the real non-digital world, TUIs show a potential to enhance the way in which people interact with and leverage digital information. However, TUI research is still in its infancy and extensive research is required in or- der to fully understand the implications of tangible user interfaces, to develop technologies that further bridge the digital and the physical, and to guide TUI design with empirical knowledge. This paper examines the existing body of work on Tangible User In- terfaces. We start by sketching the history of tangible user interfaces, examining the intellectual origins of this field. We then present TUIs in a broader context, survey application domains, and review frame- works and taxonomies. We also discuss conceptual foundations of TUIs including perspectives from cognitive sciences, phycology, and philoso- phy. Methods and technologies for designing, building, and evaluating TUIs are also addressed. Finally, we discuss the strengths and limita- tions of TUIs and chart directions for future research

Tangible user interfaces for learning

Tangible user interfaces (TUIs), systems characterised by the embodiment of interaction in physical objects, have attracted general interest but have not yet been widely adopted for learning. Employing these kinds of novel technologies could yield substantial benefits to learners. This paper provides a review of state-of-the-art TUIs for learning, scoped by a revised definition of TUIs that serves to delineate and differentiate these from other kinds of interfaces. We propose a classification framework that attends to important aspects of TUIs for use in learning and review tangible systems within this classification to expose research and design gaps. Our work provides guidance for researchers and learning technologists to help identify potential research directions for TUIs for learning

Sensators: active multisensory tangible user interfaces

Although Tangible User Interfaces are considered an intuitive means of human-computer interaction, they oftentimes lack the option to provide active feedback. We developed ‘Sensators’: generic shaped active tangibles to be used on a multi-touch table. Sensators can represent digital information by means of ‘Sensicons’: multimodal messages consisting of visual, auditory, and vibro- tactile cues. In our demonstration, we will present Sensators as suitable tools for research on multimodal perception in different tangible HCI tasks

Smart materials based research for tangible user interfaces

This article proposes an overview on the evolution of interaction design concepts considering smart materials based research. A series of design projects and experimentations, realized within recent years, are here presented with a specific focus on materials performances. Going through design experimentation on chromogenic and kinetic smart materials, the article would try to define three emerging visions that prefigure the creation of physical object used as interactive interfaces with physical users and or responsive systems to environment conditions. Toward these new design visions disciplinary contributions hybridize with interdisciplinary ones: product design methods work together with interaction design in the Smart Material Interface scenario. The article investigates on these recent advancements and its correlation with human habitat

Multi-touch, superfici interattive & tangible user interfaces

Il progetto si inserisce nel quadro delle attività di sviluppo e trasferimento tecnologico dei laboratori tecnologici di Sardegna DistrICT e prevede la partecipazione dei laboratori tecnologici del distretto Open media center e Telemicroscopia industriale. Il progetto metterà a disposizione delle imprese partecipanti un insieme di conoscenze, competenze, infrastrutture e strumenti, fra i quali ambienti di sviluppo e dispositivi per la sperimentazione e il collaudo delle applicazioni. Tali dispositivi, quali, a titolo di esempio implementazioni multi-touch sia verticali che orizzontali e relativi kit di sviluppo, saranno aggiornati in funzione della effettiva necessità e della disponibilità di risorse. Il progetto intende sperimentare, attraverso l'utilizzo di tecnologie multi-touch, nuovi modelli di interazione uomo-macchina a supporto di svariate applicazioni: surface computing multiutente, pareti interattive per spazi espositivi, interfacce tattili per applicazioni dedicate. Il progetto sperimenterà soluzioni innovative, realizzerà prototipi, svilupperà prodotti sino alla fase pre-competitiva.Finanziamenti::POR Sardegna 2000-2006::Misura 3.1

D-touch: A Consumer-Grade Tangible Interface Module and Musical Applications

We define a class of tangible media applications that can be implemented on consumer-grade personal computers. These applications interpret user manipulation of physical objects in a restricted space and produce unlocalized outputs. We propose a generic approach to the implementation of such interfaces using flexible fiducial markers, which identify objects to a robust and fast video-processing algorithm, so they can be recognized and tracked in real time. We describe an implementation of the technology, then report two new, flexible music performance applications that demonstrate and validate it

Teaching and learning queueing theory concepts using tangible user interfaces

Tangible User Interfaces (TUI) have emerged in the past years as effective computing platforms that intertwine digital information and visualization with physical interactivity. Whilst successfully capitalizing on these properties within primary education to engage and educate children in an entertaining manner, TUI systems have seen limited deployment in more complex scenarios. To this end, this paper investigates the aptness and effectiveness of implementing TUI systems to enhance teaching and learning within higher educational institutes in order to aid the understanding of complex and abstract concepts. The proposal augments mere simulation processes by developing a table-top architecture to allow the real-time interaction and visualization of queuing theory concepts. The paper describes the deployment of the TUI framework within an undergraduate computer networks degree whereby the quantitative effectiveness of this system is assessed from a teaching and learning perspective within an engineering pedagogy

From interaction to trajectories: designing coherent journeys through user experience

notes: Best of CHI 2009 Awardpublication-status: PublishedThe idea of interactional trajectories through interfaces has emerged as a sensitizing concept from recent studies of tangible interfaces and interaction in museums and galleries. We put this concept to work as a lens to reflect on published studies of complex user experiences that extend over space and time and involve multiple roles and interfaces. We develop a conceptual framework in which trajectories explain these user experiences as journeys through hybrid structures, punctuated by transitions, and in which interactivity and collaboration are orchestrated. Our framework is intended to sensitize future studies, help distill craft knowledge into design guidelines and patterns, identify technology requirements, and provide a boundary object to connect HCI with performance studies