Techno Babble

In the past, I’ve separately experimented with both the Microsoft Surface and the Kinect sensor, so was interested to see that Evoluce have recently combined the two technologies with the release of the Evoluce Two device.

It consists of a 46 inch multi-touch LCD display and a Kinect sensor positioned 100cm above the screen.

Evoluce Two can detect more than 60 simultaneous inputs and supports up to 4 users at a time.

The 3D depth sensing technology of the Kinect can also be used to determine when objects are placed near to, or on, the screen surface.

Evoluce Two uses an NEC MultiSync LCD panel, providing a resolution of 1920 x 1080 over an active area of 1018 x 572 mm.

The Evoluce MIM 3D v3.0 software is the touch input recognition software used to provide a fully collaborative multi-user environment and is designed for Windows 7. Applications can be developed using the SDK for the Microsoft Surface 2.0 – which allows you to run applications developed for the Microsoft Surface directly on the Evoluce Two.

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU6xf3kBx1M )

Looks like an interesting competitor for the Microsoft Surface 2, and will retail for Euro 4995, including software.

All the details are available at

http://www.evoluce.com/en/multitouch/multi-touch_lcd_screen.php

The company home page is at

http://www.evoluce.com/

PS. On a separate note, also check out their gesture control software for the Kinect and Windows 7, Win&I, which uses the OpenNI NITE Kinect Sensor software to control Windows 7 applications using gestures interpreted by the Kinect.

http://evoluce.com/win-n-i/en/index.php

Beautiful Modeler is a software program that enables Gestural Sculpting using a multi-touch controller such as the iPad.

Fingers are used to move touch points in the model. The view of the model can be changed and controlled by moving the iPad.

Details at

http://www.interactivefabrication.com/projects/beautiful-modeler/

Researchers from the Open University (http://www.open.ac.uk/) have created an application for the Microsoft Surface that can be used by visitors to Cambridge (UK) to plan their trip.

Up to 4 people can use the system at the same time to choose the attractions in the city that they want to explore during their visit before printing out a final itinerary.

Currently available at the Tourist Information Centre in Cambridge (UK) until mid-June, 2010

Recently I noted an interesting video at Channel 9: Inside MultiTouch: Team Demo, Lab Tour which shows an interview with members of the MultiTouch Research team at Microsoft Research in Cambridge UK.

Microsoft is exploring the use of IR technology over the traditional approach of using capacitive touch panels. The iPhone, for example, uses a capacitive touch panel built into the display.

Find out more about the technology used in the iPhone at

http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/index.html#technology

and

http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/index.html#touch

The Microsoft Surface Computing technology uses a rear projection / sensing system that enables a high sensing resolution but is bulky and expensive. The Microsoft MultiTouch approach, however, uses a number of small infrared transceivers mounted on the rear of LCD panels to enable a more compact solution but at a lower resolution (but still sufficient for detecting multi finger touch).

A prototype, developed at MSR Cambridge consists of an array of IR emitters and IR detectors arranged on a tile which is pressed against the back of the LCD display. IR light passes thru the LCD panel and is reflected back to the IR receivers after bouncing off objects such as fingers. The tile consists of an array of 5×7 emitters and receivers to provide effectively a 35 pixel camera element over an area covered by the size of the tile.

Multiple tiles can be combined to cover the whole screen.

The video shows how off-the-shelf LCD displays can be modified to provide the necessary proof of concept of this approach.

Watch the video (approximate 30 minutes) at

http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=350838