Florian Schwarz is a diploma thesis student at RWTH Aachen University.
Simon Jakubowski is a student assistant at RWTH Aachen University.
Jan Borchers is a professor of computer science at RWTH Aachen University.
This paper was presented at UIST 2010.
Summary
Hypothesis
The researchers attempted to prove the concept of a surface that would allow for interaction with dynamic physical interfaces on the surface through electromagnets.
Methods
The hardware set-up of the device is composed of a display panel, IR emitter and detector, electromagnet system, and fiberoptic cable.
With these system, physical devices (called Madgets in the paper) can be placed on the surface and either be manipulated by the user or by the system itself. Through this kind of system, dynamic interfaces can be created and recognized by the device.
Through complex calculations, the researchers solved various problems such as actuation, heat prevention, tracking, and more.
After setting up their system, they began to explore the possibilities of a system.
Since this paper was written as a proof-of-concept paper they did not bring in participants to interact with the surface.
Results
After the researchers created and designed their system, they discovered several interesting ways to interact with the device.
The first was the creation of general-purpose widgets. These are widgets like buttons, sliders and knobs. One example they gave was that a user could put a slider widget on a table while watching a video and control where the video was being played from. Then the device would move the slider's knob based on time left in the video.
The next was the usage of the dimension of height. Using the magnet surface, they could create buttons that would rest above the surface and could be depressed and activated.
They then explored force feedback. By using the electromagnets, knobs can be given "perceived friction" and can resist slightly when the user attempts to use them.
They even experimented with more novel madget ideas such as creating a motor through the interaction between the surface magnets and the magnets in the physical device. Also created was a madget that provided audio feedback through a bicycle bell.
Discussion
One difficult thing about this paper was the fact that they presented no user study whatsoever. I'd be very interested to see either a study on how users interacted with a given interface or how the users created their own interface with the use of Madgets to complete a given task.
Physical interaction is generally much more intuitive, natural, and more precise than interaction with touch devices. Therefore, a system like what was presented in this paper could be come very handy especially when one needs to make precise inputs.
Another beneficial use of Madgets would be the creation of custom interfaces based on user preference. If a user is trying to control something (like maybe a sound system) they might want a certain knob in one place and another slider somewhere else based on their usage. Madgets would allow this kind of custom usage.
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