‘trkbrd’ Tagged Posts

TRKBRD (example)

I place the TRKBRD design as the “ground zero” example of Stacked User Inputs (SUI). This prototype sparked the SUI for me, and inspired me to investigate it more for my final thesis. The hardware design of the TRKBRD places an invisible light field over the keyboard, thus creating a “touch field” on top of [ READ MORE ]

TRKBRD Schematic & Code

The following is full documentation and diagrams of the TRKBRD physical prototype. If you find an error, or figure out a better way, or need help… please contact me! Final Prototype Schematic Diagrams Parts List Arduino Duemilinova (1) #12200020 from Electrokit.se 4051 Multiplexer (16) #73-473-70 from ELFA IR Phototransistor (110) #75-203-15 from ELFA IR Laser (2) [ READ MORE ]

Day 87

  • March 17th, 2010
  • Posted in Diary

The pieces are coming together… so I will now take a break! Well, not really. I will take a break from the research and attempt to use the Kicad schematic software to document the electronics schematic for the TRKBRD. I am putting together full documentation of the TRKBRD design for the Computer Science professor in [ READ MORE ]

What I’ve Learned #3: Prototyping Matrix

I learned this advice the hard way: by failing twice. At the end of my first year of the 2 year Masters program, I had 2 projects due at the same time. One project was for my final Interaction Design course, and the other was for my FashionTechnology course. And unlucky for me, I decided [ READ MORE ]

“Integrated Keyboard and Pointing Device System”

Patent #5124689 (Google Patents) (1992) “A computer system employs an integrated keyboard and pointing device to allow user input of alpha-numeric (typing) information, pointing direction information and pointing event information without moving the users’ hands from the usual typing position on the keyboard.” “One of the keyboard keys, called the pointing key, has sensors coupled to it to acquire pointing direction [ READ MORE ]

“When it gets more difficult, use both hands”

“…Exploring Bimanual Curve Manipulation” by Russell Owen, Gordon Kurtenbach, George Fitzmaurice, Thomas Baudel, Bill Buxton (2005) Investigated “…relationship between bimanual (two-handed) manipulation and the cognitive aspects of task integration, divided attention and the epistemic action.” “We provide evidence that the bimanual technique has better performance than the unimanual technique and, as the task becomes more [ READ MORE ]

Day 81

  • March 11th, 2010
  • Posted in Diary

Wow, where does the time go… A short summary so far… Late 2009 – January 2010 Loosely thought about thesis while finishing other classes last semester. Prepared for TRKBRD conference presentation: upgraded hardware, upgraded software, rebuilt Flash interface (with help), wrote presentation, built slides for presentation. February 2010 Presented TRKBRD at IxDA’s Interaction ’10 conference. [ READ MORE ]

“Tangled Interaction”

“…On the Expressiveness of Tangible User Interfaces” by Johan Redström “…aesthetic potential of overloading the object’s surface by adding several layers of interaction.” “…how through a certain design we aim to make a computational thing express what it can do through the way it presents itself to us through use over time.” Differences between designing [ READ MORE ]

“Touch&Type”

“…A Novel Pointing Device for Notebook Computers” by W. Fallot-Burghardt, M. Fjeld, C. Speirs, S. Ziegenspeck, H. Krueger, T. Läubli (NordiCHI 2006) “…combines a conventional keyboard with an extended touch pad whereby the touch pad’s sensitive area is formed by the surface of the keys themselves and thus can be made as large as the [ READ MORE ]

“Layered Touch Panel”

“…The Input Device with Two Touch Panel Layers” by Yujin Tsukada, Takeshi Hoshino (CHI 2002) “…two touch panel layers, so that it is able to distinguish two touch states such as ‘finger on screen’ and ‘finger above screen’.” Adds an invisible infrared field about 20mm above the physical touch screen. Allows for a “rollover effect” [ READ MORE ]

THIS THESIS TOOK 254 DAYS