Mentor: Manoj Prasad
Overview:
Akshay, a student in the Sketch Recognition Lab, built a game called haptic hockey. This is a two player game and a computerized version of table hockey. This game incorporates the use of tangible interface elements. Tangible interfaces elements are physical objects/elements that can be graspable or held in the hands of the user. The user can manipulate the physical object to control parts of the UI. The Table Hockey designed by Akshay has two mallets (one for each player to block the puck). The mallets are the tangible objects of the interface. The players of the game use the physical mallet on a flat, wide, touch-sensitive computer display (Hockey table) to control the virtual puck. The novelty of design in this user interface is the tangibility / grasp-ability of the controls for the virtual table hockey game. The players have something physical (the same as real world mallet) to control the game, thus providing a new level of immersion to an otherwise virtual experience.
The previous Table Hockey tools that were used:
Mallet - 2 plastic cups, each attached to LED on the top.
Wii mote- to track the LED and convert them into 3D locations (x,y,z).
A flat screen display - to act as a hockey table
Java 2D - designing the virtual hockey game with the puck
Problem Statement:
Design a game where the virtual controls can be converted into tangible objects. Some example interfaces - tangible interfaces for learning music , Bio building blocks and Reactable - Music instrument. You may also choose to create a networked version of Haptic Hockey, with approval.
The team proposal should address:
- What is the application that is being designed with Tangible / Graspable interface?
- What are the user interface decisions made like why did you select some physical objects? What do the physical objects control in the user interface? Why were the physical objects mapped to the specific UI Controls?.
- How will you design you system?
- How will you identify the physical object being manipulated?
- Do you any sensors? if yes, what are they and where are used in the system?