Tangible User Interface
Contents INTRODUCTION 2 DRIVING THE TUI 2 EARLY WORK 2 FAVORABLE FACTORS 3 INSIDE THE TUI 3 THE TECHNOLOGY 4 GETTING PHYSICAL 4 BENEFITS 4 FUTURE 5 Reference 5
TANGIBLE USER INTERFACE
INTRODUCTION
Researcher are always looking for new and better ways for users to interact with computing and communications technology, to make the process easier, as well as more satisfying, engaging, and effective. Because of this, interfaces—including punch card and paper tape readers, switches, keyboards, mice, GUIs, touch pads, and joysticks—have become a critical technology.
One avenue of research that is beginning to be adopted commercially is the TANGIBLE USER INTERFACE. With a TUI, users interact with a digital system by manipulating physical objects linked to and directly representing some aspect of the system. Thus, the objects are both representations of and controls for digital information. For example, a land developer using a TUI-based interactive table could manipulate tokens that look like buildings and that cause changes directly to the computational model of an entire development plan. The interface thus provides direct input and output. With a GUI, mice or keyboards enable input only. And neither onscreen icons nor their manipulation physically represent either the data being processed or the actions being taken with the information “Tangible user interfaces have emerged as a new interface type that interlinks the digital and physical worlds by computationally augmenting tangible objects to serve as representations of digital information, allowing users to quite literally grasp data with their hands,” noted Wellesley College assistant professor Orit Shaer. “This allows users to apply technology to things you do in a very natural way,” said Microsoft Surface director Somanna Palacanda. For many tasks, TUI proponents say, this enables more effective interaction with digital systems. TUIs have been the subject of research since the 1970s
TANGIBLE USER INTERFACE
INTRODUCTION
Researcher are always looking for new and better ways for users to interact with computing and communications technology, to make the process easier, as well as more satisfying, engaging, and effective. Because of this, interfaces—including punch card and paper tape readers, switches, keyboards, mice, GUIs, touch pads, and joysticks—have become a critical technology.
One avenue of research that is beginning to be adopted commercially is the TANGIBLE USER INTERFACE. With a TUI, users interact with a digital system by manipulating physical objects linked to and directly representing some aspect of the system. Thus, the objects are both representations of and controls for digital information. For example, a land developer using a TUI-based interactive table could manipulate tokens that look like buildings and that cause changes directly to the computational model of an entire development plan. The interface thus provides direct input and output. With a GUI, mice or keyboards enable input only. And neither onscreen icons nor their manipulation physically represent either the data being processed or the actions being taken with the information “Tangible user interfaces have emerged as a new interface type that interlinks the digital and physical worlds by computationally augmenting tangible objects to serve as representations of digital information, allowing users to quite literally grasp data with their hands,” noted Wellesley College assistant professor Orit Shaer. “This allows users to apply technology to things you do in a very natural way,” said Microsoft Surface director Somanna Palacanda. For many tasks, TUI proponents say, this enables more effective interaction with digital systems. TUIs have been the subject of research since the 1970s