InteracTable

InteracTable is an interactive musical tabletop designed by Antonella for her BSc project in 2010.

The aim of the project was to explore and evaluate tangible and multi-touch interaction within tabletop interfaces. Users interact by moving tangible objects and drawing glyphs on the table’s surface. The motions performed on the table are recognized through a ML algorithm and then mapped into a sound synthesis. Each user interaction also produces animations on the interface for a delightful and engaging experience.

The interacTable was entirely designed, built, and programmed by Antonella in Processing and C++, and used the reacTIVision and TUIO open source framework. Antonella also wrote and trained the ML algorithm able to recognize and classify the different user drawings that enabled the multi-touch interaction.

Video of a user exploring the interacTable

Pictures and early sketches of the prototype

  • representation of a tangible interaction on the interacTable
  • representation of a multi-touch interaction on the interacTable
  • tabletop architecture
  • sketch of the technique implemented to allow the detection of touch interactions on the tabletop. The technique is called Frustrated Total Internal Reflection. The image shows a sideview simulation of a touch interaction with an index finger on top of a panel of acrylic. Underneath the acrylic panel there is projector and a camera, both placed at an angle allowing coverage of the acrylic panel that is the interactive part of the tabletop. LED lights are also placed within the structure to reflect the light in the acrylic panel and allow light from the finger touch to scatter through the acrylic pane.
    the Frustrated Total Internal Reflection (FTIR) technique implemented to identify touch interactions