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Media Release

January 3, 2006

International workshop on tabletop human-computer systems

A tabletop computer system with a virtual spinning “Lazy Susan” top for easy access is one of the exciting new technologies being featured at an international workshop on interactive human-computer systems hosted by the University of South Australia this week.

The TableTop2006 workshop is the first of its kind to bring together world leading researchers and practitioners specialising in the emerging domain of tabletop computer systems to define the current state of the art, exchange ideas and establish important directions for the future, according to Professor Bruce Thomas, General Chair of TableTop2006 and the Director of UniSA’s Wearable Computer Laboratory.

“The difference between the tabletop computer system and the traditional work station is that people can stand around the tabletop and interact with each other using hand movements and other technologies as if it were a normal work table,” Professor Thomas said.

“Using a normal work table people might position themselves on all sides looking at a map and point to certain features and draw or place objects on the map. The tabletop enables us to replicate that collaboration and ease of use but with digital maps or other digital pieces of information. The technology allows participants to point with a finger, gesture with their hands, use speech or place physical objects on the table that can be picked up and moved around,” he said.

Yasuyuki Okano, Yoshinori Ito and Tohei Nitta from the Osaka Institute of Technology have developed a tabletop Abstract system to support aged people separated from family members, relatives and old friends who are living at distant locations. Featured at TableTop2006 will be their system DVE, which uses multiple tabletop devices at different locations, allowing families to play remote card games and such.

Another feature being showcased is the DiamondTouch technology developed at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) in Cambridge Massachusetts. DiamondTouch distinguishes between multiple simultaneous users and is a version of the DirectTouch tabletop. The difference between DirectTouch and touch screens is that the touch screen can only sense one finger. DirectTouch can support more than one finger and knows whose finger is touching the tabletop or that it came from a person sitting in a certain chair at the tabletop. DirectTouch can also distinguish between users and can give some users access while blocking others. When used in a game, players can only move their own pieces or in instances where there is collaboration, such as in a work environment, users can put items in a community space that everybody can access.

Professor Thomas, working with National ICT Australia (NICTA), Sydney University and DSTO, has been taking this collaboration to a new level by pioneering ways for many people to work simultaneously on one computer application anywhere in the world using an innovative tabletop linked via a modified video conference system. He will present the Visualisation and Interaction on a Collaborative Access Table (ViCAT), which allows computer-supported cooperative work, gesture and speech recognition through a built-in computer screen that facilitates faster and better decision-making. ViCAT has benefits for architects collaborating on a major building project across different locations or large design projects that require input from several parties. For critical events such as bushfires, where many agencies need to talk to each other to best manage the situation, ViCAT would allow command and control teams to have access to the same data.

As well as global business applications, tabletop technology can be used in the home and entertainment fields. Featured at TableTop2006 is a game called Augmented Coliseum developed by Professor Masahiko Inami from The University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo. Participants in the game play with small robots and use standard games controllers such as Nintendo or PlayStation. Because the robots are physical, players can see the robots when moving them around and can physically bump into their opponent’s robot, but the world in which they exist is a virtual one on the tabletop. If players shoot an opposing robot, they can see it being shot through the virtual stage and blocked by the virtual wall. It is an interesting combination of physical and virtual worlds.

Recognised as one of the world leaders in interaction technology for tabletop computer systems, UniSA has managed to attract high profile international specialists to TableTop 2006 from countries including the United States, Canada, Sweden, France, Germany and Japan, with speakers from MERL, Stanford University, University of Toronto, University of Washington, University of Indiana, Tokyo Electric Communication University, UniSA and NICTA.

TableTop2006 will be held at the University’s Mawson Lakes campus from January 5 – 7, 2006.
The workshop is being sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Inc supported by UniSA, National ICT Australia and DSTO.

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