Applications of computer-controlled actuation in workbench tangible user interfaces

Abstract

Tangible user interfaces give physical form to digital information, bridging the gap between the digital world of bits and the physical world of atoms. They offer many advantages over traditional graphical user interfaces, including two-handed manipulation, simplified multi-user collaboration, and the use of natural human spatial and tactile abilities. In the majority of existing tangible interfaces, different modalities are used for input and output; while the user provides input through the manipulation of physical objects, the computer produces only graphical output. This can lead to inconsistencies between the digital and physical representations of the same object. The goal of this thesis is to address this limitation by adding computer-controlled actuation to tangible interfaces. Actuation allows the computer to manipulate graspable objects the same way that a human user can. By developing and evaluating a variety of applications that use actuation, we demonstrate how it can best be employed in tangible interfaces.