Diego Martinez Plasencia

SensaBubble: a chrono-sensory mid-air display of sight and smell

We present SensaBubble, a chrono-sensory mid-air display system that generates scented bubbles to deliver information to the user via a number of sensory modalities. The system reliably produces single bubbles of specific sizes along a directed path. Each bubble produced by SensaBubble is filled with fog containing a scent relevant to the notification. The chrono-sensory aspect of SensaBubble means that information is presented both temporally and multimodally. Temporal information is enabled through two forms of persistence: firstly, a visual display projected onto the bubble which only endures until it bursts; secondly, a scent released upon the bursting of the bubble slowly disperses and leaves a longer-lasting perceptible trace of the event. We report details of SensaBubbles design and implementation, as well as results of technical and user evaluations. We then discuss and demonstrate how SensaBubble can be adapted for use in a wide range of application contexts -- from an ambient peripheral display for persistent alerts, to an engaging display for gaming or education.

PiVOT: personalized view-overlays for tabletops

We present PiVOT, a tabletop system aimed at supporting mixed-focus collaborative tasks. Through two view-zones, PiVOT provides personalized views to individual users while presenting an unaffected and unobstructed shared view to all users. The system supports multiple personalized views which can be present at the same spatial location and yet be only visible to the users it belongs to. The system also allows the creation of personal views that can be either 2D or (auto-stereoscopic) 3D images. We first discuss the motivation and the different implementation principles required for realizing such a system, before exploring different designs able to address the seemingly opposing challenges of shared and personalized views. We then implement and evaluate a sample prototype to validate our design ideas and present a set of sample applications to demonstrate the utility of the system.

MisTable: reach-through personal screens for tabletops

We present MisTable, a tabletop system that combines a conventional horizontal interactive surface with personal screens between the user and the tabletop surface. These personal screens, built using fog, are both see-through and reach-through. Being see-through provides direct line of sight of the personal screen and the elements behind it on the tabletop. Being reach-through allows the user to switch from interacting with the personal screen to reaching through it to interact with the tabletop or the space above it. The personal screen allows a range of customisations and novel interactions such as presenting 2D personal contents on the screen, 3D contents above the tabletop or augmenting and relighting tangible objects differently for each user. Besides, having a personal screen for each user allows us to customize the view of each of them according to their identity or preferences. Finally, the personal screens preserve all well-established tabletop interaction techniques like touch and tangible interactions. We explore the challenges in building such a reach-through system through a proof-of-concept implementation and discuss the possibilities afforded by the system.

Extending interaction for smart watches: enabling bimanual around device control

The size of a smart watch limits the available interactive surface for the user. Most current smart watches use a combination of a touch screen and physical buttons. Unfortunately, a small touch screens usability is limited when it can be easily occluded, such as by a finger. In this paper, we look at extending the interactive surface for a smart watch to the back of the hand. Our approach reduces screen occlusion by enabling off-device gestural interaction. We define a range of supported bimanual gestures and present a prototype device.

Control of Non-Solid Diffusers by Electrostatic Charging

The form factors of displays using fog or water surface are limited by our ability to control the non-solid substances used as the diffuser. We propose a charging technique for polar aerosols (e.g., mist or fog) that allows control of the shape and trajectory of such non-solid diffusers using electric fields. We report experiments that allowed us to design a charging mechanism that produces charged fog aerosols with homogeneous electrical mobility. We illustrate our idea by demonstrating how electric fields can be used to control the shape of a fog display and the trajectory of a bubble display.

PowerShake: Power Transfer Interactions for Mobile Devices

Current devices have limited battery life, typically lasting less than one day. This can lead to situations where critical tasks, such as making an emergency phone call, are not possible. Other devices, supporting different functionality, may have sufficient battery life to enable this task. We present PowerShake; an exploration of power as a shareable commodity between mobile (and wearable) devices. PowerShake enables users to control the balance of power levels in their own devices (intra-personal transactions) and to trade power with others (inter-personal transactions) according to their ongoing usage requirements. This paper demonstrates Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) between mobile devices. PowerShake is: simple to perform on-the-go; supports ongoing/continuous tasks (transferring at ~3.1W); fits in a small form factor; and is compliant with electromagnetic safety guidelines while providing charging efficiency similar to other standards (48.2% vs. 51.2% in Qi). Based on our proposed technical implementation, we run a series of workshops to derive candidate designs for PowerShake enabled devices and interactions, and to bring to light the social implications of power as a tradable asset.

ReflectoSlates: personal overlays for tabletops combining camera-projector systems and retroreflective materials

Tabletop systems are great platforms for collaborative work and social interaction. However, many fail to also accommodate contents visible only to some users, or they do so by reducing the surface visible to the rest of the users. We present ReflectoSlates, which combines a chest mounted camera-projector system connected to the users mobile device and retroreflective sheets (ReflectoSlates). When placed on the tabletop, ReflectoSlates allow users to see their private contents while other users continue to see the tabletop. They can be lifted and moved while still displaying each users individual content. Users can also interact with them using mid-air gestures detected by the camera-projector system. This way they do not interfere with other users when their contents are in the tabletop, or they can continue to interact with them, when they lift the ReflectoSlate or walk away from the tabletop.

Erg-O: Ergonomic Optimization of Immersive Virtual Environments

Interaction in VR involves large body movements, easily inducing fatigue and discomfort. We propose Erg-O, a manipulation technique that leverages visual dominance to maintain the visual location of the elements in VR, while making them accessible from more comfortable locations. Our solution works in an open-ended fashion (no prior knowledge of the object the user wants to touch), can be used with multiple objects, and still allows interaction with any other point within users reach. We use optimization approaches to compute the best physical location to interact with each visual element, and space partitioning techniques to distort the visual and physical spaces based on those mappings and allow multi-object retargeting. In this paper we describe the Erg-O technique, propose two retargeting strategies and report the results from a user study on 3D selection under different conditions, elaborating on their potential and application to specific usage scenarios.

MistForm: Adaptive Shape Changing Fog Screens

We present MistForm, a shape changing fog display that can support one or two users interacting with either 2D or 3D content. Mistform combines affordances from both shape changing interfaces and mid-air displays. For example, a concave display can maintain content in comfortable reach for a single user, while a convex shape can support several users engaged on individual tasks. MistForm also enables unique interaction possibilities by exploiting the synergies between shape changing interfaces and mid-air fog displays. For instance, moving the screen will affect the brightness and blurriness of the screen at specific locations around the display, creating spaces with similar (collaboration) or different visibility (personalized content). We describe the design of MistForm and analyse its inherent challenges, such as image distortion and uneven brightness on dynamic curved surfaces. We provide a machine learning approach to characterize the shape of the screen and a rendering algorithm to remove aberrations. We finally explore novel interactive possibilities and reflect on their potential and limitations.

One step beyond virtual reality: connecting past and future developments

We have come a long way since the late 1970s, when virtual reality technology was in its infancy. With an array of new VR technologies in the market, what might be the future impact on our daily lives?