Load Sensing Lab
Albrecht Schmidt (albrecht@comp.lancs.ac.uk)
Computing Department
Lancaster University,
UK
Paper &Videos - Technical Details - Datasets - Photos - Contact
Context Acquisition Based on Load Sensing (published at Ubicomp 2002)
Albrecht Schmidt, Martin Strohbach, Kristof van Laerhoven, Adrian Friday, Hans-W. Gellersen
ABSTRACT
Load sensing is a mature and robust technology widely applied in process
control. In this paper we consider the use of load sensing in everyday
environments as an approach to acquisition of contextual information in
ubiquitous computing applications. Since weight is an intrinsic property of
all physical objects, load sensing is an intriguing concept on the
physical-virtual boundary, enabling the inclusive use of arbitrary objects
in ubiquitous applications. In this paper we aim to demonstrate that load
sensing is a versatile source of contextual information. Using a series of
illustrative experiments we show that using load sensing techniques we can
obtain not just weight information, but object position and interaction
events on a given surface. We describe the incorporation of load-sensing in
the furniture and the floor of a living laboratory environment, and report
on a number of applications that use context information derived from load
sensing.
Ubiquitous Interaction - Using Surfaces in Everyday Environments as Pointing Devices (published at UI4ALL 2002)
Albrecht Schmidt, Kristof van Laerhoven, Martin Strohbach, Hans-W. Gellersen
ABSTRACT
As the use of computers becomes more ubiquitous there is also a desire to
enable ubiquitous interaction with such systems. In this paper we describe a
means that allow using surfaces in the environment, such as tables and
shelves, as pointing devices. The basic concept is to sense the weight, the
weight changes and patterns of change applied to a surface using load cells.
Of particular interest are changes in pressure to the surface that are
originating from manual interacting while tracking and clicking. In the
paper we explore techniques and mechanisms that convert these manual
movements on a surface into actions of a pointing device. We describe an
implementation where we converted two tables into a ubiquitous pointing
device. The system integrated in the tables recognizes user interaction and
transmits the mouse action wireless to a base station that is connected to a
PC and emulates a serial mouse.
KEYWORDS: mouse, pointing device, physical interaction, ubiquitous computing.
VIDEOS: 2 minutes explaining the implementation of a ubiquitous pointing device
Paper published
Data sets recorded while interacting with the table
Data set from the Ubicomp paper (putting an object down, knocking it over, taking it away) ZIP archive of a Excel file
Data set from the UI4ALL paper (moving a finger over the table top) ZIP archive of a Excel file
Datasets
Version 0.1 of the data acquisition and base station hardware
hardware is migrated onto the Lancaster Smart-Its Platform
The hardware consist of a Smart-it used as base station, one Smart-It with an load AddOn Board as sensor.
Technical Details
Hardware is migrated to the Lancaster Smart-Its Platform
Photos
Albrecht Schmidt, MSc, Dipl. Inf.
Computing Department
Engineering Building,
Room A13
Lancaster University
Lancaster, UK
LA1 4YR
Tel: +44 (0) 1524 593786
Fax: +44 (0) 1524 593675
E-Mail:
albrecht@comp.lancs.ac.uk
Web:
http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/~albrecht/