Terrain Table
I found infromation about the TerrainTable on the site of defense mega-contactor Northrop Grumman. TerrainTable creates scale 3 dimensional maps on a table top. Mechanical pins in the table distort a silicone skin to create the terrain, color and detail are acheived through an overhead projector, apparently that stretchy skin responds to touch. There is actually very little detail on the Northrop Gummans site but there is a link to this PDF. — source
Touch Table
This is a multitouch screen with multiple configurations, some of which are shown in this video. Currently there are two models available, the multiscreen TT84 and the single screen TT45. The Touch Table’s primary use appears to be tactical planning for government disaster and civil and military response teams. TouchTable was created by by Applied Minds (more on them). In this video the announcer quotes a $65k pricetag for the table, although I’m sure the majority of that goes toward some very expensive software. There is exetended user footage from a conference here. It looks like TouchTable is a gesture interface engine and at least the TT84 screen is a top down projection screen.
Symbolic Table
Billed as an “interface free media player” although that is not accurate it does’t have a traditional computer interface. In fact it does not even have a screen. To interact the user places an object (a plastic horse seen in the picture) on the table. The table then reads and RFID chip in the object and plays a media file, either a sound file or a projected video. Images of the prototype look very rough, but an interactive media player with no visible computer interface could be very intuitive and fun. — source
Actually it does play video if you use the video version of the table. it has a built in 2000 lumen beamer that projects on a nearby wall and loudspeakers that bounce off the sound form the same wall. But yes we have only prototypes till now. first production units in july… you’ll find up to date info here: http://www.mediamatic.net/symbolictable
Comment by Willem Velthoven — 5/19/2006 @ 2:23 am
Thanks for the correction about the video. I’ll update my post. Are there more images of the prototype in action? I’d love to see people using it.
Comment by eric — 5/19/2006 @ 8:46 am
The terrain table is an amazing thing. Thanks for the info.
Comment by JR — 5/24/2006 @ 10:26 pm
[…] Terrain, Touch Tand Symbolic Tables are explored at The Walker’s New Media Initiatives blog. Musematic looks at Widgets from the Rijksmuseum and American Museum of Natural History. ArtLook follows up, adds on and tells us to Get a Widget. (If you frequent the Ideum blog you probably know about our efforts with various widgets.) […]
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