FlexSense: A transparent self-sensing deformable surface

Christian Rendl, David Kim, Sean Fanello, Patrick Parzer, Christoph Rhemann, Jonathan Taylor, Martin Zirkl, Thomas Rothländer, Gregor Scheipl, Michael Haller, Shahram Izadi

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingsConference contributionpeer-review

69 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We present FlexSense, a new thin-film, transparent sensing surface based on printed piezoelectric sensors, which can reconstruct complex deformations without the need for any external sensing, such as cameras. FlexSense provides a fully self-contained setup which improves mobility and is not affected from occlusions. Using only a sparse set of sensors, printed on the periphery of the surface substrate, we devise two new algorithms to fully reconstruct the complex deformations of the sheet, using only these sparse sensor measurements. An evaluation shows that both proposed algorithms are capable of reconstructing complex deformations accurately. We demonstrate how FlexSense can be used for a variety of 2.5D interactions, including as a transparent cover for tablets where bending can be performed alongside touch to enable magic lens style effects, layered input, and mode switching, as well as the ability to use our device as a high degree-of-freedom input controller for gaming and beyond.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationUIST 2014 - Proceedings of the 27th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery, Inc
Pages129-138
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9781450330695
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Oct 2014
Event27th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, UIST 2014 - Honolulu, United States
Duration: 5 Oct 20148 Oct 2014

Publication series

NameUIST 2014 - Proceedings of the 27th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology

Conference

Conference27th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, UIST 2014
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityHonolulu
Period05.10.201408.10.2014

Keywords

  • Deformation
  • Flexible
  • Reconstruction
  • Sensor
  • Transparent

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