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RFID-driven situation awareness on TangiSense, a table interacting with tangible objects

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Abstract

Interactive tables are increasingly present not only in a research context but also in everyday life. One challenge still has to be taken up concerning interaction with several people around an interactive table. The framework of our research relates to an interactive table named TangiSense, which is equipped with RFID technology. The interaction is no longer the result of touching the table, but comes from handling tangible objects placed on the table. The use is closer to the natural use of a table. This technology makes it possible to identify the objects, which can be coupled with the users. Starting from this principle, the article proposes the use of RFID tags to collect the elements of context awareness in order to adapt the workspaces to the various possible situations around a table (work alone or with several users, on a common or individual space). An algorithm of space division is proposed, and evaluations are carried out in order to assess its global contribution. The article ends with a conclusion and some prospects.

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Notes

  1. http://www.rfidees.fr.

  2. The TAC (Token and Constraints) paradigm proposed by Shaer et al. [36] could be used to provide a specification of the tangible objects but it is not the object of this article.

  3. An alternative would be an allocation in real time when a user changes his/her position around the table; this idea is the subject of a research perspective.

  4. For example, starting from these generic and reusable elements, we proposed an application allowing the recognition and the learning of colors by children. The scenario is based on the French teaching syllabus for nursery schools. In collaboration with a nursery school teacher, we proposed a simple application in which the aim of the users (i.e. the children) is to place objects represented as a black and white picture in the corresponding colored area (e.g. a sun in “black and white” should be placed within the yellow color area). For that, the child has a set of objects (small cubes each carrying a black and white image). The child must then determine what the image represents, associate the suitable color and place the object within the corresponding colored area on the interactive table. A special object which looks like a wizard is used in this application to check results. When the child has finished, he/she puts an object representing the wizard in his/her workspace. The application checks each colored area to see if the objects placed in this area match the color and announces any errors or correct answers to the children. This application was tested in a real situation in a nursery school with common space only (without using the “Split” algorithm proposed in this article) [21].

  5. Let us recall that the groups G1 and G2 were used for preliminary methodological control. The data associated with those groups is therefore not considered in this article.

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Acknowledgments

This research work was partially financed by the “Ministère de l’Education Nationale, de la Recherche et de la Technologie”, the “région Nord Pas de Calais”, the “Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique”, the FEDER, CISIT (Plaiimob project), and especially the “Agence Nationale de la Recherche” (ANR TTT and IMAGIT projects ANR 2010 CORD 01701). We would also like to thank the partners with whom we have worked in collaboration in these projects: the Laboratory of Computer Science of Grenoble (LIG), the RFIdées, Supertec companies and the CEA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Lille Nord de France, 59000, Lille, France

    Sébastien Kubicki, Sophie Lepreux & Christophe Kolski

  2. UVHC, LAMIH, 59313, Valenciennes, France

    Sébastien Kubicki, Sophie Lepreux & Christophe Kolski

  3. CNRS, FRE 3304, 59313, Valenciennes, France

    Sébastien Kubicki, Sophie Lepreux & Christophe Kolski

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  1. Sébastien Kubicki
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  2. Sophie Lepreux
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Correspondence to Sébastien Kubicki.

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Kubicki, S., Lepreux, S. & Kolski, C. RFID-driven situation awareness on TangiSense, a table interacting with tangible objects. Pers Ubiquit Comput 16, 1079–1094 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-011-0442-9

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