Tangible user interface

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Characteristics of tangible user interfaces[edit]

  1. Physical representations are computationally coupled to underlying digital information.
  2. Physical representations embody mechanisms for interactive control.

According to,[1] five basic defining properties of tangible user interfaces are as follows:

  1. space-multiplex both input and output;
  2. concurrent access and manipulation of interface components;
  3. strong specific devices;
  4. spatially aware computational devices;
  5. spatial re-reconfigurability of devices.


A simple example of tangible UI is the computer mouse. Dragging the mouse over a flat surface and have a pointer moves on the screen accordingly. There is a very clear relationship about the behaviors shown by a system with the movements of a mouse.








State of the art[edit]

Since the invention of Durell Bishop's Marble Answering Machine (1992)[2] two decades ago, the interest in Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) has grown constantly and with every year more tangible systems are showing up. In 1999 Gary Zalewski patented a system of moveable children's blocks containing sensors and displays for teaching spelling and sentence composition.[3] A similar system is being marketed as "Siftables".


The Urp[4] and the more advanced Augmented Urban Planning Workbench[5] allows digital simulations of air flow, shadows, reflections, and other data based on the positions and orientations of physical models of buildings, on the table surface.

Newer developments go even one step further and incorporate the third dimension by allowing to form landscapes with clay (Illuminating Clay[6]) or sand (Sand Scape[7]). Again different simulations allow the analysis of shadows, height maps, slopes and other characteristics of the interactively formable landmasses.

InfrActables[8] is a back projection collaborative table that allows interaction by using TUIs that incorporate state recognition. Adding different buttons to the TUIs enables additional functions associated to the TUIs. Newer Versions of the technology can even be integrated into LC-displays[9] by using infrared sensors behind the LC matrix.




Another notable interactive installation is instant city[13] that combines gaming, music, architecture and collaborative aspects. It allows the user to build three-dimensional structures and set up a city with rectangular building blocks, which simultaneously results in the interactive assembly of musical fragments of different composers.

The development of the Reactable and the subsequent release of its tracking technology reacTIVision[14] under the GNU/GPL as well as the open specifications of the TUIO protocol have triggered an enormous amount of developments based on this technology.

In the last few years also many amateur and semi-professional projects, beside academia and commerce have been started. Thanks to open source tracking technologies (reacTIVision[14]) and the ever increasing computational power available to end-consumers, the required infrastructure is nowadays accessible to almost everyone. A standard PC, a web-cam, and some handicraft work allow to set up tangible systems with a minimal programming and material effort. This opens doors to novel ways of perception of human-computer interaction and gives room for new forms of creativity for the broad public, to experiment and play with.


The Tangible Factory Planning[17] is a tangible table based on reacTIVision that allows to collaboratively plan and visualize production processes in combination with plans of new factory buildings and was developed within a diploma thesis.

Another of the many reacTIVision-based tabletops is ImpulsBauhaus-Interactive Table[18] and was on exhibition at the Bauhaus-University in Weimar marking the 90th anniversary of the establishment of Bauhaus. Visitors could browse and explore the biographies, complex relations and social networks between members of the movement.

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Mi Jeong Kim, Mary Lou Maher.: The impact of tangible user interfaces on spatial cognition during collaborative design.In: Design Studies, Vol 29, No. 3, May 2008
  2. ^ G. C. Smith. The marble answering machine. In The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, pages 60–65, May/June 1995.
  3. ^ G. M. Zalewski, Wireless I/O Apparatus and Method of Computer Assisted Instruction, US Patent 5,991,693, 1999.
  6. ^ Illuminating clay: a 3-D tangible interface for landscape analysis Ben Piper, Carlo Ratti, Hiroshi Ishii April 2002 CHI '02: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems: Changing our world, changing ourselves
  7. ^ The tangible user interface and its evolution, Hiroshi Ishii, June 2008, Communications of the ACM , Volume 51 Issue 6
  8. ^ InfrActables: Multi-User Tracking System for Interactive Surfaces, C. Ganser Schwab, A. Steinemann, A. Kunz, Proceedings of the IEEE conference on Virtual Reality (IEEE VR 2006), 2006, Alexandria, Virginia, USA. InfrActables: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l59zCQ3JbE
  9. ^ MightyTrace: Multiuser Tracking Technology on LC-displays, R. Hofer, A. Kunz, P. Kaplan, Proceeding of the twenty-sixth annual SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, 2008, Florence, Italy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7az0fMRBHQ&feature=related
  15. ^ reacTIVision on Vimeo, http://vimeo.com/channels/reactivision
  16. ^ Sourceforge TUIO User Exhibition, http://sourceforge.net/apps/phpbb/reactivision/viewforum.php?f=7&sid=a5ef9e8af6f70496591e4dd5552a7f5a
  18. ^ Interactive Table with reacTIVision : ImpulsBauhaus http://sourceforge.net/apps/phpbb/reactivision/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=59

External links[edit]