Hi Everyone,
My name is Tino Agnitti and I am currently a Solutions Consultant with
netsmartz, llc. I am based out of Rochester, NY and have a BS in Management Information Systems from
http://www.rit.edu. I work with the e-learning group developing custom online courses and customized LMS solutions.
For those of you that want to order an IR pen, I put up a site
http://www.irpensonline.com.
It is a pleasure to meet you all. I'd like to take a few minutes to explain where your dollars go if you were to buy a pen from me.
I have completed the pcb and the first 3 IR Pen prototypes using an oscillating circuit (555 timer) and 2 buttons. My design allows for an adjustment between 69ms on, 69 ms off, to 0/0 if you want. I have included a potentiometer (variable resistor with a screw to adjust the frequency). This is still in a proof of concept phase, but I have been able to fit everything inside the pen including the battery (pcb = 1.3 x 5 cm). The hardware is complete and available for sale if any of you guys want to do some experimenting with a pulsing ir pen. My hope was that initially this can be used for a right click detection. After thinking about it more, and reading a bit more on others looking to implement this type of thing, I realized this concept could be taken further.
I am currently working to create a USB IR Receiver to be used in conjuction with the wiimote. The idea would be to use these frequencies to "ID" the pens so that different colors can be used by users at the same time. Smartboards currently only allow a single user to interact with the board. They actually determine which color you are using by deduction; If blue, red, yellow are on the tray, you must be using the green pen. My hope is that the IR receiver will help the application understand which pen is which and allow a more engaging activity.
In addition to this concept I am working to develop a portable rear projection display. I am very excited to see that Boon Jin has been able to include multiple wiimote tracking in his current application. As we approach multiple participants on the board we may introduce "blocking" as one person may block the camera view (even with multiple cameras). Ultimately any multi-person, multi-touch display needs to use a rear projection technology to avoid this challenge. I am currently working with a few materials to create a collapsible/portable rear projection display.
The proceeds from an IR pen purchase go towards additional research in the hardware we can use to make the classroom experience even more engaging.
Thanks, and I look forward to collaborating with you all!
