Wiimote Project

Johnny Lee's invention: amazing

But... erm... surely it must be able to create something much simpler?
(But with less accuracy)

Have a look at www.e-beam.com
This is a nice cost effective contraption
It relies on 2 beams beamed at right angles and hey presto you can turn ANY surface into a touchscreen surface

It suffers from the rubbish whiteboard touchscreen syndrome: you have to use their software + 4 coloured pens (from what I can see).

I thought it would be really easy to have 2 sides
2 sides, one vertical and one horizontal
With both emitting infrared beams

When someone disturbs the somewhere inside, the exact location can be worked out
Add a little coding and you can have this interaction be the mouse
And: you have a touchscreen surface

See the attached image for what I mean

Surely someone must have tried this?

OK... so maybe the accuracy of the touchscreen won't be the same, it might be something like 100dpi
BUT: that would be perfectly OK if you're not planning on writing with the application and using as a windows interface

AND instead if you plan to build applications that have big buttons
For example for building software for young kids to interact with
Or may the outside of shop windows where the user will be using their fingers to press onto the window

The great thing is the 2 sides could be discretely hidden away and the user wouldn't see this

Does anyone understand what I'm talking about!!?

Please reply!

Thanks.


OM

thanks for the reply
i can pick one up for under £400
which compares favourably to buying an interactive whiteboard

forgetting that though... i wanted some feedback on the idea of having two sides each emitting infrared?

thanks

(also... the automatic email notification of thread replies doesn't seem to be working - i'm not getting emails when a thread i'm subscribed to gets replied to) 

(also... the automatic email notification of thread replies doesn't seem to be working - i'm not getting emails when a thread i'm subscribed to gets replied to) 

I just tested it and its working fine.  I used a test user account and a gmail account and it works for me.

Might want to check your spam folder though.

Dice

£400 isn't cheap in my eyes - I built my own touchscreen for far less...using FTIR and a recycled and modified webcam
//UndCon

have u got any more details?
i've seen a few other links where people made rearprojections screens
did you do similar?
can you give me a few links to how to build a touch screen using a webcam?
thanks

thanks for the reply.  damn... all that is sooo interesting!
i've spent sooo much time reading up and getting the wiimote to work
i think i've got another project with this touchscreen thing now!

question: is it possible to have the surface standing up, like a projector screen?
that's what i'd really like to have

AND, is there a good reason why all the videos i've seen are in the dark?

i don't recall seeing anything in daylight conditions?

thanks