Creating a "Force Field" Invisible Touch Interface

angry tapir writes "Using infrared sensors like the ones on television remote controls, Texas A&M University students presented an inexpensive multitouch system at the Computer Human Interaction (CHI) conference in Vancouver. 'I like to consider it an optical force field; it's like a picture frame where we shoot thousands of light beams across and we can detect anything that intersects that frame,' said Jonathan Moeller, a research assistant in the Interface Ecology Lab at Texas A&M University. The frame is lined with 256 IR sensors, which are connected to a computer. When ZeroTouch is mounted over a traditional computer screen it turns the display into a multitouch surface. Taken one step further, if the screen is suspended then a user could paint a virtual canvas."

Hasn't this been done already?

[honestmonkey]

I swear we used to have these at work, 10-15 years ago. They were not multi-touch, but that was likely due to the computer interface (serial) and the perhaps more primitive technology at the time. But I'm pretty sure the sensors were infra-red. As I recall, it wasn't necessarily the most accurate system. So, these guys just improved it a bit, or is this truly "revolutionary"?

Re:Hasn't this been done already?

[Cosgrach]

Yes it was done before, but without the multi-touch. We had them as well. A bunch of IR-LEDs and IR receivers along the frame of the CRT. Welcome to the 1990's. I'd vote for simply 'improved', certainly it is not revolutionary.

Re:Not news

[mark-t]

Ad-hominems don't exactly make your own position any stronger.

Bear in mind that something doesn't have to always utilize cutting edge technology to find a new market.

Consider also that factors may have been present that caused the technology to not live up to any major expectations in the 80's which may not be applicable today.