Virtual sensors: rapid prototyping of ubiquitous interaction with a mobile phone and a Kinect

Norrie, L. and Murray-Smith, R. (2011) Virtual sensors: rapid prototyping of ubiquitous interaction with a mobile phone and a Kinect. In: MobileHCI 2011, Stockholm, 30 Aug - 2 Sep 2011,

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Abstract

The Microsoft Kinect sensor can be combined with a modern mobile phone to rapidly create digitally augmented environments. This can be used either directly as a form of ubiquitous computing environment or indirectly as framework for rapidly prototyping ubicomp environments that are otherwise implemented using conventional sensors. We describe an Android mobile application that supports rapid prototyping of spacial interaction by using 3D position data from the Kinect to simulate a proximity sensor. This allows a developer, or end user, to easily associate content or services on the device with surfaces or regions of a room. The accuracy of the hotspot marking was tested in an experiment where users selected points marked on a whiteboard using a mobile phone. The distribution of the sample points were analysed and showed that the bulk of the selections were within about 13cm of the target and the distributions were characteristically skewed depending on whether the user came to the target from the left or right. This range is sufficient for prototyping many common ubicomp scenarios based on proximity in a room. To illustrate this approach, we describe the design of a novel mobile application that associates a virtual book library with a region of a room, integrating the additional sensors and actuators of a smartphone with the position sensing of the Kinect. We highlight limitations of this approach and suggest areas for future work

Item Type:Conference Proceedings
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Murray-Smith, Professor Roderick
Authors: Norrie, L., and Murray-Smith, R.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
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