Project: BMBF-Verbundprojekt VIGITIA - Vernetzte Intelligente Gegenstände durch, auf und um interaktive Tische im Alltag

In the joint project VIGITIA, the project partners are investigating how projected augmented reality (PAR) can support and enrich everyday interactions around tables.

Status: ongoing

Runtime: 2019 - 2022

Participants: Raphael Wimmer, Sarah Thanner, Florian Echtler, Vitus Maierhöfer

Keywords: augmented reality, projection mapping, projected AR

Funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the research program "Bringing technology to people".

Project partners:

• University Regensburg (ZD.B Junior Research Group 'Physical-Digital Affordances')
• Bauhaus-University Weimar (Mobile Media Group)
• EXTEND3D GmbH
• City of Regensburg (Cluster Management Cultural and Creative Industries)

In the joint project VIGITIA, the project partners are investigating how projected augmented reality (PAR) can support and enrich everyday interactions around tables.

In PAR, one or more cameras record the table surface and objects on it in real time. A projector mounted on the ceiling or on a swivel arm can thus project onto the tabletop or objects with millimeter precision and without distortion. This makes it possible to fade in additional information and interaction possibilities for the objects and to support analog work processes. Parallel to this, it is nevertheless possible to seamlessly integrate existing, intelligent objects such as smartphones, tablets or laptops into the system, for example, in order to exchange data between the devices via the projection as an intermediary or to offer a larger interaction surface for several people than the small smartphone screen allows. Here, the technology takes a back seat and instead the focus is on the shared experience, which is only supported by the technology if desired.

To read more about our participatory design approach and our cooperation with the creative and culture center DEGGINGER, click here.

Example scenario: Tom and the SmartProjectorLamp™

Tom is 34, and has a wife and three children. He is a househusband, an amateur musician and is involved in several social projects and associations.

The morning did not go well at all. In the morning, he forgot the eggs on the stove, child 1 spilled cocoa all over his exercise book. Child 2 missed the school bus, but the car key is nowhere to be found. Then Tom tries to wrap child 3's birthday present for a friend nicely. Despite all the helpful YouTube videos, all that has emerged is a shapeless lump.

A package arrives late in the morning. Inside: the long-awaited SmartProjectorLamp™. This is screwed into a normal lamp socket above the table. It integrates a daylight projector with multiple cameras that detect what's happening on the table below them. A small enclosed box - the battery-powered SensingMobileController™ - is taped under the tabletop. With a quick tap on the tabletop, Tom wakes up the devices. They automatically synchronize and calibrate, and after a few seconds the SmartProjectorLamp™ projects an interactive tour of the features of the now interactive table onto the tabletop.

After Tom finishes the tour, he decides to put his new old table to productive use right away. He superimposes a projected ruler on the table to help him cut the wrapping paper straight and to the right length. Now the birthday present looks much better.

When cooking lunch, the table supports him with superimposed timers. When Tom puts the sweet potatoes on the table, it automatically shows him preparation instructions.

Child 3 comes home. Tom moves it to wipe the table by starting a little game on it where you have to wipe away dirt monsters projected on the table. Next, another game on the table shows the positions of plates and cutlery and measures how quickly and accurately you set the table. Child 3 sets the table again several times in order to beat his own high score. Tom has to intervene so that everyone can finally eat.

After dinner, homework is done. Child 1 has forgotten the physics booklet at school - and the school assignment is due tomorrow. The mother of a schoolmate has sent the scanned pages via WhatsApp. Tom puts his smartphone on the table, which immediately recognizes it and displays the latest images on it as thumbnails next to it. Tom drags the relevant pictures to the center of the table, where they automatically arrange themselves into a stack. Child 1 can now flip through the virtual notebook on the table. A scanned worksheet must be printed out again. Tom displays the printer icon on the table and drags the image onto it.

Child 2 has a world map projected on the table to help him with his geography homework. Child 3 is fascinated by it and places Lego men in all the countries he would like to visit.

In the early evening, some neighbors still come by to discuss solutions for the ailing playground in the settlement. One of them has brought along a “Group Mirror” application on his tablet to support and guide discussions. Among other things, this shows next to each person at the table how long they have been talking. As a result, everyone can see that Tom is very much dominating the conversation at the moment. He decides to back off a bit and give the other participants more space to make their points. When everyone agrees, the plan is put in writing and a scan is made of the table, which is automatically sent to everyone present.

After the neighbors leave, Tom receives a call from Sebastian, a college friend who also owns a SmartProjectorLamp™. The two decide to play a board game together with their families: To do this, they both start telepresence mode on their tables, which virtually mirrors the objects on one tabletop to the other. Tom takes “Monopoly” out of the cupboard and places the game board on the table, which thereby appears simultaneously on Sebastian's table. Conversely, the game pieces of Sebastian's family now also appear as a projection on Tom's game board. A tablet placed on the side hooks into the system and also offers the possibility of talking directly via video stream. This allows the two families to enjoy a relaxed game evening without having to organize a babysitter at short notice.

After all the children have gone to bed, Tom and his wife sit together over a glass of wine. The SmartProjectorLamp™ bathes the table in a warm, dim light. Tom practices a few songs on his guitar. The songbook lying on the table is selectively lit brighter, and the chords to be played are highlighted in color.

At 11 p.m., Tom falls wearily into bed, reviewing the day. There was a lot going on today, but somehow everything was much more relaxed and fulfilling than usual. He thinks only briefly about the new SmartProjectorLamp™, because it never pushed itself to the fore, but was always there when he needed it.

Projects within VIGITIA

Use Cases and Application scenarios

Over the course of the last few years, as part of the VIGITIA project, we have collected a wide range of ideas for possible use cases and application scenarios for interactive tabletops.

Some of the ideas listed were already part of the VIGITIA scenario created in the initial phase of the project. The majority of the ideas presented, however, have been developed as part of a participatory design process accompanying the technological development of our prototypes from 2020 to 2022. Thus, they result from our engagement with a broader public in the course of pop-up science exhibitions, an idea workshop with creative professionals, as well as an online survey on table usage. In addition, we added ideas that came up in internal brainstorming sessions in the PDA research group.

Get in touch with our ideas here.

Project: BirdsEye: Capturing top-view images of tabletop usage

A toolkit for capturing and analyzing tabletop usage.

Status: ongoing

Runtime: 2020-05-01 -

Participants: Vitus Maierhöfer, Sarah Thanner, Raphael Wimmer

Keywords: BirdsEye, study, tables, everyday life

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Project: Prototype deployment in the Degginger Cafe

Imagine you go out to eat and an “intelligent” table shows you the menu and informs you about the origin of the products. Or maybe it lets you bridge the waiting time for your meal with a little game. With our VIGITIA prototype we explore these and other ideas at the Degginger Cafe in Regensburg

Status: ongoing

Runtime: 2021-02-23 -

Participants: Vitus Maierhöfer, Sarah Thanner, Marie Laufkötter, Robert Bosek, Quirin Wittmann

Keywords: participatory design, degginger

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Project: Pop-Up Participatory Design facilitates Ideation, User Research, and Outreach

Pop-Up Participatory Design facilitates Ideation, User Research, and Outreach

Status: ongoing

Runtime: 2020-01-09 -

Participants: Sarah Thanner, Vitus Maierhoefer, Raphael Wimmer

Keywords: participatory design, science communication

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Project: Survey on table use in everyday life

Results of our survey on table use in everyday life (2020).

Status: finished

Runtime: 2020-06-04 - 2020-08-18

Participants: Sarah Thanner, Vitus Maierhoefer, Marie Sautmann, Philipp Huber, Clara Hilmer, Raphael Wimmer

Keywords: survey

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Project: Vigitia Meets Degginger 2.0 (September 2021)

From September 20 to 25, 2021, we presented three prototypes to an interested public at Regensburg's Degginger Cultural and Creative Center. The primary goals of the exhibition were to generate ideas for further application scenarios and use cases, user research, public relations and science communication.

Status: finished

Runtime: 2021-09-20 - 2021-09-25

Participants: Sarah Thanner, Vitus Maierhöfer, Jürgen Hahn, Marie Laufkötter, Clara Hilmer, Marie Sautmann, Raphael Wimmer

Keywords: participatory design, science communication, prototype deployment

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Project: VIGITIA meets Degginger 3.0 (March 2022)

From March 15 to 19, 2021, we presented three prototypes to an interested public at Regensburg's Degginger Cultural and Creative Center. The primary goals of the exhibition were to generate ideas for further application scenarios and use cases, user research, public relations and science communication.

Status: finished

Runtime: 2022-03-15 - 2022-03-19

Participants: Sarah Thanner, Vitus Maierhöfer, Jürgen Hahn, Marie Laufkötter, , Raphael Wimmer, Carlotta Strimpfle, Tim Heimlich

Keywords: participatory design, science communication, prototype deployment

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Project: Vigitia Meets Degginger (September 2020)

Public exhibition of first project results

Status: finished

Runtime: 2020-09-14 - 2020-09-19

Participants: Sarah Thanner, Vitus Maierhoefer, Philipp Huber, Julia Sageder, Raphael Wimmer

Keywords: degginger, participatory design

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Publications

VIGITIA: Unterstützung von alltäglichen Tätigkeiten an Tischen durch Projected AR

Raphael Wimmer, Florian Echtler

Proceedings of the Mensch und Computer 2019 Workshop on Virtual and Augmented Reality in Everyday Context (VARECo)

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Augmented Truths on the Table – an ethnographic investigation in the field of digital-material innovation

Sarah Thanner

7th conference of the Section “Digitization in Everyday Life” of the German Association of Cultural Anthropology and Folklore Studies (dgv) on “Digital Truth-Making - Ethnographic Perspectives on Practices, Infrastructures and Affordances of Truth-Making in Digital Societies” at the Humboldt University of Berlin (Story Map)

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Demonstrating SurfaceCast: Ubiquitous, Cross-Device Surface Sharing

Florian Echtler, Vitus Maierhöfer, Nicolai Brodersen Hansen, Raphael Wimmer

Companion Proceedings of the 2023 Conference on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces

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