ICT Direct’s Project Touch at Education Innovation
January 18, 2013
ICT Direct is working hard to design and build Project Touch for Education Innovation in March. The project, which schools will be able to replicate with their design technology students, includes building a multi touch table at a fraction of the cost of retail versions. The company will also demonstrate how a £99 PC can be used to power the table running Windows 8
The team has researched every aspect of the project, including the table design, the type of material to be used for building the table, the type of projector, the most suitable computer to use, durability of the table and transportability.
The computer selected is an HP DC7700 installed with Windows 8, with a Core 2 Duo 2.13GHz with 4GB of RAM and an 80GB hard drive. The PC will be taken out of its case and displayed in a perspex case so it is visible to all visitors. The projector will project a Windows 8 display onto the screen where a modified PS3 Eye (Playstation 3) camera will capture the infrared signatures of objects placed on the surface. The team will use IR filters placed over the lens to block out all visible light.
ICT Direct is investigating two methods for bouncing infrared light onto the PS3 Eye when the screen is touched. The first method involves a series of infrared LEDs running right around the edges, the infrared light bounces inside the surface material. On touching the screen, the rays of light are diverted towards the camera.
John Graham, director at ICT Direct commented, “We want to make Project Touch something schools can really get their teeth into. We’re keen for them to see the challenges we have encountered, how we overcame them and why we came to the conclusions we did. All of our research will of course save them time and money if they choose to undertake the building of this exciting project. We’re delighted with the progress to date and believe visitors will be very impressed with what we have achieved for such little cost.”
For further details visit www.ict-direct.co.uk and see ICT Direct on 8th and 9th March in Manchester by registering FREE here.
You can also follow progress on Project Touch on Twitter @Project_Touch
