As central part of my MEng thesis in York I developed m-touch: a tangible interface for display and manipulation of multimedia information.

A ceiling mounted video projector is used to display multimedia content on a desktop covered with a whiteboard. Users can interact with virtual multimedia information by manipulating physical graspable objects. Users' sketches on the board and gestures over the projected augmentation can also be part of the interaction.

The novelty in m-touch is in the interface mapping. Three-dimensional elements of the interface are used as objects (or data containers) and flat elements as actions. This leads to a spatial mapping that the user can reconfigure in real time by sketching with pen on the whiteboard and interacting with projected buttons.

The thesis "A Tangible User Interface for Display and Manipulation of Multimedia Information" was awarded the Texas Instrument Prize for Best MEng Final Project in the Department of Electronics in York. The development of m-touch included the definition of a framework for interaction with video augmented environments.

Unfortunately I have not had time yet to properly write about this work for publication. Please contact me for extra information.