Playsurface: The affordable flat-pack touchscreen for the masses
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Seeking Kickstarter funding, the Playsurface is an affordable flat-packed multi-touch table-top that connects to your home computer
Crucial to the promise of responsive performance is the ability of the peripheral to remove the burden of touch detection and tracking from the connected computer
In order that the Playsurface can work well with lower-spec computers, the designers have come up with what they call the "blob board," a USB device that handles all the touch detection and processing
Templeman Automation is confident that there's a market in education for the Playsurface, especially for use among young or disabled children
Templeman Automation says some of the Kickstarter money will go towards putting Playsurfaces into classrooms
Touch detection is handled optically, with sensors working with infrared sources within the table to pick up shadows created by user touches
Templeman Automation says some of the Kickstarter money will go towards putting Playsurfaces into classrooms
Founded upon open source plans for optical touch tables, the designers of the Playsurface hope to develop a versatile touchscreen table-top suitable for a variety of "blazingly fast" applications (yes, including gaming) supporting multpiple users. Though purely an input and display device, the table can be had with an integrated PC as an extra. If the project goes ahead (funding is currently sought through Kickstarter), its designers claim it would be as easy to assemble as Ikea furniture. It's not a bad comparison: the flat-packed, affordable Playsurface is a product that its makers at Templeman Automation hope will close the disconnect between the popularity and availability of table-top touchscreens.
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