Giant DiamondTouch table-top-touch-panel-screen

Mitsubishi's R&D wing has created a table that is a screen and touchpad at the same time, and unlike the laptop touchpads we're all familiar with, the DiamondTouch is fully-multiuser, and multi-input.

Technology related conventions often times feature neat designs and inventions that can be found by wandering the show floor. During GDC in San Jose, California, a GameSpot reporter noticed something that grabbed his attention in a booth manned by Adam Bogue from Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL). Bogue was sitting behind a DiamondTouch table: multi-user, debris-tolerant, touch-and-gesture-activated panel.

How It Works :



DiamondTouch is front-projected and uses an array of antennas embedded in the touch surface. Each antenna transmits a unique signal. Each user has a separate receiver, connected to the user capacitively, typically through the user's chair.

When a user touches the surface, antennas near the touch point couple an extremely small amount of signal through the user's body and to the receiver. This unique touch technology supports multiple touches by a single user (e.g., two handed touch gestures) and distinguishes between simultaneous inputs from multiple users.

DiamondTouch tables are available in two sizes (32" diagonal and 42" diagonal display), while custom sizes and shapes are available on spec."

End User :

Possible uses of the technology range from tactical map manipulation and business collaboration to parlor games, but we see a real future in gaming. An intern at MERL was able to get WarCraft III running on one of the prototypes and shot a video of the DiamondTouch and a voice recognition system in action.

It's a pretty tight look at the potential this sort of interface has, especially considering the fact that Microsoft has been demonstrating a fairly-conceptually similar type of touch-table interface at it's forward looking keynotes.

Videos :

WarCraft On DiamondTouch



Click Here to download or watch the video online.

Google Earth On DiamondTouch



Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories gave us these videos of Google Earth in use. Word is the military got some demos and is pretty interested in the technology. It's pretty easy to figure out why if you watch the vids.

Click Here to download or watch the video online.

Table Games On DiamondTouch



Engineers put together a variety of simple of fun mini-games to demonstrate the potential of the technology from corporate and military use to parlor games at the local bar.

The potential for innovative and engaging games are there. The multi-user, multi-input abilities of the DiamondTouch are tailor made for social and active game playing environments, and the surface is impervious to debris and liquid.

Click Here to download or watch the video online.