STRAIDE:
A Research Platform for Shape-Changing Spatial Displays based on Actuated Strings
A project by the Interactive Media Lab Dresden:
Severin Engert, Konstantin Klamka, Andreas Peetz, Raimund Dachselt
We present STRAIDE, a string-actuated interactive display environment that allows to explore the promising potential of shape-changing interfaces for casual visualizations. At the core, we envision a platform that spatially levitates elements to create dynamic visual shapes in space. We conceptualize this type of tangible midair display and discuss its multifaceted design dimensions. Through a design exploration, we realize a physical research platform with adjustable parameters and modular components. For conveniently designing and implementing novel applications, we provide developer tools ranging from graphical emulators to in-situ augmented reality representations. To demonstrate STRAIDE's reconfigurability, we further introduce three representative physical setups as a basis for situated applications including ambient notifications, personal smart home controls, and entertainment. They serve as a technical validation, lay the foundations for a discussion with developers that provided valuable insights, and encourage ideas for future usage of this type of appealing interactive installation.
Publication
If you would like to cite STRAIDE in your research, please cite our CHI'22 full paper:
Severin Engert, Konstantin Klamka, Andreas Peetz, and Raimund Dachselt. 2022. STRAIDE: A Research Platform for Shape-Changing Spatial Displays based on Actuated Strings. In CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’22), April 29-May 5, 2022, New Orleans, LA, USA. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 16 pages.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3491102.3517462
Construction
Firmware
Server
A NodeJS server acts as the central heart of any STRAIDE instance. It can be run on any computer connected to the same network as the Motor Towers, preferably a thin client like a RaspberryPi 4B. Install NodeJS and npm, then run npm install, and start node controller.js.
Motor Controller
Four stepper motors are connected to a central CNC shield stacked onto an Arduino Uno. This microcontroller board runs a custom Arduino Sketch, evaluating incoming Ethernet messages, and positioning the motors accordingly.
Color Controller
Illuminated elements can be connected to a central PCB with a WiFi-capable microcontroller board, preferably an ESP-32. This runs a custom Arduino Sketch which connects to the central server, receives new color values and shows then using the NeoPixel library.
Software
We develop a variety of software tools dedicated to the ideation, design, and development of novel applications for STRAIDE instances:
