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The title is grossly misleading. This setup detects "gestures" which is not the same as the multitouch interfaces we use with our smartphones. Bloggers threw "m

The title is grossly misleading. This setup detects "gestures" which is not the same as the multitouch interfaces we use with our smartphones. Bloggers threw "multitouch" on the title; not the creator [1]. Nothing in the original article indicates that the setup is able to detect the location of the touch, only the type of touch. A thump, a tap, a swipe, or a scratch. The various gestures are mapped to different sounds, creating a virtual drum set, if you will. The fact that this detection, mapping, and playback happens so instantaneously is amazing. I don't mean to take away from the accomplishment. This is an extremely novel idea, and the product implications are numerous. It's just a shame that the tech press is distorting the product idea in a way that creates a false expectation. http://www.brunozamborlin.com/mogees/ http://www.brunozamborlin.com/mogees/

r3demon 15y ago
Yeah, multitouch is a wrong word here.
mojuba 15y ago
Also this: > ...contains multiple microphones to create a stereo image of the sounds it hears led me to believe the device determined the direction of the sound source by measuring phase shifts in different microphones. Now that apparently this device doesn't do that, may I ask why not?
- bradleyland 15y ago
  I can't find any reference to multiple microphones or phase shift analysis in the source material. This paragraph from the source material, specifically, leads me to believe it's using the acoustics of the touch, not the location: > Through gesture recognition techniques we detect different kind of fingers-touch and associate them with different sounds. Notice the language "different kind of", rather than "the location of". I just don't see anything here that would indicate spacial information is gathered.
  - mojuba 15y ago
    That's understood, I'm just asking why not doing phase shift analysis with multiple microhpones, as another idea.
    - bradleyland 15y ago
      You could probably do something like this, but accuracy is going to be a problem. Sound waves are not uniform events. If you could rely on precise clicks at precise frequencies, with minimal echo, you could get acceptable accuracy, but relying on finger thumps in varied substrate is going to be difficult. I think the reason you don't see more of this is that there are better solutions to the problem of establishing touch interfaces on suitable surfaces.
mrsebastian 15y ago
Hrm, if you watch the video, the tone definitely changes with the location of the hit -- as in, with the same radius from the microphone, a different note is produced depending on where a finger strikes the surface. Gestures are also included, as you say. With regard to multitouch -- a) some gestures involve more than one point of contact, and b) there are some bits in the video where it looks like two fingers are striking a surface at the same time and making two tones/noises.
- bradleyland 15y ago
  Depending upon the type of material, the tone will change when you strike it. I still think it's a mistake to say that this turns a surface in to a "multitouch" surface, because of the vast differences between this and what has commonly been referred to as multitouch. Again, extremely cool technology, but you couldn't for example, attach a microphone to a wall and couple this with a projector to control the OS. That's the inference that gets drawn when you say "multitouch".
raphman 15y ago
Agreed. Unfortunately, this seems to be pretty common in online tech journalism. My own experience: We published a paper on another touch sensing technique last year which got featured in a short article for Technology Review. The author interviewed both of us and wrote a very good article. Over the following days, a number of sites like Engadget picked up the story and apparently only used content from the TR article. IIRC not a single author reported additional details or even contacted us to confirm this story. This preference of speed over accuracy leads to stuff like 'Wi-Fi Makes Trees Sick, Study Says' [1]. [1] http://www.pcworld.com/article/211219/wifi_makes_trees_sick_study_says.html http://www.pcworld.com/article/211219/wifi_makes_trees_sick_...

r3demon 15y ago

Yeah, multitouch is a wrong word here.

mojuba 15y ago

Also this: > ...contains multiple microphones to create a stereo image of the sounds it hears led me to believe the device determined the direction of the sound source by measuring phase shifts in different microphones. Now that apparently this device doesn't do that, may I ask why not?

bradleyland 15y ago
I can't find any reference to multiple microphones or phase shift analysis in the source material. This paragraph from the source material, specifically, leads me to believe it's using the acoustics of the touch, not the location: > Through gesture recognition techniques we detect different kind of fingers-touch and associate them with different sounds. Notice the language "different kind of", rather than "the location of". I just don't see anything here that would indicate spacial information is gathered.
- mojuba 15y ago
  That's understood, I'm just asking why not doing phase shift analysis with multiple microhpones, as another idea.
  - bradleyland 15y ago
    You could probably do something like this, but accuracy is going to be a problem. Sound waves are not uniform events. If you could rely on precise clicks at precise frequencies, with minimal echo, you could get acceptable accuracy, but relying on finger thumps in varied substrate is going to be difficult. I think the reason you don't see more of this is that there are better solutions to the problem of establishing touch interfaces on suitable surfaces.

mrsebastian 15y ago

Hrm, if you watch the video, the tone definitely changes with the location of the hit -- as in, with the same radius from the microphone, a different note is produced depending on where a finger strikes the surface. Gestures are also included, as you say. With regard to multitouch -- a) some gestures involve more than one point of contact, and b) there are some bits in the video where it looks like two fingers are striking a surface at the same time and making two tones/noises.

bradleyland 15y ago
Depending upon the type of material, the tone will change when you strike it. I still think it's a mistake to say that this turns a surface in to a "multitouch" surface, because of the vast differences between this and what has commonly been referred to as multitouch. Again, extremely cool technology, but you couldn't for example, attach a microphone to a wall and couple this with a projector to control the OS. That's the inference that gets drawn when you say "multitouch".

raphman 15y ago

Agreed. Unfortunately, this seems to be pretty common in online tech journalism. My own experience: We published a paper on another touch sensing technique last year which got featured in a short article for Technology Review. The author interviewed both of us and wrote a very good article. Over the following days, a number of sites like Engadget picked up the story and apparently only used content from the TR article. IIRC not a single author reported additional details or even contacted us to confirm this story. This preference of speed over accuracy leads to stuff like 'Wi-Fi Makes Trees Sick, Study Says' [1]. [1] http://www.pcworld.com/article/211219/wifi_makes_trees_sick_study_says.html http://www.pcworld.com/article/211219/wifi_makes_trees_sick_...