Augmented Chemistry: An Interactive Educational Workbench
Morten Fjeld · 2002
This system paper reports on some of the advantages tangible interaction can bring to chemistry education. The paper describes the realisation of an in-house designed Tangible User Interface (TUI) called Augmented Chemistry (AC). A set of interactive tools work within this system. Using these tools, elements can be chosen from a booklet menu and composed into 3D molecular models. The tools indicate one way towards realising a seamless integration of the physical and digital realms. Since many tools can be used concurrently, single and multiple users can interact with the system at a time. To use the system in an educational context, it was extended into an educational workbench drawing on haptic and aural augmentation. The design and implementation of the AC system required contributions from optics, mathematics, molecular chemistry, software engineering, and 3D programming, making it a truly interdisciplinary project. Future challenges lie in user acceptance, educational effect, and further system development. Keywords AR educational application, chemistry education, display hardware, haptic and aural augmentation, tangible user interface (TUI) 3D INTERACTION IN AR WORKBENCHES While some TUIs offer planar interaction, such as Tangible Bricks [4], other systems offer 3D interaction, such as Cubes [3][6]. Wireless tracking of interaction handles may be either optical [3][4][5][6] or electromagnetic [7]. This paper reports on an in-house designed TUI performing 3D optical tracking of an interaction cube. Such systems can benefit 3D interaction by offering a more direct form of interaction coming closer to the use of physical artefacts and tools. This offers users a more natural use of hand and body movements. Such movements may hence be integrated into the interaction with digital information, thereby supporting a fluent handling of 3D models [5].