ActPad– A Smart Desk Platform to Enable User Interaction with IoT Devices
Sarah Delgado Rodriguez, Sarah Prange, Lukas Mecke, Florian Alt · 2021
ActPad is a desk pad, capable of sensing capacitive touch input in desk setups. Our prototype can sense touches on both, its electrodes and on connected objects. ActPad’s interaction-space is customizable, allowing easy integration and extension of existing desk environments. In smart environments, users may interact with more than one device at the same time. This generates the need for new interaction mechanisms that bundle the control of multiple ubiquitous devices. We support this need through a platform that extends interaction with IoT devices. ActPad accounts for different ways of controlling IoT devices by enabling various modes of interaction – in particular simultaneous, sequential, implicit and explicit – and, hence, a rich input space. As a proof of concept, we illustrate several use cases, including, but not limited to, controlling the browser on a PC, turning lights on/off, switching songs, or preparing coffee.