Portable Tabletops: A Low-Cost Pen-and-Touch Approach

This paper describes the design and implementation of a lowcost portable tabletop to be used in classrooms. This solution enables pen and touch interactions over a projected canvas. Twelve users participated in a user study that gauged the system’s effectiveness to support drawing and moving objects on the surface. Additionally, a stress test to evaluate users’ identification was conducted. Results showed that the system exhibited a fair effectiveness when users draw or move objects. Average errors of 5.6% to 6.5% were found when differentiating users. In general, the proposed tabletop is a promising solution at an affordable price; nevertheless, three key challenges need to be addressed before a full deployment of the solution: a better precision to draw complex shapes, a better gesture intepretation when rotating objects and achieving a minimum error for user differentiation.