I’ve seen a few IWB-replacement gadgets over the years, but these normally rely on setting up some kind of alternative gadget to pick up pen movement – such as the ebeam, or a camera placed somewhere in the room. All of these needed calibration and extra devices, and are just plain cumbersome. Good for a mobile system, but not really an IWB replacement for a classroom.

But this video shows something very interesting indeed using a new InFocus projector, and nothing else….

Texas Instruments’ Marshall Capps, Software Systems Engineer, shows off DLP’s new interactive projector technology at the NECC exhibition. InFocus announced a product based on this technology called LiteBoard™. Currently undergoing beta testing, LiteBoard™ will be available by the end of the year

Consisting of the LiteBoard projector and special pen/wand, the system will work on any surface—wall, screen, whiteboard, etc.—so there’s no need to mount an inteactive whiteboard hardware.

The wand works by detecting patterns in the projected image that the human eye cannot see, communicating with the projector over a radio frequency to triangulate exactly where the user is pointing.

All information is passed to the computer in the same way as any other mouse/pointer device – so you could use this on any software.

The InFocus LiteBoard is expected to be available in two versions–the IN3902LB and IN3904LB interactive systems–in the fourth quarter of this year. Pricing has not yet been announced, although InFocus said it will released additional details in the near future.

I like the idea of this – there’s no need for additional devices to be stuck to the wall, or relying on a camera device that can get easily knocked and need realigning. Apparently the inFocus system needs no alignment at all.

I’d be interested to see how it copes with the shadow of the user, I would assume that stops it working? So like most boards you’d still need to adjust your writing style so you can get round that.

Would be useful with open-source IWB software, or couple this with the forthcoming Smart Notebook Express or ActivInspire – interesting thought.

Related posts:

1. Did You Know 4.0?
2. Whiteboards – a beginners guide #1
3. Mini Wireless Keyboard and Touchpad Gadget
4. Word Wall
5. Visualisers

Filed under: Conferences, Hardware

Tagged with:, alternatives, Interactive Whiteboards, intouch, liteboard, projector, replacement