Foldable Input Devices (FIDs)

I recently read “Towards More Paper-like Input: Flexible Input Devices for Foldable Interaction Styles”, a paper by David T. Gallant, Andrew G Seniuk, and Roel Vertegaal. The paper describes Foldable Input Devices (FIDs). FIDs are essentially papers with IR reflectors on them. A IR web cam tracks the reflectors and displays the results on screen via the Foldable User Interface (FUI). One of the things that makes FIDs attractive forms of input is there deformability. There are 25-35 reflectors per sheet, and each of these reflectors has to potential to act as a button. Position, shape, and motion are all traceable. Various deforming techniques and there possible natural mappings are listed in the paper. The main idea is to take advantage of the nature of paper to allow people to interact with digital data much in the same way that they would physical data. I think that FIDs have a lot of potential to help with 3D modeling. I think they should consider using a method I have seen in augmented reality research, which is to use a barcode in the center of the page. This would give the computer the ability to distinguish between sheets. Likewise the augmented reality researchers should consider putting a few precise “buttons” on their sheets.