TR-2002007: Ubiquitous Puzzle Pieces: 3D Tangible Interfaces for Collaborative Learning Environments

3D puzzles provide valuable opportunities for both individuals and groups of people to explore, learn, and create in a natural way. In educational settings, learners using these tools can benefit from occasional intervention by a knowledgeable “guide on the side”. In our project, Tangible Interfaces for Collaborative Learning Environments (TICLE), we are exploring innovative ways of enabling a computer to take on that role as children manipulate physical puzzle pieces. In this paper, we describe recent work on a system for tracking and responding to manipulations of 3D puzzle pieces. This work is unique in that we have developed 1) strategies for tracking multiple wireless objects in a true 3D space, and 2) translationand rotation-invariant representations of the 3D puzzle state that are used to trigger appropriate responses. We describe how these strategies and representations are used in a system that “watches” as children play with a Soma cube puzzle.