The Responsive Workbench

The Responsive Workbench

A virtual environment - the Responsive Workbench (RW) - was designed to support end users working on desks, workbenches, and tables as scientists, engineers, physicians, architects and designers with an adequate human-machine interface. We attempt to construct a task-driven interface for this class of users by working in an interdisciplinary team from the start.
The system is explained and evaluated using three applications - Medicine: education, a cardiological tutorial with a simulation system for ultrasound examinations of the heart, and surgery planning. Car industry: rapid prototyping for exterior and interior design and interactive visualization of flow field simulations (virtual wind- tunnel, combustion processes). Architecture: landscape planning and environmental research.
Virtual objects are located on a real "workbench". The objects, displayed as computer generated stereoscopic images are projected onto the surface of a table. The participants operate within a non-immersive virtual environment. A "guide" uses the virtual environment while several observers can watch events by using shutter glasses. Depending on the application, various input and output modules have been integrated, such as motion, gesture and voice recognition systems which characterize the general trend away from the classical multimedia desktop interface.
The RW is compared with other common virtual reality systems such as head mounted displays, BOOM systems and large screen displays. First experiences of the collaborators are analyzed, and future enhancements are proposed.

 

Papers and Documents:

  • Feldgoise, J., Dorsey, J., Agrawala, M., Beers, A., Fröhlich, B., Hanrahan, P.
    Architectural Applications and the Responsive Workbench
    Designing Digital Space: An Architects Guide to Virtual Reality Daniela Bertol (ed.), 1996
  • Fröhlich, B., Krüger, W., Grunst, G., Wesche, G.
    The Responsive Workbench: A Virtual Working Environment for Physicians
    Interactive Technology and the New Paradigm for Healthcare, R. Satava, K. Morgan, H. Siegburg, R. Mattheus, J. Christensen, editors, IOS Press 1995
  • Fröhlich, B., Kirsch, B., Krüger, W., Wesche, G.
    Further Development of the Responsive Workbench
    In Proceedings of the 2nd Eurographics Workshop on Virtual Environments, Martin Göbel (ed), pp. 42-48, Januar 1995
  • Fröhlich, B., Kirsch, B., Krüger, W., Wesche G.
    Further Development of the Responsive Workbench
    Virtual Environments '95, Selected papers of the Eurographics Workshops in Barcelona, Spain, 1993, and Monte Carlo, Monaco, 1995, pp. 237-246.
  • Krüger, W., Bohn, C.A., Fröhlich, B., Schüth, H., Strauss, W., Wesche, G.
    The Responsive Workbench
    IEEE Computer, July 1995, 28(7), pp. 42-48
  • Fröhlich, B., Krüger, W., Grunst, G., Wesche, G.
    The Responsive Workbench: A Virtual Working Environment for Physicians
    Computers in Biology and Medicine, vol. 25(2)
  • Krüger, W., Fröhlich, B.
    The Responsive Workbench
    IPA/IAO Forum Virtual Reality '94: Anwendungen und Trends, H.J. Warnecke, H.J. Bullinger (eds), Springer Verlag 1994
  • Krüger, W., Fröhlich, B.
    The Responsive Workbench
    IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 14(3), pp. 12-15, 1994
  • Fröhlich, B.
    The Responsive Workbench: A Virtual Working Environment for Architects, Designers, Physicians, and Scientists
    SIGGRAPH 94, Visual Proceedings


 

 

Further Development: The two-user Responsive Workbench

Two users simultaneously view a shared virtual environment on the Responsive Workbench.

The two-user Responsive Workbench is a projectionbased Virtual Reality System that allows two people to simultaneously view individual stereoscopic image pairs from their own viewpoints. The system tracks the head positions of both users and computes four images - one for each eye of each person. To display the four images as two stereo pairs, we must ensure each image is correctly presented to the appropriate eye. We describe a hardware solution to this display problem as well as registration and calibration procedures. These procedures ensure that when two users point to the same location on a virtual object their fingers will physically touch. Since the stereo pairs are independent, we have the option of displaying specialized views of the shared virtual environment to each user. Several scenarios demonstrate when specialized views might be useful.

 

Papers and Documents