Project Darth Paul:

Lightsaber Interface for Scalable Display Wall

Ge Wang (gewang@cs.princeton.edu) Perry Cook (prc@cs.princeton.edu) Douglas Corey Campbell (campbell@princeton.edu) Brandon Braunstein (bbraunst@princeton.edu) Candice Hebden (chebden@princeton.edu) Paul Simbi (psimbi@princeton.edu)

So The Story Goes:

...A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away a simple dream was born.  A dream to bring peace and stability to the turbulent interactions between the citizens of Planet Princeton and the scalable Wall of Display.  Unfortunately, this dream was shattered as the five Jedi Knights quested with the task fell victim to the power and excitement of the dark side of the Display Wall.  Under the unyielding lure of this scalable foe, Project Darth Paul was cast from our once great band of heroes.  The power of the dark side of the Display Wall had recruited these five ex-saviors to build an interface and weapon so devious, so powerful, that any Princetonian foolish enough to touch it would become forever caught in its immersive charms.  Our beautiful dream has become all but lost as Project Darth Paul begins to build a prototype of their true-to-feel lightsaber input device.

The Power of the Dark Side:

Why Project Darth Paul was forged       When faced with the immersive and massive environment of the scalable display wall, the five Jedi knights soon grew weary of interacting with the wall through the gyromouse.  The dark side of the display wall manipulated this weariness, convincing the Jedi that the lightsaber form factor held the answer to their enjoyable interaction.  The wall showed the Jedi that the lightsaber enabled them to utilize their saber skills for training, gaming, sporting, and tapping and tunneling tasks on the wall.  The wall knew this enjoyable interaction would become the ideal recruitment tool for the dark side of the display wall.

The Force is Strong With Them:

Path to the Dark Side:

Project Darth Paul must test their lightsaber for success.  We must prevent them from succeeding?     Darth Paul Fitts, developed a theory for the improvements to the dark side.  He theorized about human machine interactions and the linear nature between the log of the ratio between the width and the length to the time it takes to complete the task.  When he turned to the dark side, he offered his theories as a road to power.  The five Siths of Project Darth Paul plan to walk this path to test their lightsaber and develop a way to reduce the b factor in his original calculations. Project Darth Paul will need the following equipment.  They must not be allowed to acquire them. Gyromouse Game controller with accelerometers Display wall Table w/two light sensors We have intercepted Project Darth Paul's Timeline for completion of the lightsaber. Check Point 1:  Mid-December Rendering of lightsaber, environment, and entities Design and build of input interface Gyromouse for positioning Accelerometer for increased degrees of freedom Table to simulate "the force" Check Point 2:  Early January Synthesis of sound 3D audio to correspond to both the devices as well as the actions occurring in the game Software drivers for the interface Check Point 3:  Deans Date Designing and executing interface tasks Creating game engine Testing the tasks for Fitts' Law to see if the b factor can be decreased

Surveillance Information on Project Darth Paul:

Confidential: Top Secret Wiretap of Project Darth Paul:  (http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~gewang/projects/darth/) Confidential: Top Secret Information on Display Wall Integration: (http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~bbraunst/darth/Dwall/) Confidential: Top Secret Presentation Slides from Project Darth Paul: (http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~bbraunst/darth/HCI/DarthPaul.ppt)