Marc Teyssier

Why Versa Pen?

VersaPen offers multiple advantages. Allowing in-place interaction, it reduces hand movements and avoids cluttering the interface with menus and palettes. It also enriches interaction by providing multimodal capabilities, as well as a mean to encapsulate virtual data into physical modules which can be shared by users to foster collaboration. We present various applications to demonstrate how VersaPen enables new interaction techniques.

How is it made?

Our device consists of a series of modules that can be stacked to build an augmented pen. Once connected to a computer, the user can map the sensors and actuators of the pen to existing applications

Shape: A module consists of two nested 3D-printed cylinders. The inner cylinder contains the electronic parts and fits into the outer shell to form the final module (18mm). We built a set of 15 modules, including various input modules such as buttons, a mouse wheel, an accelerometer, a touch sensor, and a microphone. Output modules provide visual feedback, through RGB LED modules, or haptic feedback via a vibro-motor. The tip of the pen is conducive to support compatibility with a capacitive screen and is sensitive to pressure. The form factor results from a compromise to achieve sufficient rigidity while enabling a comfortable grasp. Each module encloses electronic parts

Control: A microcontroller small enough (< 9.5mm) to fit inside the pen-sized container, manages the embedded sensor/actuator and handles the communication between modules. Data is acquired locally and differentiated by the IDs of the attached modules and sensors. These IDs allow sending specific instructions to a given output module. Messages from the entire stack are passed via a shared bus to an Arduino controller connected to the computer. A server translates incoming messages and streams them via TCP to the soft-ware managing events.

Software: We implemented a simple flow-based programming interface in order to let end users connect the various input and output sources to computer applications through visual programming (Figure 4). Users can experience and explore the demonstration as the customization process is compatible with existing applications.