Shale User Documentation

CU Craft Technology Group is a part of the Center for Lifelong Learning and Design at the University of Colorado specializing in the integration of computation and craft materials to produce mathematical or educational toys and activities for children. The group consists of a small number of faculty members and students working on the Boulder Campus of the University.

Previously, CU Craft Technology collaborated with a team of undergraduate software engineers to develop a project entitled Laser Ball. This program created a combination of virtual and physical elements through the use of digital image recognition. Project Shale is an expansion upon this project, and will include wireless communication with the physical objects, in order to enable more advanced interactions such as movements, lights, and sound.

A conceptual diagram of the overall system is presented on the left. The figure shows the software to be implemented, Shale (Levers Shadows & Wheels). Shale receives input from the web camera and outputs data to the projector, which projects virtual objects (e.g. falling spheres) onto a whiteboard or blank wall. Affixed to the wall are mechanical/physical objects and the beam of a green laser pointer, which are seen by the web camera, and interpreted by digital image processing software within Shale. Shale then combines the web camera's input and correlates the locations of the virtual objects to create an interactive environment. Shale will also interact with the physical objects through use of a wireless transmitter. It will send signals to these physical objects when they interact with virtual objects, triggering movement (through motors), lights (through LEDs), or sounds (through speakers).

If you are a developer, or you merely want to try out the software on your own system, you will need to follow these links to install and set up Shale to run on your system.

The project team consists of five undergraduate students within the Computer Science Department: