Post SIGGRAPH:
After getting back from SIGGRAPH I thought, screen rotation will be easy…
“Just use a big roller bearing behind the screen and add a electromagnetic braking to control the spinning. Boom, Problem Solved!”
Well…. It turns out making a ‘good’ design is a little more complicated.
Usability
The initial plan of using touch strips to control screen rotation, seemed like a good idea at first. However, it was confusing:
- Grab point A to unlock rotation
- Grab point B to unlock tilt.
- Inevitably, get it wrong…
Not a good solution.
The better solution is to just have the screen spin… no lock or unlock needed.
Improvement:
The force required to spin the screen will be adjustable. This allows you to tune rotation for your comfort.
Mechanics
It’s hard to fit a rotation mechanism behind the screen, have it be sturdy and still have room for the mouse and keyboard. Wacom’s solution is very stable but it takes up a lot of room behind the screen.
We went through a LOT of design ideas. When these ideas made it to 3D renderings most died… (too thick, too wide, hits the screen, hits the XOOT arm, not strong enough, etc…).
As a matter of fact, here’s my collection of Ball Bearings that I pre-ordered for designs that I was sure would be built.
None were.
Prototype Coming:
We’ve narrowed our designs down to two candidates that look very promising. When our mechanical engineer finishes the details, we can start the the prototype build.
More to come later… I post a blog when the prototype gets built.
-Chris