Rainbowfish: Visual feedback on gesture-recognizing surfaces

In recent years, gesture-based interaction methods are supported by a wide variety of devices, such as capacitive trackpads and capacitive 3D gesture recognition systems. Capacitive interaction systems are often integrated into laptops, but can also be installed ubiquitously under any kind of non-conductive surface - for example under a table. When interacting with such proximity-sensing surfaces, users often face the challenge that the affordances are often not directly apparent. Moreover, most devices have no ability to provide feedback, which is often only displayed on a complementary screen, not in the area in which the interaction takes place. In order to solve these problems, we present an approach which combines a semi-transparent capacitive proximity-sensing surface with an LED array. The LEDs are used to visually indicate possible gestural movements and provide feedback on the current interaction status