This paper presents three projects which are based on the reuse of existing objects as new Tangible User Interfaces for the purpose of (a) education, (b) exploration and (c) creative expression.

The already existing familiarity of the users with the basic interaction concepts of such systems can help to (a) breakdown barriers and increase accessibility of technologies as well as (b) can create playful and enjoyable experiences.

The authors give a short overview over their conducted work and the resulting insights as well as a reflection about the process in retrospective.

Body awareness is essential to execute movements as well as for our perception and interpretation of the world. Hence, it also influences the experiences we make when interacting with a user interface. In comparison, an underdeveloped body awareness can cause low self-control, a lack of self-confidence and the inability to relate oneself to the external world. The aim of this study is to identify application areas of supportive technology in this context and derive design implications for it. In this study (N=5), we use bodystorming workshops and open interviews in the instructed physical training context of equestrian vaulting to explore how and in which way exteroceptive stimulation influences body awareness. The results show that especially participants' body awareness by proprioceptive sensation was increased through the stimulation which further led to quicker reactions as well as an improved perception of wrong body positions and movement executions. Thereby, exteroceptors concerning haptic and tactile feedback are overall the most preferred for triggering and training body awareness.

In this work, we introduce our approach of using current VR and AR technology to explore fully tangible spherical user interfaces.We present three prototypes utilizing this technique. We briefly outline possible challenges, advantages, and fields of application for the presented concepts. Accordingly, we discuss why VR is an interesting tool to investigate interaction with Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) that are currently not feasible in real world applications such as tangible holographic interfaces or lightweight handheld non-planar displays.This allows for studying various levels of tangible feedback on established use cases such as spherical visualizations. Subsequently, a tangible sphere, due to its natural shape enables an investigation of interaction techniques transferred from the real to the virtual world. Building on these prospects we represent the position that such objects could play a leading role not only in research but in future Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) applications that rely on natural interaction based on realistic physical feedback.

Sketching with Hardware is an undergraduate university course with the goal to teach students how to build prototypes for tangible user interfaces. Goals of this course are to create awareness for tangible interaction among students and prepare them to realize advanced projects like bachelor’s and master’s theses in this field. In this paper, authors share their experience teaching the concepts of tangible interaction, electronics and prototyping to computer science students in a two week course. The course’s content, structure and goals are explained, and needed material and infrastructure are described. The long-term effect of the course has been evaluated by conducting a survey among former participants.