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Dry erase board lined with IR sensors to record pen strokes [video]

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Re: Dry erase board lined with IR sensors to record pen strokes [video]

#41
post #25

If you are interested in a full commercial version of this (sharing an analog whiteboard with a link), check out http://smartkapp.com (Disclosure: Am employee of said company)

Ouch, I know that when you see someone has already created a product that you are working on you should take it as a validation of your idea and not become discouraged. However, seeing this I can't help feeling bad for the OP. The OP has a prototype, while this (seems) like a fully fledged and very slick product with all bases covered and it is even cheap.

Re: Dry erase board lined with IR sensors to record pen strokes [video]

#42

very cool. practically thinking, why not buy a large touch screen and use some sort of stylus instead of this white board? in both cases, the user needs to buy special hardware. so i would think the costs would be comparable. genuine question, not diminishing your work

A 85inch DIY whiteboard will cost about 500$ to make while the MSFT surface hub costs 19,999$.

Re: Dry erase board lined with IR sensors to record pen strokes [video]

#43
post #14

This is cool as a DIY project, but digital whiteboards have been around since at least 1991: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Board

All the previous whiteboards force you to buy a projector or invest in smart pens. This costs ~150USD to make vs. 1500USD+ for the kind of smart boards that existed in the past.

I wouldn't say it requires a projector or smart pens. My school had both the "official" smart board most people know, but also a model of whiteboard that used IR sensors and regular pens.

I don't know how expensive they were, as they still were a commercial product sold to schools, but they didn't need a projector or smart pens

Re: Dry erase board lined with IR sensors to record pen strokes [video]

#44
post #25

If you are interested in a full commercial version of this (sharing an analog whiteboard with a link), check out http://smartkapp.com (Disclosure: Am employee of said company)

Since the company seems to be a hardware company, I'm curious, is any of the software open source?

Re: Dry erase board lined with IR sensors to record pen strokes [video]

#45
post #41
post #25

If you are interested in a full commercial version of this (sharing an analog whiteboard with a link), check out http://smartkapp.com (Disclosure: Am employee of said company)

Ouch, I know that when you see someone has already created a product that you are working on you should take it as a validation of your idea and not become discouraged. However, seeing this I can't help feeling bad for the OP. The OP has a prototype, while this (seems) like a fully fledged and very slick product with all bases covered and it is even cheap.

If the OP hasn't done research into potential/current competitors then the OP shouldn't be taking it further than a prototype anyway.

It definitely sucks to prototype something that already exists, but it's probably a good lesson too.

Re: Dry erase board lined with IR sensors to record pen strokes [video]

#47
post #41
post #25

If you are interested in a full commercial version of this (sharing an analog whiteboard with a link), check out http://smartkapp.com (Disclosure: Am employee of said company)

Ouch, I know that when you see someone has already created a product that you are working on you should take it as a validation of your idea and not become discouraged. However, seeing this I can't help feeling bad for the OP. The OP has a prototype, while this (seems) like a fully fledged and very slick product with all bases covered and it is even cheap.

$900-1200 isn't what I'd call "cheap" (OP says parts for their prototype is around $150).

Also, another person in this thread mentioned a 42" one from China thats $120 [1]. That is more in the "cheap" range.

[1] http://goo.gl/N02wRa

Re: Dry erase board lined with IR sensors to record pen strokes [video]

#48
post #47
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ouch, I know that when you see someone has already created a product that you are working on you should take it as a validation of your idea and not become discouraged. However, seeing this I can't help feeling bad for the OP. The OP has a prototype, while this (seems) like a fully fledged and very slick product with all bases covered and it is even cheap.

$900-1200 isn't what I'd call "cheap" (OP says parts for their prototype is around $150). Also, another person in this thread mentioned a 42" one from China thats $120 [1]. That is more in the "cheap" range. [1] http://goo.gl/N02wRa

If parts for your prototype are around $150, most conventional electronic product pricing wisdom would put this at around $600-$750 retail.

Re: Dry erase board lined with IR sensors to record pen strokes [video]

#49
Please don't listen to all the naysayers (I was about to be one of them) who are saying this has "already been done." Sure, they are right. But is there one in every room of every office? No. But there could be.

The thing that has changed between back then when this stuff was first done and now, is that everybody has smartphones. The old dinosaur systems aren't priced to take this into account.

Re: Dry erase board lined with IR sensors to record pen strokes [video]

#50
post #14

This is cool as a DIY project, but digital whiteboards have been around since at least 1991: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Board

All the previous whiteboards force you to buy a projector or invest in smart pens. This costs ~150USD to make vs. 1500USD+ for the kind of smart boards that existed in the past.

I forget the name, but I worked at a place ~1997 that had one that I'm pretty sure used regular board and pens. It had two bar-like devices affixed to a side and along the top of the board.
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