title: ECCE Toolkit: Prototyping Sensor-Based Interaction.
abstract: Building and exploring physical user interfaces requires high technical skills and hours of specialized work. The behavior of multiple devices with heterogeneous input/output channels and connectivity has to be programmed in a context where not only the software interface matters, but also the hardware components are critical (e.g., sensors and actuators). Prototyping physical interaction is hindered by the challenges of: (1) programming interactions among physical sensors/actuators and digital interfaces; (2) implementing functionality for different platforms in different programming languages; and (3) building custom electronic-incorporated objects. We present ECCE (Entities, Components, Couplings and Ecosystems), a toolkit for non-programmers that copes with these issues by abstracting from low-level implementations, thus lowering the complexity of prototyping small-scale, sensor-based physical interfaces to support the design process. A user evaluation provides insights and use cases of the kind of applications that can be developed with the toolkit.
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Leganés, 28911 Madrid, Spain. abellucc@inf.uc3m.es.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bellucci
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Leganés, 28911 Madrid, Spain. aedo@ia.uc3m.es.
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Aedo
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Leganés, 28911 Madrid, Spain. pdp@inf.uc3m.es.
authors.forename: Paloma
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Díaz
keywords: End-User Programming; physical computing; sensor-based interaction; toolkits