Derek Kuschel
Creative by day, creative by night.
In 2009, Derek Kuschel, amused by the multi-touch trend that was growing, built a 45” multi-touch table – kind of like a giant iPad – as a fun ‘experiment’. Take that Bill Nye.
The table uses an HD video projector that lights up a screen across the top. A modified, high-speed video camera and infrared light allow the computer to follow a user’s touch and feed it down to an application. “I like making things look easy – designing and building fun and new ways for people to use technology,” says Derek. “I get something stuck in my head, and I just have to do it.”
Not to go geek on you, but a number of technologies fueled the technology used for the table including Adobe AIR, Microsoft’s XNA, and the Unity 3D video game engine.
Derek’s table was on display at the 2010 Maker Faire Detroit at the Henry Ford Museum – it took home the Editor’s Choice award.
Derek, a proven self-taught mastermind, recently bought a book on how to build garages. Months later? A 450 sq. ft. garage – slightly less sexy than the multi-touch table – but we still give him props.