I remember Jeff Han‘s talk on TED, introducing to the crowd his stunning demo of a multi-touch and multi-user screen interface. It was the first time I had heard of such screens and naturally, my first thought was: Minority Report has finally arrived. The technology is already being commercialized and we start witnessing the emergence of products using these new interfaces, such as Microsoft Surface or even the iPhone with it’s two fingers multi-touch. For those who are unfamiliar with multi-touch I added a link to Han’s demo.

Although, this technology did seem quite complex to me at first, I discovered that a few people were already trying to build their very own surfaces at home. Information about such projects is somewhat scarce but I’ve found a video I thought was most helpful and self explanatory. What is missing in the video is the rear projection mechanism that normally projects the computer screen back on the multi-touch surface. To clarify such aspects, not encompassed in the movie, I’ve also included a link to a step by step explanation on how to build the complete multi-touch screen. I wasn’t able to verify the validity of certain links to the required software, so if you think you can help please dont hesitate.

In the meantime, enjoy the show…