[Johnny Lee]’s colleague [Paul Dietz] has done some interesting work using interactive tables. He’s specifically researched how to identify how full a drink glass is. In the video above, he’s using Microsoft’s Surface, but this technique ought to work with any IR video camera based multitouch table. identifying the drink level needs customized glassware that has a small prism inside. When the liquid level is above the prism, light passes through, but when it’s below the top it shows much more IR light back into the table. using this information, restaurant staff could serve drinks in a much more efficient manner.
[Paul] has dealt with another project that uses RFID and capacitive sensing to a similar effect.