Sprout Pro

Introduction

Wikipedia (dated 2017) described the first Sprout Pro model, “Sprout by HP (stylized as sprout) is a personal computer from HP Inc and released for sale on November 9, 2014. [..] Sprout has dual interactive screens - a vertical touch screen display positioned in-line above a horizontal ‘TouchMat’ display, and also down-facing imaging sensors. The "Sprout Illuminator" serves as a projector, camera, depth sensor and scanner, and projects an image, for example a virtual keyboard, on the TouchMat.[6] For additional input, Sprout includes an Adonit stylus, as well as a Bluetooth-powered set of keyboard and mouse. This enables users to interact with physical and digital content while working. Content can be digitally captured and manipulated in 2D or 3D directly on the TouchMat interface. HP claims that this greatly simplifies and streamlines the creative process.”

As of 2019, a newer Sprout Pro by HP G2 is available. According to HP (retrieved June 12, 2019), Sprout Pro is a Windows 101 all-in-one immersive learning station designed to enhance hands-on learning, promote collaborative engagement and spark creativity.}}

Specification

The data sheet identifies some features that we summarized below.

• High-resolution FullHD projection on a 20-point horizontal, 2.2mm thick 3:2 aspect ratio Touch Mat.

• 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity for the pen

• Four hands work at once and enhanced with active pen capability

• Enables scanning documents up to A3 or tabloid size.9

• Scan precise 360 3D models using enhanced structured light scanning technology

• Possibility to use either a rotating table of by holding and rotating the object in your hands.

• Scan and manipulate content in 2D and 3D via an interactive clipboard or even manage how displays will appear on a third monitor

• Professional Software Development Kit with advanced hardware access. bindings exist for C++ and C#/Visual basic

• 23.8" diagonal, vertically oriented Full HD touch display

• wireless keyboard and mouse set

Technical:

• Intel Core i7-7700T with Intel HD Graphics 630 (2.9 GHz, 8 MB cache, 4 cores) , Chipset Intel H170
• Available Graphics Integrated: Intel HD Graphics 630 5 Discrete: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M (2 GB GDDR5)
• Dimensions (W x D x H) 67.2 x 58.6 x 56.8 cm (With HP Touch Mat docked)
• Weight Starting at 12.8 kg

In education

(to do)

In HCI research

Unver et al. (2016) start a demonstration paper by saying that “Projector-camera (pro-cam) systems create virtual environments for remote interaction with audio and video support. However, previous pro-cam systems require custom hardware and thus have not been used at-scale in the field.” and conclude that “the ShareTable application [the authors developed] provides many opportunities to create new knowledge in HCI. We plan to expand the laboratory studies to real-world settings and explore user interaction.”

According to HP

The Education Whitepaper (retrieved June 12, 2019), lists a number of educational applications and scenarios. Most of these also could be implemented with more standard setups. It lists potential use cases in different ways. The most important message, in our opinion is on page 3 that reproduce below.

Prepare future thinkers, leaders and innovators

Engage students in new STEAM experiences and 3D asset creation on advanced technology that builds 21st century skills, including:

Coding & Robotics

Extend coding environments with dual multi-touch work areas to show the code on one screen and reference materials or emulations on the other.

3D Exploration

Collect student work in an ePortfolio and create digital models for virtual reality visualizations and 3D printing using the 2D and 3D scanning capabilities.

Blended and interactive content presentations

Showcase physical objects and digital content simultaneously to the entire class. Remotely collaborate with other schools or industry experts with the ability to share up to four feeds.

Video documentation

Create unique flipped classroom videos or empower student-led video documentation with a web-cam, downward-facing camera and dual-screens.

Design & Annotation

Enhance students’ natural ways of drawing, writing and researching with precision digital inking using the HP Active Pen2 on the paper-like HP Touch Mat.

Storytelling

Encourage creative expression through storytelling with stop motion using the downward-facing camera or existing digital content.

Page four then list a number of examples drawn from various disciplines. In both cases, it is not very clear if either teacher or student activities (or both) are described. E.g. under the "Art" section we see “Digitally customize the color or design of clay fired pottery with 3D scanning and image editing software.” I does make sense that technology can be used for either learning through technology or with technology....

Links

• sprout.hp.com (Official home page, accessed June 2019)
• Education Whitepaper

Bibliography

Other

• Unver, B., McRoberts, S. A., Rubya, S., Ma, H., Zhang, Z., & Yarosh, S. (2016). ShareTable Application for HP Sprout. In Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI EA ’16 (pp. 3784–3787). New York, New York, USA: ACM Press. https://doi.org/10.1145/2851581.2890252