Gigando touch screen remote, from Palladium

... written for Panbo by Ben Ellison and posted on Nov 2, 2009
Palladium_touch_screen_control_table1_cPanbo.JPG

You may never feel comfortable about slapping a bowl of chips and a couple of beers on this coffee table, but it surely would impress the folks visiting your super yacht, and it's wicked fun. Tucked somewhere in that table is a full on Mac computer that's networked to a full on distributed entertainment system -- curtains, lights, movies, internet, whatever!  As usual, the megayacht sections of the The Fort Lauderdale show were awash in wretched excess, but also as usual, the good folks at Palladium Technologies demonstrated how creative, even joyous, cost-no-problem electronics can get...

Last year, for instance, Palladium introduced the iSiMON iPhone/iTouch interface to its flagship monitoring and control system, which has been updated a lot since (demo available on iTunes), and is deservedly a nominee for a 2009 Dame Award.  And in 2006 I was impressed with Palladium's translucent trackball/alarm gadget, and I'm still hoping something similar will appear for less-mega yachts.  All of which is not to suggest that Palladium isn't a darn serious systems company.  In fact, this year they've also introduced an Electrical Division whose massive hardware cabinets involve giant relays and mission critical PLCs.  Founder/CEO Mike Blake is particularly proud of the power cabinet's touch screen control system because, while it looks almost as sexy as the giant remote or iSiMON, there is no Mac or Windows OS between it and the work it does. But obviously Mike (below) and his team are having fun with the non mission critical stuff, and that's fun for the rest of us.

Palladium_touch_screen_control_table_Mike_Blake_cPanbo.JPGPS Here's an image of the Rosie touch screen control that commenter Chris mentioned below. Of course  a photographer has to take shots of the room with each light on and off, curtains open and drawn, etc. -- all from the vantage point of each controller -- and a programmer has to map the switching to the photos.  But the end result certainly is intuitive, and fun.

Palladium_touch_screen_control_Rosie_cPanbo.JPG


Posted by Ben E on November 2, 2009 7:04 AM

Comments

Funny - that's Star Wars on the LCD screen in the background.

Posted by: ed herlihy at November 2, 2009 7:51 PM | Reply

They had a smaller touch panel that was very interesting also! It had pictures of each room/location that could be controlled and you could select by picture the light you wanted to turn on/dim in the room! Better than having the same ole' buttons to control your home with. I did enjoy the large touchscreen though and found later you would be able to add widgets to allow gaming if you wanted to play a game of checkers or something! Awesome stuff!

Posted by: Chris at November 3, 2009 8:29 PM | Reply

the system illustrated here is "Savant"
not made by Palladium...

Posted by: Anonymous at November 6, 2009 9:57 PM | Reply

Correct; Palladium partners with Savant to put their AV gear on super yachts. More info on Rosie and table here:

http://www.savantav.com/home.php

Posted by: Ben E at November 7, 2009 7:37 AM | Reply

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