By Debra Wood

The U-Pointer allows contractors to turn physical surfaces into interactive whiteboards and capture notes, annotate drawings and enhance screensharing programs.

"I’m encouraged by this technology," says Raul Gomez, director of virtual design and construction with Robins & Morton, a member of AGC Tennessee, which uses U-Pointer in multiple offices for presentations to owners and at jobsites.

The U-Pointer, distributed in the United States and Canada by Bald Technologies of Raleigh, N.C., gives clients the ability to obtain computer mouse functionality with a pen. In essence, it enables a contractor

to turn any wall surface into a touchscreen or interactive white board with a light, portable device, explains David Fuller, president of Bald Technologies.

"It’s another tool for us to be efficient and impactful in a presentation," says Gomez, adding that the company is considering not purchasing more smartboards, but instead using the U-Pointer, eliminating the need to tote around heavy and bulky electronic equipment for presentations. It spends four times less for the U-Pointer. The device is about the size of a cell phone case, weighs less than a computer mouse and is easy to use.

"It literally turns what we are doing into a smartboard," Gomez says. "When we are presenting models and construction sequences, it gives us a chance to make changes and mark things up based on the feedback we are getting at meetings. It allows us to capture any thoughts or exchanges going on and at the same time still being able to display our presentation."

Additionally, at the company’s jobsites, crews can mark up drawings in the building information modeling kiosks or "BIM Boxes." "Our construction teams and subcontractors can red line and change things or add notes to any drawings with the U-Pointer," Gomez says. "We may need to send a note to an architect or engineer, and you can do that with U-Pointer on any type of display projected or any large format TV."

The U-Pointer is precise and portable and works with any software application on a Windows platform, including Revit or a PDF drawing. The device’s camera must be able to see the desired work surface. A boom allows users to mount the U-Pointer up and out of the way on a plasma television.

"It’s plug and play," Gomez says. "You have it mounted, you define points of screen and it finds the grid. It takes 10 to 20 seconds to get set up."

U-Pointer costs $999, with unlimited software downloads. It comes with iPro software offering nine different pen tools, to create lines, arrows, circles, boxes and squiggly lines as needed, and three erase options.

Fuller explains that his firm integrates established interactive technology, proven successful in other industries, to meet the interactive visualization needs of the U.S. construction market and brings it to contractors more quickly and less expensively than would be possible to develop something similar and manufacture it in this country.

"Construction is our core industry," Fuller says. "What I care about is helping our clients operate more efficiently."