A DIY multitouch keyboard & a smart glass without electronics!

I've had a chance to give a talk at Microsoft Research this January and also to meet fantastic researchers. I've had very inspiring discussions about the future of HCI bringing design, fabrication and strong theoretical foundations into the mix. I've also visited unique labs and see some neat projects. For instance, Paul Dietz from the Applied Sciences Group showed me his and his team keyboard, applying his technical contribution for the famous MERL diamond touch table into a regular keyboard, making it not only multi touch (you can press multiple keys at the same time as input and receive outputs accordingly), but it is also pressure sensitive! The keyboard was presented at UIST this year.
Here's a video:








The research has already been partially integrated into a product, that will be released by March 2010. This keyboard, the SideWinder X4, will be extremely nice for keyboard gamers (like myself) who suffers from the ghosting problem: when my keyboard loses track of key presses when I am already holding down another key. This new keyboard allows a gamer to press up to 26 keys at the same time!!

Among other research products, the team explored the possibility for a table top interface, such as Microsoft surface, to recognize everyday objects without the use of any electronics. The team applied optics to a simple empty vs half full glass detection problem, so a drinking glass can sense when a refill should be offered. The glass had to be modified in fabrication with a prism-like structure at the bottom of the glass to reflect light when it is not submerged with liquid. The surface table sends IR light directly up towards the prism and when the glass is almost empty, the IR light reflect back at a different angle than when the glass is full. Such a nice trick and it allows the table to function with passive objects containing no electronic components or moving parts!

When atoms become bits!

Directly from Japan, look at the Tuttuki Bako Virtual Finger Game! 100% real and fantastically crazy by simply sticking your finger in the hole and a digital representation appears on the screen. Then you can use your virtual finger to play all kinds of cool mini games... from swinging a panda to having a karate fight with a tiny little man. It's so odd yet so wonderful.

You can find it at ThinkGeek

What a visionary anime!

I've just finished the awesomness Denno Coil anime, only 26 episodes, an epic end. Everyone out there working on HCI should give it a try, it's not just about wearing VR glasses and having a secret child's world, it is about fusion between anime culture, with a tiny revolution: girls use their brain quite inventively, and a vision of a digital world merging physical, microscopic illegals that needs special encodes, kids collecting metabugs to gain more credit, with a digital police that can also be hacked. O well, I had fun watching these!!

A "trailer" with a soundtrack I never heard before!

Physical Heart in a Virtual Body

My friend Amit Zoran, from the Ambient Intelligence group at MIT Media Lab, continued his work on structural innovation, re-designing acoustic musical instrument according to the abilities and characteristics of rapid prototype materials. Together with Pattie Maes and Marco Coppiardi, they created a new generation of physical instruments by tailoring wooden hearts. The wooden pieces are inserted in body of the guitar to give the instrument the desired sound identity.

Watch the video of the resonator ->here<-



Amit changing the physical heart of his guitar

can traditional values be embedded into a digital object? in this project we implement a special guitar that combines physical acoustic properties with virtual capabilities. The acoustical values will be embodied by a wooden heart - a unique, replaceable piece of wood that will give the guitar a unique acoustic sound. The acoustic signal created by this wooden heart will be digitally processed in a virtual sound box in order to create flexible sound design.

His research will be presented at Nime 2008 this summer.
His paper is ->here<-
His presentation is ->here<-



Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ Architectradure

Imprint digital functions onto common everyday physical objects

Amphibian allows users to easily imprint digital functions onto common everyday physical objects. Amphibian is a low cost, low infrastructure system that enables users to choose their own physical objects and imprint onto them almost any standard interface functions that take place on a GUI desktop. The goal of Amphibian is to create a system that the common user can implement and operate so that we may learn more about the digital-physical object relationships people will form.

So basically, you take an object, put it on the amphibian scale, and it labels it automatically for you. You can associate data to that object through the Amphibian user interface. Anytime you want to retrieve the data associated with that object, you just put it back on the scale. As for applications, you can play music from your itunes library with forks and spoons, you can write am email by composing with color pens, e.g. a red pen on the Amphibian scale and you say "I miss you!". A very unique take on labeling objects!

You can download the software for free ->here<- with all the instructions on how to DIY!
Enjoy!



Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ Architectradure

Keep in touch: a tactile-vision intimate interface

Keep in Touch designed by Nima Motamedi at Simon Fraser University, Canada, is a networked fabric touchscreen designed to support and maintain intimacy for couples in long distance relationships. To achieve this she created a novel sensorial interface by combining the visual and tactile senses together. Each partner is presented with a blurred digital projection of their lover. When they touch their partner's body, the image comes into focus revealing their features.

In the paper presented at TEI in 2007, the authors describe how this sensory mapping creates an expressive and emotional interface allowing couples to communicate through touch, gestures, and body language.

See also her paper: The aesthetics of touch in interaction design!



See also Mutsugoto by Tomoko Hayashi, Stefan Agamanolis and Matthew Karau.

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ Architectradure
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New interaction technique for timeline control in video scenes

Dragon is a research project by Thorsten Karrer, Malte Weiss, and others at the Media Computing Group, RWTH Aachen University in Germany.

Objects on video scenes are used to control their trajectories in time, basically any object that appears in the video becomes a slider that can control the video timeline. The project is meant to be a "more" frame-accurate in-scene video navigation than usual systems and during studies users found more natural the use of this video navigation "slider" than traditional timeline sliders. It seems to me a great WYSIWYG for video!



->Video <-

Abstract

We present DRAGON, a direct manipulation interaction technique for frame-accurate navigation in video scenes.
This technique benefits tasks such as professional and amateur video editing, review of sports footage, and forensic analysis of video scenes.
By directly dragging objects in the scene along their movement trajectory, DRAGON enables users to quickly and precisely navigate to a specific point in the video timeline where an object of interest is in a desired location. Examples include the specific frame where a sprinter crosses the finish line, or where a car passes a traffic light.
Through a user study, we show that DRAGON significantly reduces task completion time for in-scene navigation tasks by an average of 19–42% compared to a standard timeline slider.
Qualitative feedback from users is also positive, with multiple users indicating that the DRAGON interaction felt more natural than the traditional slider for in-scene navigation.

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ Architectradure
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Interactive touch sensitive surface

Flux

Flux designed by Media Interaction Lab, is an interactive touch sensitive surface that can be used either as an interactive table and/or as a digital whiteboard. The surface is based on a rear-projection screen providing both multi-touch and multiple pen interaction with individual identification.

Flux’s application interface is automatically optimized for the intended use depending on its orientation. Flux can be used as a sketch board, a discussion table or a white-board. Transformation between different orientations is single handedly achieved easily and elegantly. Rear projection, in conjunction with FTIR and Anoto pen tracking allows multi user, multi modal interaction in every configuration.



Flux has the following novel features:

* transition between multiple hardware/user configurations
* Optimized user interface based on the configuration and hence intended use
* Breakthrough multi modal input possibilities with independent, simultaneous hand and pen tracking
* Completely separate, individual and simultaneous interaction facilitated with pen(user) recognition

The authors of Flux claim that the system provides unmatched flexibility and capability in setup, use and user input and that it will set the path for a new generation of interactive surfaces!

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ Architectradure
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Your umbrella is your better sword!

As a child I empowered my toys with all kinds of will of their own. We all have one day stood up on a chair pretending it was a boat crossing Niagara Falls. Well Yuichiro Katsumoto did it. He creates objects that become anything you want with noises. By combining common household commodities with computers, Yuichiro Katsumoto works on ubiquitous computing. He created a set of daily objects that give our everyday lives a whimsical spin.


He created Amagatana an umbrella for enjoying a blissful walk after a rain.

Amagatana is a mystical sword for enjoying the blithe feeling after the rain. When you swing Amagatana, you can hear the sound of swords clashing from the headphone. Amagatana seems to be just a plastic umbrella. You also seem just like a cheerful person when you are playing Amagatana. However, the umbrella exists beautifully in your hand as a “sword”. On your way home, Amagatana offers you the world of make-believe. Then, you will be able to get a feel for heroes of comics, cartoon, and video games. It’s your own pleasure, which nobody can notice.

He also created Fula, a muffler for warming the user's body and soul on a cold winter's day. Ordinary mufflers protect our body against the cold by blocking the cold air. However, Fula warms the user by encouraging him to physically move, by fluttering its fabric in a superhero-like manner in response to the user's muscular contractions. Through acting in accordance to the flutter, the user can warm his body, and by seeing the reflection of his heroic self in store windows, his soul as well. Fula can also be used in conjunction with Amagatana, to have the two interact together.

I found this awesome video on Youtube. You gotta watch this video. It is too funny.




Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ Architectradure
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Sound Candy

"Sound Candy is a toy which makes public playground yours with sounds and gestures. Wear Sound Candy on your body, record your favorite sounds to it, and jump! Hop! Run! Sound candy mutates the recorded sound according to your movement. Play creatively." By Shuichi Ishibashi, Daisuke Uriu and Professor Naohito Okude at the Okude Lab in Japan.

Sound Candy is a device for anyone to create a personal playground with sound and movements. The main idea for Sound Candy is to offer the possibility to entertain and be entertained by using ordinary stones and wood sticks that surrounds us. Because of its small size, Sound Candy can be attached to any part of the human and animal body, artifacts and objects. Sound Candy has two function: a recording one, and the possibility to integrate the recorded sounds and the signals from the sensors, such as vibration or acceleration caused by a variety of movements. The recorded sounds are converted in various ways by selecting either Angle Mode, Vibration Mode, Speed Mode and Rotation Mode.


Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ Architectradure
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Mutsugoto

Mutsugoto is an interactive installation that invites couples to experience an intimate communication over a distance created by Tomoko Hayashi, Stefan Agamanolis and Matthew Karau.





Begin by laying on the bed and wearing the special ring. As you relax and think about your partner, gently move your hand around your body. These movements are traced on your own body as well as your partner laying in the other bed. Twinkling spots give a hint of where your partner is drawing. If you follow your partner’s movements and your strokes cross, the lines will react with each other and reflect your synchrony.

Don't forget to check the beautiful video of Mutsugoto. This is the first time I've seen ambient remote communication being that beautifully achieved and that sensual.





In 2003 Tomoko Hayashi created Intimacy is a series of accessories for people who exist in a long-distance relationship. The accessories are a combination of ties or undergarments with jewelry such as necklace or ring. Each accessory encloses jewelry inside and is heat-pressed to make an embossed pattern of the jewelry on its surface. Lovers can take the jewelry out to give it as a gift to their lover in a distant location. This allows lovers to share the memory of the object remotely and feel close to each other. The embossed pattern will fade away little by little (through pressure, moisture or heat) with daily use. When they meet again, the lovers can recreate the pattern by pressing the piece with a very hot iron.




Posted by Cati Vaucelle
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Vein Viewer

The VeinViewer by Luminetx™ uses a combination of near-infrared light and patented technologies to image vascular structures, thus allowing physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals to clearly see accessible vasculature (or lack thereof) in real time, directly on the surface of the skin. The near-IR camera located the subcutaneous veins and project their location onto the surface of the skin.

This technology reminds me of the device used to visualize inside a baby in the e-baby's video.


Screenshot of the e-baby video - 2003
Posted by Cati Vaucelle
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Lifestyle in 2057

2057 EP1 The Body featured on Discovery Channel offers mixed information between current research explorations and fictional scenarios of our lifestyle in 2057.

It is a nice effort in considering what is being done in HCI and medical research which converges into everyday scenarios. Under its over dramatic tone, the examples are sometimes tacky and stereotypical. The show could have incorporated other important issues such as affordable cutting edge technological solutions for the rest of world.

This video is fun and accessible. I loved the transplantation of a human heart, heart that can be 3d printed! Presenting a vision for a future lifestyle, this video reminds me of the American Look (1958): America lifestyle in the 50's with its *idealistic* sense for design.

Miniature motion controller

A Miniature One-Handed 3D Motion Controller by Kynan Eng that I saw at Interact 2007.

Abstract Users of three-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) and
gaming applications need to manipulate virtual objects in up to six degrees of
rotational and translation freedom (DOF). To date, no 3D controller provides
one-handed 6DOF input with miniature size and low cost. This paper presents
a prototype of the first one-handed 6DOF motion controller suitable for use in
portable platforms such as laptop computers, mobile telephones and hand-held
game consoles. It is based on an optical sensor combined with novel planar
spring mechanics, and can be easily manufactured using low-cost materials and
processes.



Paper

A stretchy fabric controller

Created by Angela Chang, Zstretch is a fabric device that can capture the richness of active touch interactions for controlling music interactions. Much of the prior work on integrating electronics with textiles focused on rigid, exact places for touching the fabric, rather than supporting the many actions our hands and bodies can create. The project explores how to support the large range of forces that people apply when interacting with fabric.

Paper for Nime 2007

Ambient clock for elders

At Interact 2007, I discovered the work of Yann Riche and Wendy Mackay.
He presented the MarkerClock, an ambient clock for elders.
Pdf of the paper.

Seniors support one another through routines and through shared awareness. The MarkerClock facilitates the sharing and awareness of routines among elders. Built upon seniors’ stories of their daily life, it invites for reciprocal care behaviors.



The clock appears as ambient and non intrusive by giving symbolic graphical information on the user's activity. For instance, if Beatrice goes to the market in the morning, this information is coordinated with the clock and displayed graphically as "absent". Because her friend knows she is at the market, it appears as normal.


Examples of a) users’ codes, b) user’s motion trace

During user observations, an elder explained that she sends a signal by ringing 3 times the phone of her friend so that her friend can assess that she is all right. Users originally invented strategies, such as this code, to be aware of each other's lives. The design rationale integrates these findings into the augmented clock. It embeds active and passive communication and do so by simply detecting the user's motions in front of it, directly measuring the senior's activity.

Robots in therapy

Interesting research on the investigation of the possible use of robots in therapy and education of children with autism

Ben Robins, Kerstin Dautenhahn, Rene te Boekhorst, Aude Billard (2004) Effects of repeated exposure to a humanoid robot on children with autism. In S. Keates, J. Clarkson, P. Langdon and P. Robinson (Eds.) Designing a More Inclusive World, Springer Verlag, London, pp. 225-236.

Introduction In this paper we discuss lessons learnt from our previous study, and introduce a new approach, heavily inspired by therapeutic issues. A longitudinal study with four children with autism is presented. The children were repeatedly exposed to the humanoid robot over a period of several months. Our aim was to encourage imitation and social interaction skills. Different behavioural criteria (including Eye Gaze, Touch, and Imitation) were evaluated based on the video data of the interactions. The paper exemplifies the results that clearly demonstrate the crucial need for long-term studies in order to reveal the full potential of robots in therapy and education of children with autism.

Video of this research by BBC

Paper

The next UI breakthrough, physicality?

The Design of Future Things by Donald A. Norman

A discussion by Donald A. Norman on the passage from Graphical User Interfaces, especially command line based, to Tangible User Interfaces, in particular motion based interfaces.

Introduction
In my previous column I discussed the reemergence of command line language. Once these were the ways we used our operating systems and applications. Now they are reemerging within search engines. They are hidden and not easy to learn about, but I expect them to grow in power and, over time, become the dominant means of interaction.

In this column I will talk about a second trend, one that also has much earlier origins: the return to physical controls and devices. In the theoretical fields that underlie our field, this is called embodiment: See Paul Dourish’s book, Where the Action Is. But the trend is far more extensive than is covered by research on tangible objects, and somewhat different from the philosophical foundations implied by embodiment, so I use the term “physicality.”

Physicality: the return to physical devices, where we control things by physical body movement, by turning, moving, and manipulating appropriate mechanical devices.

Reference
Norman, D. A. 2007. The next UI breakthrough, part 2: physicality. interactions 14, 4 (Jul. 2007), 46-47.

Column on Command Line Interfaces available online

Full paper available at the ACM digital library