Sketch furniture

Sketch furniture by Front allows sketching onto space to become an object.

Motion Capture translates motions into 3D-files and are used in this project to simply record the tip of a pen when people draw pieces of furniture in the air. Rapid Prototyping is a technique that materializes 3D-files. A laser beam builds the 3D-file layer by layer within a liquid plastic material. Every 0.1mm the liquid harden by a laser beam. After a few hours, the 3D-files come out as materialized pieces. The Sketch Furniture project in Japan is made in collaboration with Barry Friedman Ltd. Tokyo Wonder Site Aoyama and Crescent.

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

Light hidden within the wood

Light Play

Back in 2005, I saw the light play table, created by Anab Jain and Stuart Wood, a beautiful fiber optic table of natural light.

Recently I came across the work of the evil mad scientists and the because we can. A table that reacts by light to your motions and without motion it calms down to a very slight attractive twinkling.

The entire table pulls a total of 35 watts when it is fully active. That's less than a single common household light bulb!
Using a network of 32 active and passive near-infrared optical sensors, it detects motion above the table and changes in ambient light. Made of fully analog circuits, the light patterns sweep outwards from your motion with perfect fades, glowing stronger the closer the movement is, rippling across a pool of 480 super-bright white LEDs. It works in full sunlight or total darkness.

The cat is on the table, only his moving tail is setting off the lights

Don't click!

I discovered a nicely designed web site about human navigation on a computer screen through mouse clics. It proposes the another branch of the alternative: the site explores the control of the mouse clic through gestures.

Motion and identity

A few little dots moving make a figure look male or female, heavy or light, relaxed or nervous, happy or sad. A fun tool to play with by Bio Motion Lab.

Another famous tool that I love, sodaconstructor, a Java applet that animates two dimensional models made out of masses and springs. In this one, emotion and anthropomorphism take place at the spring level.

A while back, Le ciel est bleu designed very successful moving creatures depending on gravity points.


In the robotic sphere, Guy Hoffman's lamp is designed as a collaborative desk assistant and this by following your intentions around your desk. Even if the lamp is non-anthropomorphic per se, its motion certainly gives it an anthropomorphic credibility that serves the function of a desk assistant. Video of its first steps!

Gestural interaction in museums

“A proposal for an upcoming Canadian Museum for Human Rights suggests a wide range of advanced interactive technologies, including “a gesture-responsive wall full of factual information that will work in a fashion SIMILAR TO NINTENDO WII technology,” according to a report in the Edmonton Journal. “With a simple swipe of the hand in the air, visitors will be able to turn virtual pages.” You won’t even have to remember what you saw: “Visitors will be given a ‘human rights key’ that will provide a digital recollection of their experiences that they can later take home.” The museum is scheduled to open in four years in Winnipeg.” Via roomware