Precedence Research

EyeRing

http://fluid.media.mit.edu/projects/eyering

"EyeRing is a wearable interface that allows using a pointing gesture or touching to access digital information about objects and the world. The idea of a micro camera worn as a ring on the index finger started as an experimental assistive technology for visually impaired persons, however soon enough we realized the potential for assistive interaction throughout the usability spectrum to children and visually-able adults as well."

Being able to point to things and instantly receive information about them without having to ask someone or Google it is a phenomenal interaction. It not only cuts the overall time to access the information, but also makes it more accessible and frees up the user to interact with any physical object with less confusion. Knowledge at your fingertips is quite literal in this scenario.

Similarly useful and intriguing: the FingerReader

http://fluid.media.mit.edu/projects/fingerreader

"The FingerReader is a wearable device that assists in reading printed text. It is a tool both for visually impaired people that require help with accessing printed text, as well as an aid for language translation. Wearers scan a text line with their finger and receive an audio feedback of the words and a haptic feedback of the layout: start and end of line, new line, and other cues. The FingerReader algorithm knows to detect and give feedback when the user veers away from the baseline of the text, and helps them maintain a straight scanning motion within the line."

Sensel Morph

http://frogdesign.com/work/sensel-venture-design-and-strategy.html

"At the size of an iPad and integrating more than 20,000 sensors, the Sensel Morph translates the detail, speed, expression, and power of touch unlike any other input device available on the market. Because Sensel’s technology measures force, not capacitance, it can detect far more than just the fingers and stylus pens required with today’s capacitive screens and trackpads. Indeed, Morph can detect any object or tool, from a paintbrush to a palette knife, drumsticks, and more."

Providing multi-purposeness to input devices is an important step in increasing both usability and the sustainability of physical interfaces. The Sensel's concept demonstrates that people are interested in making devices that allow for an array of interactions and uses. This interests me because touch is vital to physical interfaces. Sensel's not only providing a flat surface to interact with but also interchangeable controls analogous to the tactile interaction with real world objects; it helps to bridge the gap between mind and application.

Strandbeest

"The 'Strandbeests' are elaborate, elegant and fragile-looking contraptions, assembled from open skeletons of plastic tubes. The largest one in the exhibition comes in at 10 feet tall and 42 feet long, Smith says, though they average around 7 feet tall and a dozen feet long. Many have spined wings made of plastic sheeting and clear tape that wave in the wind like the wings of an insect testing the air for flight."

Ever since I was first introduced to the work of Theo Jansen years ago, I've been intrigued by the possibilities and wonderment that purely mechanical systems can still provide a world that is becoming increasingly digitized each day. Experiencing the interplay of the Strandbeests' massiveness and complexity with their unhurried movements generated only by the fickle nature of the wind must be almost indescribable in person. I am overall interested in systems that exude similar aesthetics; it's important that people continue to innovate not only by also focusing on the mechanical rather than the purely digital. 

Interactive Fish

http://abowman.com/google-modules/fish/#gadgetSWF

For fun, interactive goldfish.