Context

The design and concept of InControl originates from a concept in the desire to explore our relationship to our devices and how we control them. In our early ideation, we thought of the relationship between the controlling device and the peripherals as a Master/Pet relationship, with roots in behavioral psychology. B.F. Skinner, a famous psychologist and behaviorist, conducted many experiments showing that animals could be trained to behave in certain ways through the use of rewards and punishments. InControl's use of punishment to control smart home devices could be seen as an extension of this idea, suggesting that we can modify the behavior of our technology in the same way we do with animals.