Tangible Bits Next Generation HCI April 23, 2006 CHI 2006 Workshop Montreal, Canada Hiroshi Ishii Tangible Media Group MIT Media Laboratory

What drives Design? • Technology Driven Design begin with an innovative technology, apply it in an application/field Need Driven Design identify an existing problem/set of problems, shape process around solving these problems • Concept / Vision Driven Design define a new concept, design artifacts which embody that concept, and test it

Defy Gravity (= Pixels) GUI TUI Visual Tactile General Special Purpose Purpose Remote Direct and Control Collaborative Manipulation

Abacus: Origin of Tangible Bits Hiroshi ISHII, born 2/4/56 Alisa ISHII, born 9/1/04

Painted Bits (GUI) and Tangible Bits (TUI) Graphical User Interface Intangible representation (pixels on a screen) + Generic input devices as “remote-controllers” Tangible User Interface Tangible representation as interactive control mechanism to manipulate the information and computation Continuity between physical and digital representation in design Xerox Star Urp running on the Sensetable

TUI Key Properties Computational coupling of tangible representations to underlying digital information and computation Embodiment of mechanisms for interactive control with tangible representations Perceptual coupling of tangible representations to dynamic intangible representations We live between two worlds: our physical environment and cyberspace. The absence of seamless couplings between these parallel existences leaves a great divide between physical world and HCI. Tangible Bits is a research effort aiming at seamless couplings of physicality and virtuality by changing "painted bits" into "tangible bits."

Models of GUI and TUI GUI TUI digital information output physical digital e.g. video projection of digital shadow e.g. building model Input/ control tangible representation intangible digital information remote control input output pixels sound physical digital intangible representation GUI TUI Computational coupling of tangible representations to underlying digital information and computation

TUI Contributions Double Interactions Loop – immediate tactile feedback Persistency of tangibles Coincidence of Input and Output Spaces Special Purpose vs. General Purpose Space-Multiplexed Input We live between two worlds: our physical environment and cyberspace. The absence of seamless couplings between these parallel existences leaves a great divide between physical world and HCI. Tangible Bits is a research effort aiming at seamless couplings of physicality and virtuality by changing "painted bits" into "tangible bits."

TUI’s Double Interaction Loops information / computation physical digital tangible representation = control intangible (video/audio feedback) sensing 2nd loop through digital computation display 1st loop with immediate tactile feedback GUI TUI

Seamless transitions of attention between Center and Periphery to grasp & manipulate bits in the center of user's focus by coupling bits with physical objects and surfaces, and to be aware of bits at the periphery using ambient display media such as light, sound, airflow, and water movement. This slide illustrates the framework of “center and periphery” of human perceptions. The ambientROOM was designed to achieve two goals: 1) to grasp & manipulate bits in the center of user's focus by coupling bits with physical objects and surfaces, and 2) to be aware of bits at the periphery using ambient display media such as light, sound, airflow, and water movement. We get information in two main ways. First, we get information from what we are focusing on, where our center of attention is directed. But at the same time, we also get information from ambient sources. We may have a sense of the weather outside from ambient cues such as light, temperature, sound, and air flow from the open windows. We may also have an idea of the activities of our colleagues from the ambient sound and the shadows of passers-by. Our brain is not only capable of processing this ambient information while maintaining a focus elsewhere, but will naturally shift such information to our foreground when our subconscious deems it important. By using ambient media, we can take advantage of our brain's abilities as both a parallel processor and an attention manager. Current HCI research is primary focusing on foreground activity and neglecting the background. We would like to support seamless transitions of the user's focus of attention between the periphery (background) and the center (foreground) of human awareness.

Invisible interface? extension of body - good fit customize personalize adapt co-evolve

Visible center of focus - goal of task Critical representation of task Ball has to be always visible in the foreground with a table as reference You need an interface (paddle) to control the ball

Visual Thinking Seeing Drawing Imagining Robert McKim “Thinking Visually”

Tangible Thinking Mechanical Representation of Knowledge