Daily Note: Human-Material Interaction

These notes are a summary of concepts presented in “Radical atoms: beyond tangible bits, toward transformable materials.”

Hiroshi Ishii, Dávid Lakatos, Leonardo Bonanni, and Jean-Baptiste Labrune. 2012. Radical atoms: beyond tangible bits, toward transformable materials. interactions 19, 1 (January + February 2012), 38–51. https://doi.org/10.1145/2065327.2065337

  1. Tangible User Interfaces
    • Tangible User Interfaces act as physical manifestations of computation
    • Enable direct interaction with tangible digital representations
  2. Material Evolution
    • Hypothetical materials that change form dynamically
    • As reconfigurable as digital pixels
    • A vision where all digital information has a physical form
  3. Characteristics of Tangible User Interfaces
    • Leverage human dexterity for digital interactions
    • Expand physical objects’ affordances for digital engagement
    • Utilize haptic perception and peripheral attention
    • Blend different materials and forms for diverse interactions
  4. Interactive Surfaces and Tabletop Tangible User Interfaces
    • Support collaborative design and simulation
    • Use tangible objects sensed by augmented workbenches
    • Maintain input/output space coincidence via video projections
  5. Perceptual Coupling in Tangible User Interfaces
    • Balance between tangible and digital representations
    • Coupling between physical interfaces and computational models
    • Challenge of keeping physical and digital states synchronized
  6. Actuation and Kinetic Elements in Tangible User Interfaces
    • Kinetic memory – recording and replaying physical motion
    • Motors, gears, robots, and shape-memory alloys for actuation
    • Tangibles as active computational feedback channels
    • Remote haptic manipulations for distributed collaboration
  7. Tangible User Interface Concepts
    • 2D tabletop discrete tangibles
      • Enable smooth object movement on surfaces
    • Antigravity tangibles
      • Levitating and syncing physical forms
    • Transformable interfaces
      • Dynamically changing structures to reflect computation
  8. User Interaction and Material Transformation
    • Interfaces respond to direct manipulation, gestures, and graphical user interfaces
    • Shape transformation updates underlying digital models in real time
    • Users can translate, rotate, and reconfigure objects
    • Materials transform dynamically to display digital information
  9. Design Considerations
    • Must adhere to environmental and programmed constraints
    • Ensure user safety and intuitive affordances
    • Context-aware transformations based on situational factors
  10. Human-Material Interaction and Material User Interfaces
    • Integration of actuation and flexible materials
    • Any object can embody and respond to digital information
    • Towards fully interactive and shape-changing physical interfaces