Daily Note: Objects as Human-Computer Interfaces

These notes are a summary of concepts presented in “Digital Oxymorons: From Ordinary to Expressive Objects Using Tiny Wireless IMUs.”

Andreas Schlegel and Cedric Honnet. 2017. Digital Oxymorons: From Ordinary to Expressive Objects Using Tiny Wireless IMUs. In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Movement Computing (MOCO ’17). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 4, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1145/3077981.3078040

  1. Ordinary Objects as Interfaces
    • Simple, everyday objects repurposed as interactive tools
    • Use of ordinary objects with IMUs to capture body orientation and acceleration
    • Emphasis on artistic expression through movement
  2. Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU)
    • 9 degrees of freedom
      • Fusion of sensors: 3D accelerometer, 3D gyroscope, 3D magnetometer
    • Algorithms and filters
      • Kalman filter
      • Gradient descent
  3. Motion-Sensing Extension
    • Physical objects equipped with wireless IMUs for sensing movement
    • Proxy functionality: Objects act as motion-sensing substitutes for other objects
  4. Example: 3D-printed objects with accelerometers as interactive elements
  5. Interaction and Communication
    • Data communication
      • Unidirectional to bidirectional interaction via BLE bridge for microcontrollers
      • Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connections transmitting Open Sound Control messages
      • OSC message structure: Unique name, acceleration (x, y, z), orientation data (x, y, z)
    • Real-time gesture recognition
    • Dashboard application for monitoring and forwarding data
  6. Movement and Action Framework
    • Types of Movement
      • Vibrate
      • Swing
      • Rotate
      • Push
      • Pull
      • Pluck
      • Flex
      • Bow
      • Bounce
    • Parameters
      • Intensity: Measured via IMU’s acceleration vector for abrupt, fast movements
      • Orientation: Enabling objects to function as wireless potentiometers
      • Action Space: Spatial markers acting as points in space, used for interaction
  7. Feedback Mechanisms
    • Cause-and-effect exploration
    • Sound as critical feedback for action space interactions