Tangible Interaction & Interfaces

Marie Schacht | DAI Labor TU Berlin | November 27th 2013

// a brief introduction

From the isolation of our workstations

we try to interact with our surrounding

environment, but the two worlds have

little in common. How can we escape

from the computer screen and bring

these worlds together?

[Mackay, Wellner, Gold, 1993]

Marble Answering Machine [Bishop 1992]

TUI example

http://vimeo.com/19930744

Tangible Magic Lens [Spindler, Dachselt 2010]

TUI example

http://vimeo.com/7685006

Classification of explorable Information Spaces:

[Spindler, Dachselt 2010]

TUI example

Tangible Magic Lens

Sifteo Cubes [MIT, Softpedia, Merill 2008]

TUI example

http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~dmerrill/siftables.html

[Schacht, 2010]

[Schacht, 2010]

Natural Interaction with Tangible User Interfaces Study Thesis

http://vimeo.com/29426366

https://mg.inf.tu-dresden.de/sites/mg.inf.tu-dresden.de/files/belegarbeit_marie-schacht.pdf

TUI Design Space [Schacht, 2010] Study Thesis

TUI Design Space [Schacht, 2010] Study Thesis

TUI Design Space [Schacht, 2010] Study Thesis

a vast ocean of digital bits

a landmass of physical atoms

Human body

prisoner of the land

but its visual & auditory senses

• already immersed into the sea

The Iceberg metaphor for TUIs [Ishii, 2008]

Iceberg: gives physical shape to digital water

brings digital bits to the surface

makes them graspable and manipulable for the human hand

Visions [MIT Tangible Media Group]

GUI TUI Radical Atoms

http://tangible.media.mit.edu

Visions [MIT Tangible Media Group]

GUI [1973]

A graphical user interface only

lets us see information and

interact with it indirectly, as if

we were looking through the

surface of the water to

interact with the forms below.

Visions [MIT Tangible Media Group]

TUI [1997]

A tangible user interface is like an iceberg: there is a portion of the digital that emerges beyond the surface of the water—into the physical realm—so that we may interact directly with it.

GUI [1973]

TUIs expand the affordances of physical objects,

surfaces, and spaces so they can support direct

engagement with the digital world.

[Ishii, Ullmer 1997]

Visions [MIT Tangible Media Group]

GUI [1973]

Radical Atoms [2012]

Radical Atoms describes

our vision for the future of

interaction, in which all

digital information has

physical manifestation so

that we can interact directly

with it—as if the iceberg

had risen from the depths

to reveal its sunken mass.

TUI [1997]

AR instead of VR

appreciated dual meaning of “graspable”

“Tangible Bits”(TUI) instead of “Painted Bits”(GUI)

physical embodiment of digital information

but: TUIs are limited by the rigidity of “atoms”

in comparison with the fluidity of “bits”

limited ability to change the form or properties of physical objects in real time

can lead to inconsistency with underlying digital models

seamless -> seamful (2012)

Tangible User Interfaces

[Mackay, Wellner, Gold 1993]

[Ullmer, Ishii 1997]

[Ullmer, Ishii, Hornecker, …]

[Ishii 2012]

[Ullmer, Ishii 1997] [Hornecker 2013] [Buxton, Henseler, …]

MaKey MaKey [MIT, Rosenbaum, Silver, 2012]

TUI example

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joylabs/makey-makey-an-invention-kit-for-everyone