The Kinesic Interface.
Honorable Mention, 2006 I.D. Magazine Annual Review
Can't experience and emotion be wedded forever?
- Bill Stumpf, The Ice Palace That Melted Away
Yes, we tolerate technology as much as we embrace it. Every new device intended to make our lives easier and more enjoyable ends up putting another barrier between us and the human experience. But manufacturers are bound to the never-ending churn of product cycles and need for steady revenue, so each new device ornaments itself with more marginally useful features that only get in the way of the primary functions, sucking joy out of the activity and alienating us from our environment.
Apple and Nintendo are notable exceptions. Nintendo's latest generation of gaming consoles use touchscreens, microphones, gyroscopes, and even bongo drums to explore new ways for us to connect with games and each other. When we use body language to communicate, we're expressing something beyond what a binary button or 15 millimeters of travel can measure.
And the iPod's single-minded focus and wonderfully tactile scrollwheel makes it fun to listen to music, but Apple is not immune to market pressure and the complexity that features bring. To the company's credit, it recognizes that many people don't need more than a personalized radio station, and so offers the iPod shuffle, whose controls are limited to playing, pausing, and moving sequentially through a songlist, with no screen to command attention. Not much different from a CD player, except that it fits the contents of a few dozen albums in a pocketable device.
In The Ice Palace That Melted Away, Bill Stumpf begs for design to reconnect us with each other. In that spirit, let's strip devices to their primary function and interact with them with the flourish of human body language.
In collaboration with Abe Camacho (co-designer), Joey Chen (biomechanics advisor)
Wink Camera
Take a picture by winking at your subject. Have a stranger take a picture of you and your spouse by telling him to wink at your wife.
When you use a typical camera, you're putting a barrier between yourself and your family and friends — removing yourself from the picture, so to speak. But integrate the camera into eyeglasses or contact lenses, and you remove the divide as well as the inconvenience. The popularity of cameraphones has shown that people value availability — having a memory preserved with little effort is much more valuable than a 5X zoom or 8 megapixels.
Twirl Music Player & Trigger TV Remote
Adjust the volume by sticking your finger in your ear and twisting it, as an old man might do when he can't hear well. Pause and resume your music by plugging and unplugging your ears, or by tugging on your earlobe. Advance through songs or stations by twirling your forefingers, much as you would if you were impatiently telling someone to "get on with it."
Fiddling with controls is distracting, and not an ideal situation while driving or going for a run. With a gesture- based interface read by a motion-sensing ring on your finger, you can keep your eyes on the road and your balance on the treadmill.
Technology
While this study focuses on the human experience, these products will be possible to build within 10-15 years.
Wink Camera
The Wink Camera captures images using special contact lenses or eyeglasses. Captured images are transmitted to a wearable central processor, such as a wristwatch, which is in direct contact with skin. The contact lens interface consists of four layers: a CCD image sensor, a OLED display, and two LCD layers to direct and filter light. An RF coil allows data and power transmission to and from the body-worn processor, similar to RFID tags.
Image Sensor Layer (CCD)
The image sensor is a high-resolution CCD chip printed on a transparent polycarbonate substrate that allows light to pass through to the eye. Because of its transparency, it is sensitive to light from both sides of the lens so that it can capture images from the outside world as well as track eye movements.
Display Layer (OLED)
The display is an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) screen printed on a transparent polycarbonate substrate.
Light Filter Layer 1 (LCD1)
The outermost layer is an LCD whose function is to block out light from the outside world so the image sensor can track movements of the eye. The filter is applied just long enough for the CCD sensor to capture an image of the eye (less than one microsecond), so vision is not impaired.
Light Filter Layer 2 (LCD2)
Between the CCD sensor and the OLED display is a second LCD layer. It blocks out light from the direction of the eye or light from the OLED display as needed, allowing simultaneous image capture and display.
Twirl Music Player & Trigger Remote
The interface for the Twirl Music Player and Trigger Remote is an unassuming motion-sensing ring worn on the hand that has three internal accelerometers to measure motion in the X, Y and Z axes. Data from the accelerom- eters is processed by an embedded microprocessor and sent through an RF coil to the body-worn processor, which interprets the motion of a gesture and sends the appropriate command to the music player or TV via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. The ring is powered by the RF field generated by the body-worn processor.
