Pixelsumo is a blog about interaction, with an emphasis on play, installation, video game culture, playgrounds and toys. Written by Chris O'Shea.
Sandy Interfaces
Posted June 4th 2009 under Surfaces, Tangible
A collection of projects that use tactile physical particles as an interface…
Sandscape (2003)
The Sandscape project by the Tangible Media Group at MIT follows on from their 2002 project Illuminating Clay.
“The users can alter the form of the landscape model by manipulating sand while seeing the resultant effects of computational analysis generated and projected on the surface of sand in real-time”.
“The users can choose from a variety of different simulations that highlight either the height, slope, contours, shadows, drainage or aspect of the landscape model”.
Glowing Pathfinder Bugs (2008)
Glowing Pathfinder Bugs by squidsoup:
“The bugs analyse the shape (topography) of the sand around them, preferring to move gently downhill. This means they can be shepherded, enclosed within walls of sand, encouraged to meet each other (at which point strange metamorphoses happen; they merge into larger caterpillars then, if you’re lucky, into butterflies. If they get frightened, they pop and disappear”.
Oasis (2008)
Oasis by Yunsil Heo and Hyunwoo Bang:
“A surface covered with black sand turns into a pool full of life when people grab and remove a handful of sand away. In this micro-world, virtual creatures are born, live and perish.They recognize their spatial boundaries and obstacles of living and respond to peoples’ touch in various ways”.
Other mentions
self.detach by Jens Wunderling using particles as an output device.
Sensual Interfaces by Chris Woebken is a conceptual project about organic electronics and nanotechnology.
Comments
(June 4th 2009)
great post!
i was wondering about using sand as tangible a interface and was trying to work out how it would be possible.
the IR camera in the first example sounds like a good idea but doubt its accuracy with hands always getting in the way.
some kind of pressure mat that could return a matrix of values would be ideal…
something you could put under the sand.
(June 25th 2009)
Another good example is Table de Sable by French artist Magali Desbazeille:
http://www.desbazeille.fr/UKspectacles-vivants/table-de-sable.htm