7 experimental interfaces of the future

The 27th Software and Technology Symposium started in Honolulu yesterday. Dozens of companies and teams of developers presented various projects of experimental interfaces. Some of the most interesting and promising of them, with great chances for a massive introduction, are presented under the cut.

Light ring

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The Light Ring project is being developed by experts from Microsoft Research. A compact device using infrared radiation detects the movement of fingers, and the gyroscope helps to track the position in space. As a result, literally any surface can be turned into a keyboard. You can click, drag and draw on the table, book, knee or wall. So far, the device recognizes the movement of only one finger, but very accurately and quickly.

Room Alive

Another development by Microsoft Research, which is a follower of the IllumiRoom project, presented at CES 2012. A group of projectors and Kinect consoles turns the surface of all the objects in the room into a single interactive surface.

Skin buttons

The development team at Carnegie Mellon University presented its vision of the expansion of the active control zone for wearable watches. For this, it is supposed to build miniature projectors into the gadget that display different control icons right on the user's hand around the clock. The developers note that the projecting module costs only $ 2, while it can even increase the battery life by depriving the screen of control functions.

Flexsense

The FlexSense project is being developed by the Austrian Media Interactivity Laboratory. The device is a sheet of transparent flexible plastic with integrated piezoelectric sensors. With their help, the control system with a fairly high accuracy determines the curvature of the plastic sheet. This allows you to create interfaces based on a natural and familiar pattern of interaction with ordinary paper.

Tracs

This is a two-sided display with dynamically changeable layer transparency. According to the developers, it makes it easier and quicker to establish eye contact with a colleague sitting in front of you.

Teegi

Teegi is the name of the doll, which by its behavior visualizes the work of the user's brain. The name itself is an abbreviation of the Tangible ElectroEncephaloGraphy Interface, "tangible electroencephalographic interface." This strange development was created as a visual learning tool for the study of brain activity. With the help of this technology, it is quite possible to create an interface for managing devices, including for use by paralyzed people. And work in this direction has long been underway.

Haptomime

One of the most interesting projects presented at the symposium. The device uses ultrasound to create tactile sensations at a short distance from the device. Just holding your hand, but not touching, you feel the skin of the projected image on your skin.