In the previous section, we reviewed related frameworks that imply the feasibility for achieving automatic ambient reconfiguration. The goal for reviewing related ambient environments is to understand the role of interface in evoking ambient reconfiguration, and how the user’s intention for ambient reconfiguration is being interfaced. In this section, we review related projects from research labs worldwide that show or imply the practicability and possibilities of ambient reconfiguration with user control.
2.2.1 Nebula
Nebula (Marzano and Aarts, 2003) is an interactive projection system designed to enrich the experience of going to bed, sleeping, and waking up (Fig 2-6). By simply placing pebble-encompassing specific interactive content into the bed bag, a correspondent ceiling interactive projection will be triggered, and the user can manipulate it by adjusting their sleeping positions and by interacting with their partner while in bed. Though it is not designed for design work or relatively formal tasks, it shows potential of environmental adaptation via light-weight human intervention.
Fig 2-6: Nebula with reconfigurable ceiling projection (after Royal Philips Electronics website4).
2.2.2 Visual Interaction Platform
Visual Interaction Platform (VIP) (Aliakseyeu et al., 2001) is an augmented reality design application combined with the WIMP interface. The physical setting of VIP
4 http://www.design.philips.com/about/design/section-13534/index.html
mainly constitutes of two spaces: an action-perception space for design work, and a communication space as a supplement (Fig 2-7 left). VIP has a range of 2D/3D navigation and manipulation support via mediated objects, such as hand writing, sketching, and the tracking of physical objects (Fig 2-7 right). VIP is a working prototype that integrates the function needed for the early stage of design, and combines both benefits of the WIMP interface and natural artifact-mediated interaction. With VIP, the designer can freely choose the interaction style that best fits his needs when performing specific operations. However, though VIP has shown its reconfigurability in various tasks such as switching mediated objects for different operations, it is mainly designed as a fixated supporting tool only in the early stages of design, and does not adapt to other design activities.
Fig 2-7: Spatial arrangement of VIP (left), and different mediated objects for interacting with VIP (right) (after VIP website5).
2.2.3 Ambient Agoras
The major goal for project Ambient Agoras (Prante et al., 2004) is to transform the physical envelop of a work environment into a social architectural space which supports informal communication, collaboration, and social awareness within the organization. The result of the project—Hello.Wall (Prante et al., 2003), is an example artifact as a social catalyst that fosters both local and remote collaboration within a larger organization (Fig 2-8).
It contains three different interaction states: Ambient, Notification, and Interaction, and is activated by user proximity to it (Fig 2-9). When a user keeps his distance from the Hello.Wall, it appears to be an atmospheric decorative ambient display.
5 Visual Interaction Platform at Industrial Design Eindhoven, http://www.vip.id.tue.nl
But when the user steps closer, the ambient display starts to serve an informative role and notifies the user if there are any private messages for him. One more step closer, the user can explicitly interact with it, such as view or leave a message to others via a borrowed display—ViewPort. In some views, by measuring the user’s proximity, the Hello.Wall can be seen as adaptive to the three kinds of different social activities. Measuring the proximity to reconfigure the function of Hello.Wall is comprehensible and acceptable by users in this case. However, they may not be suitable for manifestation for design activity adaptation.
Fig 2-8: Informal communication around Hello.Wall (left). Interacting with Hello.Wall with ViewPort (middle). ViewPort in detail (right) (after Ambient Agoras6).
Fig 2-9: Ambient Agoras with three interaction states (after Ambient Agoras).
2.2.4 Interactive Public Ambient Display
Similar to Hello.Wall mentioned above, Interactive Public Ambient Display (Vogel and Balakrishnan, 2004) is another interactive ambient display consisting of four levels of interaction states: ambient display, implicit interaction, subtle interaction,
6 The Disappearing Computer Initiative - AMBIENT AGORAS, http://www.ambient-agoras.org
and personal interaction (Fig 2-10 left). Also determined and triggered by user proximity to the display, it offers different user interaction modalities and different contents, judging by the user’s distance to the display. The right of Figure 2-10 shows the user interacting with Interactive Public Ambient Display.
Fig 2-10: An Interactive Public Ambient Display with four interaction states (left), and a user interacting with Interactive Public Ambient Display (right).
2.2.5 Muscle Reconfigured
Muscle Reconfigured (Biloria and Oosterhuis, 2005), as real-time responsive spatial envelop installation, envisions space as a network of nodes which constantly exchange information and behaves as a collective whole to attain spatial reconfigurations (Fig 2-11). It reconfigures its shape to adapt to human ergonomics or behaviors. The prototype has successfully made space reconfigurable, but it is reconfigured to be more adapted to human ergonomics or behaviors instead of design activity.
Fig 2-11: Muscle Reconfigured (after HRG, TUDelft7).
7 Hyperbody Research Group at TU Delft, http://www.protospace.bk.tudelft.nl
2.2.6 Impromptu
Impromptu (Beigl et al., 2004) is a concept and system for instant creation of ad-hoc pervasive computing environments. By introducing different everyday objects tagged as Smart-Its Particles into the environment, they are aware of each other, configure themselves to correspondent functions, and cooperatively forms a spatial support, without users having to set-up, configure, maintain, or administer such environments by themselves. Impromptu could be adaptive to different situations when different tagged object are present in the environment. However, this means the adaptation is constrained with the objects, and every time the adaptation is needed, extraordinary user intervention is required, which may annoy the user.
2.2.7 U-Texture
U-Texture (Kohtake et al., 2005) is a topology-aware building panel which allows the user to composite it into different 3D shapes to form specific functional smart objects (Fig 2-12) such as ambient walls, collaborative tables, smart stands, or smart shelves. U-Texture is able to recognize the entire structure and functioning automatically (Fig 2-13). Such topology-aware adaptation is an intuitive way to trigger specific adaptation strategies; however, the composition itself needs user foreground intervention and lacks immediacy, which may distract the user, whose goal and focus of interest should be on another thing.
Fig 2-12: A modular building panel for U-Texture (after UbiLab8).
Fig 2-13: Smart Table, Smart Shelf, Smart Wall, and Smart Stand (after Kohtake et al, 2005).
8 http://www.ubi-lab.org/u-texture
2.2.8 Animated Work Environment
Animated Work Environment (AWE) (Green et al., 2005) is a concept of the future work environment interior embedded with intelligent components that adapt to a range of work needs and situations over time. The configuration and functionality of the environment is user-controllable over a WIMP interface on the work surface with preset programs (Fig 2-14). A user can reconfigure the whole space into different purposeful spaces simply via buttons or toggles. However, AWE appears to be a conceptual idea only and the practicability and feasibility is still under evaluation.
Fig 2-14: AWE in Composing mode (left); AWE in Presenting mode (right) (after Green et al, 2005).
2.2.9 Turntroller
Turntroller (Suzuki et al., 2005) is a device for controlling appliances around the environment simply via a “Turn” operation (Fig 2-16). It is composed of two columnar knobs. The back side knob is used for selecting the appliance to control and the front side knob is used for actually controlling it (Fig 2-15). Turntroller provides users with an easily way to reconfigure the ambiance in any place.
9 http://www.turntroller.com
Fig 2-15: The system architecture of the Turntroller (after Turntroller9).
Fig 2-16: A diagram describing the usage of Turntroller (after Turntroller).
2.2.10 Instant Collaboration Environment
Instant Collaboration Environment (ICE) (Chen and Chang, 2005) is a project investigating how a designer can reconfigure his PDE into a remote collaborative environment to have “Clearboard”-like (Ishii et al., 1994) or “Media Space”-like (Bly et al., 1993) ambient settings (Fig 2-17). Users within ICE can easily collaborate with remote colleagues simply by pressing buttons to immediately trigger the environment into a desired collaborative setting (Fig 2-18). However, according to our observation and experiences, when users request remote collaboration, they cease for a few seconds to seek the correct buttons to press. As a result, buttons appear not to be an ideal choice for an unobtrusive trigger interface.
Fig 2-17: Remote collaboration with “Clearboard”-like interface in an ICE.
Fig 2-18: A user initiates a “Media Space”-like collaboration in an ICE.
2.2.11 Summary
The works mentioned above show a variety of feedback elements, from spatial envelop, artifacts, appliances to interactive surfaces. It also shows a variety of ways to evoke ambient interactions by evoking them via controllers, implicit inputs, the composing of different elements or embodied actions toward an artifact.
Interaction techniques such as controller devices, gesture controls, or tangible inputs have been investigated as approaches for users requesting ambient settings to tailor to different needs. One can use a universal remote controller to switch the state of an appliance and connect each of them to form cooperative services.
Because design is dynamic in nature and requires different design support for different purposes at times via controllers or techniques, the environment should be triggered to reconfigure into different kinds of ambient mediated support immediately.
Interaction techniques for triggering ambient reconfiguration and reconfigured ambient elements are summarized into a chart in Table 2-1. The related projects have shown possible techniques for achieving ambient reconfiguration, which we discuss in the following section.
Table 2-1: Lists of related projects.
No Project Name Techniques for Evoking AR Feedback Elements 1 VIP (2001) Placing new artifact into the work space A table with a front surface 2 Nebula (2001) Putting Pebbles into baggage Ceiling and a bed 3 Ambient Agoras (2003) Body approaching the wall A Wall
4 Impromptu (2004) Attaching Smart-It particles to everyday artifacts
Everyday artifacts
5 Interactive Public Ambient Display (2004)
Body approaching the display Ambient display
6 Works from HRG (2004) Movements or sounds Spatial envelop 7 U-Texture (2005) Composing into artifacts Everyday artifacts
8 AWE (2005) Pressing buttons and toggles Spatial envelop and everyday artifacts
9 Turntroller (2005) Rotating the knob Environmental appliances 10 ICE (2005) Pressing buttons A table with a front surface and
an embedded ambient artifact