Can you help?

As you may have seen there’s a tutorials page attached to the blog which I’ve had online as long as the blog has been running. I’ve been meaning to build up a tutorials section of links to other websites … Read More

Transmaterial: A Catalog of Materials That Redefine Our Physical Environment

If your building interactive architecture, its obviously not just about understanding digital technology, you have to have an understanding of all the materials in construction that would lend themselves to interactive spaces. I’ve just got hold of this book … Read More

Smart Materials 1 – Definition

Last night I was at the smart materials event at the Dana Center in Londons Science Museum where a number of interesting materials that could be potentially applied to interactive architecture. I personally didn’t find anything that was mindblowingly new … Read More

Levitating and Nanotube Lifts

Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corp have developed the world’s first elevators controlled by magnetic levitation available as early as 2008.Using maglev technology capable of suspending objects in mid-air through the combination of magnetic attraction and repulsion they promise quieter … Read More

Philips – Entertaible

Philips have made the Entertaible which is a 30” LCD touchscreen table that has been developed for social gaming applications for people in places like bars and restaurants, and perhaps one day in the home. It also has built … Read More

Interactive Facades by Edigma

Interactive Facades are appearing all over the place at the moment and here’s a product that is selling it to the commercial market to entice shoppers in through inital interactive events that can occur inside or remotely from the architecture.

… Read More

Paper-thin Batteries

NEC Corp. said Dec. 7 it has developed a thin, pliable battery that can be charged in about 30 seconds. The new product, 4 centimeters square and 0.3 millimeter thick, can light a light-emitting diode for about 20 minutes after … Read More

Intelligent Automatic Doors

Those Japanese have done it again. This time a door that senses the approaching shape of an object entering and opens to that shape. This new design entails strips equipped with infrared sensors that open to the approximate shape … Read More

Elementlabs – Versa TILE and Versa PIXEL

elementlabs

One of the many interactive hypersurface technology companies on the market.

Below are two of their products the Versa TILE and Versa PIXEL

Versa TILE

Video – I feel a little sorry for the kid.

How does it … Read More

The Future of Wearable Computing

Interesting introductory article on the future of ‘Wearable Computing’

Image Above – Motion Aware Clothing M.A.C. unobtrusively integrates various sensors as well as computational and communication abilities in a textile. ” Currently a 1kg, A5 sized subnotebook with … Read More

Sensacell

Here’s a cool little sensor product that uses capacitive sensing technology (the measure of minute electrical changes in elecrical capacity caused by objects moving in the immediate proximity of the sensing electrodes). What that means is that large conductive … Read More

SAILS: Self-Assembling Intelligent Lighter-Than-Air Structures

film for discovery channel

“The Mascarillons are the first rigid aerobots developed for the [ SAILS ] project. They are flying cubic automata able to develop collective behaviors and assemblages through swarm-intelligence protocols.”

Website Link

Interesting idea for constantly … Read More

Festo – Fluidic Muscle MAS

Over the last few months I’ve been trying to rationalise how to go from concept to engineering on my current kinetic architecture project. Festo for me has been a good place to go looking for innovative products that are proven … Read More

MicroHUD Head-Up Display

Fancy playing around with Head Up Displays like they use in Fighterjets and are now starting to use in high end executive cars such as the BMW 5 and 6 Series.

Made by Microvision The MicroHUDâ„¢ evaluation kit is … Read More

Clever Carpets

Not that I would consider carpet my first choice for interior design, its interesting now how more and more inteligent systems are being introduced into furnishing products such as carpets.

Carpets with inbuilt intelligence can now run office functions … Read More

Buckymobile : Nano-Car

Following on from my Buckypaper post a kinetic application for buckminsterfullerene is being developed Researchers at Rice University. Kinetic engineering at the smallest level has led to the construction of a one-molecule car, complete with working chassis, axles, and wheels! … Read More

Interactive Pillows

Stemming from the need for more subtle forms of communication to complement existing IT devices, this project explores interactive pillows as a means of enhancing long-distance communications. Through natural interaction with a pillow in one location, dynamic textile patterns are … Read More

Sensitive Skin for Robots and Buildings?

The University of Tokyo researchers have developed a flexible artificial skin that could give robots a humanlike sense of touch. The team manufactured a type of “skin” capable of sensing pressure and another capable of sensing temperature.

And … Read More