Art / Fida / Family Archive / Meerkat / Tuba / TellTable / Other Brother / SketchStorm / Autonomous Presence
The Art project was part of the Mouse 2.0 effort, during which several different technologies were explored for multi-touch in a desktop computer mouse. Taking the 'normal' mouse as a point of departure it is the idea to create a richer interaction setup by re-designing both the digital and the physical aspect of current mouse interaction. Starting off with a rather extreme, multi-finger exploration several more explorations followed based upon index finger control.
1) The Art's main functionality, using in this case the thumb and index finger to interact, the hand palm provides an additional input feature.
2) The round shape enables easy to rotate interactions, shortcuts that could e.g. enable you to quickly change a certain setup (e.g. sound adjustment/object manipulation)
3) What if it would be possible to even beam a keyboard on the actual working surface (or a digital representation), would it be possible (while having two of these devices) to replace a keyboard?
4) Having two or more fingers represented as mouse pointers enables the user to make much more dynamic selections and maybe even 'physically grab digital files'.
5) Magnetic force feedback could further support the above mentioned interactions and provide physical feedback when grabbing/pinching files or providing feedback whenever certain (inter) actions are (not) possible.
The rendering below shows an additional design I made in which only one finger is articulated, creating a high precision control.
Reconsidering the physical shape and interaction of the mouse as we currently know it; made me also reconsider the digital representation of it, the pointer. The way the mouse pointer is currently designed would not really support the addition of an extra cursor. If it is possible to move the index and an additional finger (thumb explored within the sketches) it might be possible to break apart the pointer as well. What if it would be possible to feel the magnetic force between your fingers and while pulling the index finger and thumb further away from each other additional features pop up?
Prototyping/exploratory process
In order to get a better sense of the possible physical shape of Art and explore issues related to ergonomics as well I made a few foam models that provided a better understanding of shape, size and distance in general. I explored two different sized base models and several differently shaped finger parts. At this point I did not care too much about fixing the islands to the base although at this stage it made sense to go with a flexible link.
As an addition, the foam model really helped us to come up with the physical gestures for a new set of interaction methods and their digital representation (also see the interaction analysis we did in the 'inspiration/explorations' for the digital exploration based on the splitting mouse cursor) section.
After several initial explorations and different mock-ups I modeled a prototype for testing purposes in Solid Works. The prototype had a total of 3 optic sensors; providing several new interaction possibilities.
The first image shows the setup of the device, having a low base in order to position different 'top' caps for trying different shapes. Furthermore, the base contains an empty area in the bottom to provide space for the islands to move into. The three circuit boards will be mounted on top (one sensor for the index finger, one for the thumb and one in the base). The second image (upper right) shows how the island is connected to the base. A little bolt fixes the handle to the base.
The three images above show Art in assembly and as an exploded view, containing the base, three optical mouse sensor boards mounted on the base, the thumb island, the finger island, two bolts, the sensor, the 'magnets-ring', a top part for the finger, thumb and base.
The images above show the rough 3D printed model of the first iteration, the position of the optical sensor circuit board in the base, the integration of the sensors and magnets and the prototype in full assembly.
In order to detect whenever the object was used to pinch (the finger islands touching each other) or one of the islands being dragged towards the handpalm base, I created a second version incorporating aluminium rings to encapsulate the finger islands and the handpalm base. The exploded view gives an overview of all the final components that were integrated in the articulated mouse.
The images below show the rough, but working prototype the three optical sensor boards, three pairing buttons (in order to connect the individual boards via Bluetooth to the computer), a charging connector and the three metal rings.
In order to create the handpalm top we 3D scanned the earlier made foam model and imported this file into 3D solid works. The image below shows the prototype in action. Using the index finger and thumb to interact with the object and having the optical sensors underneath the fingers enabling users to have very precise input control.
