30 March 2008

HMI 3.0 : sensitive objects ?

HMI 1.0 (Human Machine Interface) was keyboard/screen. HMI 2.0 came with the mouse and the graphical user interface. What will be the HMI 3.0 ? Voice recognition technology is so complex that I doubt it will ever reach maturity. The successful come back of touch screen technology in the mobile computing segment seems to have given a new momentum to haptic technology -to such an extent that Microsoft is about to releasing its own MS Surface product.

Remember the cutting-edge HMI in "Minority report" ? This is precisely what haptic technology is all about. Sensitive object, a spin off from the French National Research Center (CNRS), has developed a technology based on the recognition of sound waves propagated in an object when the user touches it. A tap on an object produces a pattern of sound waves through the material. This pattern creates an acoustic signature that is unique to the location of the impact.

With this technology, it is possible to turn most objects into usable HMI. Beyond the "demo flat" marketing hype presented in the video below, the technology can have many innovative & useful applications across many domains of activity.