Acoustruments: Passive, Acoustically Driven, Interactive Controls for Handheld Devices

Emerging Technologies

 

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Acoustruments: Passive, Acoustically Driven, Interactive Controls for Handheld Devices

Acoustruments (low-cost, passive, power-less mechanisms, made from plastic) can bring rich, tangible functionality to handheld devices. Through a structured exploration, the research team identified an expansive vocabulary of design primitives, providing building blocks for construction of tangible interfaces utilizing smartphones’ existing audio functionality. By combining design primitives, familiar physical mechanisms can all be constructed from passive elements. Acoustruments can also create end-user applications with rich, tangible interactive functionalities. Experiments show that the system can achieve 99% accuracy with minimal training, is robust to noise, and can be rapidly prototyped.

Gierad Laput
Carnegie Mellon University, Disney Research Pittsburgh

Eric Brockmeyer
Disney Research Pittsburgh

Moshe Mahler
Disney Research Pittsburgh

Scott Hudson
Disney Research Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University

Chris Harrison
Disney Research Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University