Soap Bubble Interface

Soap Bubble Interface bei der Kreativnacht St. Pauli am 9.9.2011

admin — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 11:51:38 +0000

Wir zeigen unser Seifenblasen Interface heute am 9. September 2011 im Rahmen der Kreativnacht St. Pauli in der Paul-Roosen Strasse. Im Programm sind wir unter Nummer 37.

Die Soap Bubble Machine macht auf Knopfdruck eine mit Rauch gefüllte Seifenblasen oder eine normale Seifenblase in gewünschter Größe. Mit den Seifenblasen kann das Licht im Raum zwischen blau und rot gesteuert und Töne/Musik erzeugt werden.

The Soap Bubble Interface

admin — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 04:13:49 +0000

The Soap Bubble Interface is an ephemeral user interface that uses liquids, smoke and soap bubbles for computer input. Users can generate normal as well as smoke-filled bubbles which drop onto a dark liquid surface. As the bubbles are tracked by a camera from below, the position of the floating soap bubbles can be used to control digital output like graphics, ambient light, or sound. The fragile soap bubbles can be moved either by blowing or touching them cautiously and thus create a special interaction quality which includes that they elude the complete control of users, as the bubbles inevitably burst after a short while. Thus, the soap bubble interface provokes thoughts about durability, control, and materiality of tangible user interfaces.

More pictures and videos are coming soon. If you need hi-res pictures please send an email.

Demo Presentation at TEI’10

admin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:00:36 +0000

We presented the Soap Bubble Interface at the fourth international Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction (TEI’10) hosted at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, USA , January 24th to 27th. It was mentioned in an article about the conference in the Technology Review Blog (You can also find a short video there). Here are some pictures:

Questions? Suggestions?

admin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:00:59 +0000

Please send us an email to

Liquids, Smoke, and Soap Bubbles – Reflections on Materials for Ephemeral User Interfaces

admin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:53:30 +0000

Paper Abstract

In this paper we inquire material qualities for tangible user interfaces and introduce the term “ephemeral user interface”. We present an example user interface that employs fragile soap bubbles for human-computer interaction: the user has to move or blow bubbles over a dark liquid surface in order to interact with a computer system. Our installation uses liquid, smoke, and soap bubbles as unusual and transient materials, which demand a very cautious and calm handling, and furthermore elude the complete control of users, as the bubbles inevitably burst after a short while. Thus, the soap bubble interface provokes thoughts about durability, control, and materiality of tangible user interfaces.

pdf version of the Paper

Authors:
Tanja Döring, Albrecht Schmidt
Pervasive Computing
University of Duisburg-Essen
45117 Essen, Germany

Axel Sylvester

AGIS

University of Hamburg

22527 Hamburg, Germany