Did you know the first “brain-tweet” was sent out this year? How about that we may someday be customizing windshields with widgets? In the not-to-distant future, we may be interfacing with computers in exciting and innovative new ways.
In the grand scheme of history, it wasn’t long ago that the first telephone conversation took place. Relatively speaking, that makes the personal computer an invention of yesteryear, and social networking only a blink of an eye later. Just imagine what’s coming in the near future…
The future of how we interact with computers is exciting to say the least. What once seemed like nonsense outside of Hollywood and Science Fiction is now starting to find it’s way into reality, and some of the technology is a bit overwhelming. Have a taste of what the future of interface design has to offer:
F/A-18C HUD by RealD
Although Heads Up Displays (or HUD’s) were originally developed for military aviation so that pilots could keep their heads up, HUD’s have found their place in many more applications. Today they can be found in many cars and in a wide variety of experimental scenarios.
Some of today’s cars are already offering HUD’s that display information such as speed or RPM’s directly onto the windshield. There are even helmet mounted Heads Up Displays available for motorcyclists now. So far we’ve only dabbled in the field of vehicular HUD’s though.
A patent from Microsoft reveals that the company may look into creating windshield HUD’s in cars that display all sorts of information from temperature to email. Maybe someday we’ll even have windshields with enhanced night vision, or even customizable widgets.
There are many new eyewear HUD products on the horizon including a pair of specs being developed by Brother, and eye-gesture glasses developed by German researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems.
Applications for these devices include navigating with augmented reality software, assisting engineers and doctors, or even something as simple as watching a movie or browsing the internet… only you get to do it hands free.
It appears that many of the newer eyewear HUD products may start emerging as soon as 2010, but the exact specifications and pricing is a bit blurry. Until then, if you’re a DIY kind of person you might be able to hack a wearable computer with a heads-up display of your own like this guy.
Gestural Interfaces allow computers to recognize natural human idiosyncrasies and actions. For example, there are quite a few gesture-based systems that decipher emotions in human faces or the “hidden” language of hand motions.
Often times, gestures act as a more seamless way to communicate with machines. For example, the iPhone bump application allows two users to exchange contact information by literally “bumping” their phones into each other. Such an action could be compared to bumping into someone, or swapping business cards, and feels more natural to the end user.
Likewise, the Palm Pre has a “gesture pad” that recognizes basic thumb swipe patterns: swipe from right-to-left to go back, throw an application off the screen to exit, or slowly drag up to bring up a global navigation menu.
You may already be aware that there are tablets that can learn your unique handwriting patterns and transcribe written text with a pen into plain text for use computer documents. What may blow your mind though is that a group of scientists have a working model of a new system that does this without the pen. That’s right, you scribble your thoughts into thin air, and a computer transcribes it into editable text.
Whatever the application, gesture interfaces that recognize human body language instead of archaic data entry are here to stay. They’re intuitive, user friendly, and it may even be appropriate to call them “fun“. Have you seen the latest iPod’s? Just shake them to shuffle your music library!
For more information, you can pick up a copy of Designing Gestural Interfaces: Touchscreens and Interactive Devices
There have been a couple of very promising developments coming from the Entertainment industry for spatial Motion Interfaces: interfaces that translate movement captured in a three-dimensional space into inputs on a device. Almost everyone knows about the Nintendo Wii’s motion controllers. Sony and Microsoft are also hopping on board, introducing their own technologies in the coming years.
Microsoft Xbox’s Project Natal turns the user into the controller.
The PlayStation Motion Controller is Sony PlayStation’s response to market demand for a motion controller, one-upping the Wii’s Motion controller by tracking distance on top of motion and rotation. Perhaps even more exciting in the field of spatial Motion Interfaces is Microsoft Xbox’s Project Natal which uses no controller whatsoever, instead tracking the human body as the means for controls.
Outside of the gaming industry, Toshiba has been developing their own hardware that appears to be taken straight out of Minority Report. They hope that someday their technology will become more available in the mainstream markets.
Wikitude AR Travel Guide
GPS systems, though useful, have begun to lose their luster as they find their way into more devices. What if instead of showing an overhead map of the area with an overlaying route, your GPS revealed directions directly on a live video feed of your current location?
That would be cool, huh?
Such is one of many potential applications of augmented reality systems: live views of real-world environments combined with computer generated imagery. It’s not just your imagination. In fact, some devices including a hefty number of smart phones are already finding themselves victims to AR software (Maybe you’ve heard of the Wikitude Travel Guide)
Augmented reality isn’t limited to navigation of course. There are already applications like Yelp for the iPhone that streams user reviews of restaurants over the camera feed; or Nokia’s Point and Find that allows users to find relevant information about objects simply by pointing your phone camera at it; and many other practical ideas that may become a reality in the near future.
Telepathy may be the works of science fiction, but with the use of new neural computer interfaces, there may be a time in the future where sending thoughts becomes common practice. It was actually earlier this year that the first tweet was sent via brain from the University of Wisconsin’s Neural Interface Lab.
Another company, Braingate, has developed a similar technology that has allowed paralyzed participants to check email, or even play a game of pong using only their mind.
The technology works by implanting a small microchip in the users brain which analyzes pulses as inputs for the devices being used. Of course, the technology is still in it’s infant stages allowing the average user to write at approximately 10 characters per minute, but the applications for such a technology are limitless. Disabled users who previously have had little or no access to email or the internet can use this technology to communicate like never before.
It is hoped that someday this technology will go beyond the trivial game of pong and even help those who are paralyzed by creating a connection between the brain and muscles where a spinal cord injury otherwise prohibits communication. Such a connection may allow paralyzed users to someday move certain muscles again, and perhaps even walk.
Left: iPhone | Right:Tom Clancy’s EndWar
Vocal Interfaces aren’t exactly new, but we keep finding new applications for them. From cell phones that recognize basic commands and names, to video games that respond to speech (such as the game “Tom Clancy’s: EndWar” which can be controlled entirely by voice commands), we’ve seen some innovative applications thus far.
MIT recently developed a wheelchair with a voice interface that not only responds to speech, but also saves detailed maps in memory and can take the user to their desired location via simple voice command. Another relatively new application of voice interfaces includes Google Mobiles “Search by Voice” commands.
Last but not least, interface designers are tapping into something almost as ubiquitous as air itself: surfaces.
If you want to see a truly inspiring look of what the future may be more like, you’ve gotta take a minute to watch Microsoft’s vision of the future. If it doesn’t make you want to live in the future, nothing will.
Okay, so maybe were a ways off from this, but there are a definitely few conceptual ideas worth getting excited over. For one, CRISTAL is a smart surface that takes on the form of a common table. What’s not so common however is that this table can control many of the electronic devices in your room, such as TV’s, Sound Systems, Lights, Radios, and even DVD Players.
There’s also a group of MIT students who have developed a prototype system that could potentially turn any surface into a smart surface using a webcam and projector. Pick up a newspaper, and watch a video of the headline news directly on the paper. Need to dial a friend? Hold out your hand to let a number pad appear before your eyes. It’s a concept of course, but definitely one I could get behind.
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You should definately include Layar in the augmented reality piece. An excellent and succesfull implementation.
http://layar.com/
Nice article about the future interfaces :)
Great post, David! I think it’s a super-exciting time to be involved in interface design––hence going back to school for HCI.
Personally, looking at interfaces that *aren’t* web-related is definitely more inspiring than looking at CSS Galleries, so thanks for your work in cataloging these!
Great post! This type of stuff is actually really exciting. I agree with Andrew, very inspiring.
This demo happened last year and I GOT to have it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40L3SGmcPDQ
That’s very cool. A non-intrusive brain interface is definitely one of the next big steps in that field. Can’t wait for this kind of technology to become more mainstream.
Great post. So much of this was science fiction Just a couple of years ago.
It’s going to be interesting to see how these technologies evolve into mainstream society and become the “norm.”
What should I say? Nice post, cool video’s, or so other cheesy remark.
Actually I hope this will NOT be the future of interaction design. The future of interaction design should be more about inclusive design and attention the basis/basics of the field. Its time interaction designers start to focus on the real problems, for real people. Instead of burning many dollars on these fantasy vision projects. Which in the end do not save lives (for example).
Hey Patrick, good input. I actually think that a lot of these visions will build bridges for what you’d like to see in the future.
Brain Interfaces for example may eventually allow paralyzed users to bypass spinal injuries and return motion to limbs. Heads Up Displays in consumer vehicles may provide a safer driving experience, or help doctors in operations. Augmented reality paired with medical/peace keeping/protection forces may help with faster response times from their appropriate departments which in turn may save more lives.
In fact, many of the examples in this article are already being tested (in early stages) on participants with disabilities.
Don’t forget telepathy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93p7oDkA5WA
Whoops, now that I read more closely, you did mention it. So I’ll revise. “Don’t forget telepathy isn’t science fiction.”
Awesome post here David. Very well researched! I can’t wait for some of these technologies and interfaces to start being implemented in the future.
> Don’t forget telepathy
funny :)
Nice Article! I’m especially looking forward to augmented reality in combination with HUDs in the car! So something like a real 3D navigation- and sourrounding information system :)
Augmented reality is really exciting and will be very cool in a few years time.
You can now add 3d layers to both Wikitude and Layar. This is prettty basic at the moment, but imagine visiting the site of an ancient battle and being able to use your phone to view events as they once took place.
If anything, the Microsoft video reminds me that I sometimes think too small. It is hard not to get a bit myopic, and pinned into current best practices and conventions.
Great post, i dont like the idea of HUD’s. But there is some awesome fun innovation to be had :D
great post ..very inspiring video on the future of interface design..
This may brand me as a neo-Luddite but if you look at these interaction methods, they either are a patented, whiz-bang technology or they’re a cocktail thereof, attached to some kind of connected device. This means that working with them comes in three flavours: capital-intensive (like retinal HUDs, Minority Report gesture walls) sharecropping (like the iPhone) or both (like Natal).
What seem to be missing here are non-interactions—robotic systems (either software-only or with hardware) that perform tasks completely unattended, as well as the current crop of technology becoming royalty-free commodity. These are a lot more accessible to the bespoke or boutique producer. With the impending rise in personal fabrication we could just as likely see people not bother to buy any of this mass-produced stuff and instead use their RepRap or similar device to make objects for themselves and their friends.
I think Patrick has a point in the future of interaction design going back to basics, and to which I add turning populist, and being at least as social as it is technological in nature.
Looks like an evil :)
Thanks for this inspiring post! The future of interface design is.. no interface at all. Invisible and integrated.
Hi that’s a great post. The future is really exciting. So much has changed over the years. See what everyone’s ideas are on The Tomorrow Mural http://tiny.cc/RVvuX
what about seo? css? what xhtml standard? are there w3 developers groupes?
There are “working” standards in place for nearly every kind of internet interaction imaginable; they’re available here: http://www.w3.org/TR/
As far as SEO, CSS, or xHtml standards for cutting-edge things such as the Microsoft surface, those are typically specified by the manufacturer themselves.
brain tweeting sounds neat. but srsly, bring on brain coding already.
hi its great post :)
Design Interface is more friendly to people :)
Apparently MicroSoft thinks Parkinson’s Disease will be cured in the future.
Great article. I have tried to find some additional videos supporting your text. Check out my Weblog for the blogpost.
Kind regards,
Herbert
Nice article. From what is going on around I think the future of web in very near future is going to change drastically. With the access of greater bandwidth within reach of most people, corporates might start investing (or advertising) in promotion in StreetView kind of device based online solutions.
Would web-sites be a passe’?
—Just kidding—
Very interesting topic though.
Great work!
some videos I saw recently about multi-touch gesture interfaces which this article made me think of:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/13/10gui-one-very-slick-desktop-multi-touch-concept-video/
http://mashable.com/2009/10/06/microsofts-multitouch-mice/
Windshield HUD från Microsoft? Well, hopefully they will make the Blue Screen of Death translucent. ;)
nice post, thanks
Wondering how long it will take to get these to market, then to make them usable without long breaks to calm nerves after you lose your work five times in a row for using the wrong wrist flicking motion.
Excelent post, thankyou. can´t wait for this to be a part of everyday life
Amazing technology
I enjoyed the article and Microsoft’s vision of the future.
However, although they were clearly trying to demonstrate a wide range of applications, I hope we’re not going to saturate the physical world with digital content.
We’d be better off with all the complex stuff happening behind the scenes and simple, unobtrusive interfaces for the users.
White wallpaper in every room anyone?
it’s great.
Your hardwork is a gift to us. Great post. Thanks