From June 23 to July 9, more than 5,500 visitors to the NTT InterCommunication Center (ICC) in Tokyo, Japansaw the first large-scale exhibition mounted by the Media Lab’s Tangible Media group,

headed by Fukutake Career Development Professor Hiroshi Ishii.The exhibit was built around a group of tangible media projects designed at the Lab over the past three years.

“T a n g i b l e B i t s give physical form to digital information, making bits directly manipulable and perceptible. The goal is to blur the boundary between physical space and cyberspace, realizing a seamless interface between the people, bits, and atoms.”

—Hiroshi Ishii

G E T T I N G I N T O U C H W I T HT H E D I G I T A L W O R L D

T A N G I B L E B I T S E X H I B I T I O N

H a n d S C A P Eis a digital tape mea-sure that measures notonly length, but alsoorientation, and trans-mits this informationwirelessly to a hostcomputer in real time.Combined with a three-dimensional modelingprogram, it allows theuser to visualize trans-mitted data as they aremeasured.

p i n w h e e l s spin ina digital wind from cyber-space (such as networktraffic). They demonstratehow physical informationcan be communicated atthe periphery of humanperception within an arch-itectural space in subtle andaesthetically pleasing ways.

c u r l y b o t , anautonomous two-wheeledtoy, can record and replayphysical motion. As onemoves it around, curlybotremembers where it’sbeen and can repeat move-ments with all the intrica-cies of the original gesture.

“At the seashore, between the land of atoms and the sea of bits, we are now facing the challenge of reconciling our dual citizenship in the physical and digital worlds. Our windows to the digital world have been confined to flat rectangular screens and pixels, or ‘painted bits.’ While our visual senses are steeped in the sea of digital information, our bodies remain in the physical world. The vision of Tangible Bits is to provide seamless coupling between these two very different worlds of bits and atoms.” —Hiroshi Ishii

T o u c h C o u n t e r sare small, electronic labelsthat can be attached to avariety of physical objectsto record their use. RFidentification tags andreaders are used to sensethe activity, and brightLED displays are used toportray this information,allowing people to recog-nize patterns of use.

T r i a n g l e s is aconstruction kit ofidentical, flat, plastic tri-angles that can be con-nected in two- and three-dimensional forms. Thetriangles connect togetherboth physically and digi-tally with magnetic, con-ducting connectors,allowing a simple butpowerful means of physi-cally interacting withdigital information.

i n T o u c h exploresnew forms of interpersonalcommunication acrossdistances using the senseof touch. Force-feedbacktechnology is used to cre-ate the illusion that people,separated by distance, areinteracting with a sharedphysical object.

S H A R E D D R A W I N G

T A N G I B L E I N T E R F A C E S

m u s i c B o t t l e sprovides a transparent,musical interface for digitalinformation. Uncorking eachbottle releases the sound ofa specific instrument andcontrols the colored lightprojected onto a customtable. Uncork one and heara piano, next a bass, andthen drums.

“Until recently, rendering bits into human-readable form has been restricted mostly to displays and keyboards— sensory deprived and physically limited. By contrast, ‘tangible bits’ allow us to interact with them with our muscles as well as our minds and memory. This work will lead to an entirely new class of computer interface.” —Nicholas Negroponte

I / O B u l b wasconceived as a “light bulb”that gives digital meaningto physical surfaces, and tothe manipulation of objectswithin its beam. For exam-ple, one application, Urp,can transform a simpletabletop into a digital urban-planning workbench.

To learn more about the work ofthe Tangible Media group, visithttp://tangible.media.mit.edu/

You can visit the ICC exhibitonline at http://www.ntticc.or.jp/event/tangible/tmg_e.html

I N T E R A C T I V E S P A C E S

P i n g P o n g P l u suses sensing, sound, andprojection technologies tochange the traditional gameof ping pong into an inter-active experience. For exam-ple, images of digital waterand a school of fish areprojected onto the ping-pong table’s surface. Eachtime a ball bounces, rip-ples spread out quietlyfrom the point of impact,and the fish scatter.

S t r a t a / I C C usesmulti-layered architecturalmodels to physically embodydigital information relating tospecific buildings. This pro-vides a platform for viewing,monitoring, interacting with,and discussing buildinginformation that is usuallyinvisible and inaccessible.

A M B I E N T D I S P L A Y S

CreditsHiroshi Ishii, DirectorShoji Itoh (ICC), CuratorJay Lee, Assistant DirectorLisa Lieberson,Project Coordinator

ResearchersJoanna BerzowskaScott BraveAngela ChangSeungho ChooAndrew DahleyBenjamin Fielding-PiperRich FletcherPhil FreiMatt GorbetAli MazalekMaggie OrthJoe ParadisoJames PattenSandia RenVictor SuBrygg UllmerJohn UnderkofflerCraig WisneskiPaul Yarin

CollaboratorsColin BulthaupCharlie CanoDan ChakBen ChunEmily CooperBlair DunnMasahiko Furukata (IMRF)Steve GrayRujira HongladarompJames HsiaoMotoi Ishibashi (IAMAS)Elizabeth KimAxel KilianMinoru Kobayashi (NTT)Motoki Koketsu (IAMAS)Tim LuJulian OranesJoseph PanganibanAlexandra PearlmanGustavo Santos

ContributorsScott Fisher (Keio University)Katsura Hattori (Asahi Shimbun)Yoshihisa Ieuji (ICC)Toshio Iwai (Media Artist)Hiroshi KanechikuTakashi Kaneko (ICC)Koichi Kido (ICC)Fumio Masuda (NTT Publishing)Nobuyoshi Matsumoto (ICC)Kazuo Ohno (IMRF)Tatsuo Owada (NTT)Itsuo Sakane (IAMAS)Seiji SawaguchiKatsunori Shimohara (NTT)Hitoshi Takahashi (FLEX)Shiro Yamamoto (IAMAS)

Special ThanksInternational Academy of MediaArts and Sciences (IAMAS)International Media ResearchFoundation (IMRF)NTT Communication ScienceLaboratoriesNK-EXA CorporationSEGA Toys

Organized byNTT InterCommunicationCenter (ICC)Photography courtesy of ICC

C l e a r B o a r d - 1 is asystem where people candraw collaboratively whilehaving “face-to-face” com-munication remotely throughuse of shared drawing andvideo-conferencing technolo-gies. Ishii and a former NTTcolleague Minoru Kobayashideveloped ClearBoard-1 in1991 at NTT Human Inter-face Laboratories.

[ P R E V I E W O F T H E B A C K S P R E A D ]

From June 23 to July 9, more than 5,500 visitors to the NTT InterCommunication Center (ICC) in Tokyo, Japansaw the first large-scale exhibition mounted by the Media Lab’s Tangible Media group,

headed by Fukutake Career Development Professor Hiroshi Ishii.The exhibit was built around a group of tangible media projects designed at the Lab over the past three years.

“T a n g i b l e B i t s give physical form to digital information, making bits directly manipulable and perceptible. The goal is to blur the boundary between physical space and cyberspace, realizing a seamless interface between the people, bits, and atoms.”

—Hiroshi Ishii

G E T T I N G I N T O U C H W I T HT H E D I G I T A L W O R L D

T A N G I B L E B I T S E X H I B I T I O N

H a n d S C A P Eis a digital tape mea-sure that measures notonly length, but alsoorientation, and trans-mits this informationwirelessly to a hostcomputer in real time.Combined with a three-dimensional modelingprogram, it allows theuser to visualize trans-mitted data as they aremeasured.

c u r l y b o t , anautonomous two-wheeledtoy, can record and replayphysical motion. As onemoves it around, curlybotremembers where it’sbeen and can repeat move-ments with all the intrica-cies of the original gesture.

“At the seashore, between the land of atoms and the sea of bits, we are now facing the challenge of reconciling our dual citizenship in the physical and digital worlds. Our windows to the digital world have been confined to flat rectangular screens and pixels, or ‘painted bits.’ While our visual senses are steeped in the sea of digital information, our bodies remain in the physical world. The vision of Tangible Bits is to provide seamless coupling between these two very different worlds of bits and atoms.” —Hiroshi Ishii

T r i a n g l e s is aconstruction kit ofidentical, flat, plastic tri-angles that can be con-nected in two- and three-dimensional forms. Thetriangles connect togetherboth physically and digi-tally with magnetic, con-ducting connectors,allowing a simple butpowerful means of physi-cally interacting withdigital information.

i n T o u c h exploresnew forms of interpersonalcommunication acrossdistances using the senseof touch. Force-feedbacktechnology is used to cre-ate the illusion that people,separated by distance, areinteracting with a sharedphysical object.

T A N G I B L E I N T E R F A C E S

m u s i c B o t t l e sprovides a transparent,musical interface for digitalinformation. Uncorking eachbottle releases the sound ofa specific instrument andcontrols the colored lightprojected onto a customtable. Uncork one and heara piano, next a bass, andthen drums.

p i n w h e e l s spin ina digital wind from cyber-space (such as networktraffic). They demonstratehow physical informationcan be communicated atthe periphery of humanperception within an arch-itectural space in subtle andaesthetically pleasing ways.

T o u c h C o u n t e r sare small, electronic labelsthat can be attached to avariety of physical objectsto record their use. RFidentification tags andreaders are used to sensethe activity, and brightLED displays are used toportray this information,allowing people to recog-nize patterns of use.

S H A R E D D R A W I N G

“Until recently, rendering bits into human-readable form has been restricted mostly to displays and keyboards— sensory deprived and physically limited. By contrast, ‘tangible bits’ allow us to interact with them with our muscles as well as our minds and memory. This work will lead to an entirely new class of computer interface.” —Nicholas Negroponte

I / O B u l b wasconceived as a “light bulb”that gives digital meaningto physical surfaces, and tothe manipulation of objectswithin its beam. For exam-ple, one application, Urp,can transform a simpletabletop into a digital urban-planning workbench.

To learn more about the work ofthe Tangible Media group, visithttp://tangible.media.mit.edu/

You can visit the ICC exhibitonline at http://www.ntticc.or.jp/event/tangible/tmg_e.html

I N T E R A C T I V E S P A C E S

P i n g P o n g P l u suses sensing, sound, andprojection technologies tochange the traditional gameof ping pong into an inter-active experience. For exam-ple, images of digital waterand a school of fish areprojected onto the ping-pong table’s surface. Eachtime a ball bounces, rip-ples spread out quietlyfrom the point of impact,and the fish scatter.

S t r a t a / I C C usesmulti-layered architecturalmodels to physically embodydigital information relating tospecific buildings. This pro-vides a platform for viewing,monitoring, interacting with,and discussing buildinginformation that is usuallyinvisible and inaccessible.

A M B I E N T D I S P L A Y S

CreditsHiroshi Ishii, DirectorShoji Itoh (ICC), CuratorJay Lee, Assistant DirectorLisa Lieberson,Project Coordinator

ResearchersJoanna BerzowskaScott BraveAngela ChangSeungho ChooAndrew DahleyBenjamin Fielding-PiperRich FletcherPhil FreiMatt GorbetAli MazalekMaggie OrthJoe ParadisoJames PattenSandia RenVictor SuBrygg UllmerJohn UnderkofflerCraig WisneskiPaul Yarin

CollaboratorsColin BulthaupCharlie CanoDan ChakBen ChunEmily CooperBlair DunnMasahiko Furukata (IMRF)Steve GrayRujira HongladarompJames HsiaoMotoi Ishibashi (IAMAS)Elizabeth KimAxel KilianMinoru Kobayashi (NTT)Motoki Koketsu (IAMAS)Tim LuJulian OranesJoseph PanganibanAlexandra PearlmanGustavo Santos

ContributorsScott Fisher (Keio University)Katsura Hattori (Asahi Shimbun)Yoshihisa Ieuji (ICC)Toshio Iwai (Media Artist)Hiroshi KanechikuTakashi Kaneko (ICC)Koichi Kido (ICC)Fumio Masuda (NTT Publishing)Nobuyoshi Matsumoto (ICC)Kazuo Ohno (IMRF)Tatsuo Owada (NTT)Itsuo Sakane (IAMAS)Seiji SawaguchiKatsunori Shimohara (NTT)Hitoshi Takahashi (FLEX)Shiro Yamamoto (IAMAS)

Special ThanksInternational Academy of MediaArts and Sciences (IAMAS)International Media ResearchFoundation (IMRF)NTT Communication ScienceLaboratoriesNK-EXA CorporationSEGA Toys

Organized byNTT InterCommunicationCenter (ICC)Photography courtesy of ICC

C l e a r B o a r d - 1 is asystem where people candraw collaboratively whilehaving “face-to-face” com-munication remotely throughuse of shared drawing andvideo-conferencing technolo-gies. Ishii and a former NTTcolleague Minoru Kobayashideveloped ClearBoard-1 in1991 at NTT Human Inter-face Laboratories.

• .1宇

."1.-.

f， SB4i宣言l

-4 5f， s ιl i! ・・ iJ

白