Communications of the ACM
Shape-Shifting Modular Interactive Device nveiled
Cubimorph is a modular interactive device that holds touchscreens on each of the six module faces and uses a hinge-mounted turntable mechanism to self-reconfigure in the users hand.
Credit: University of Bristol News
University of Bristol researchers, in collaboration with colleagues from Purdue University, the University of Lancaster, and the University of Sussex, have developed Cubimorph, an interactive mobile device that can change shape on demand.
Cubimorph has touchscreens on each of its six module faces, and uses a hinge-mounted turntable mechanism to self-reconfigure in the user's hands. The researchers say the device could be used for a variety of applications, such as a mobile phone that can transform into a console when a user launches a game.
The device consists of a chain of cubes, and contributes toward the vision of programmable matter, in which interactive devices change their shape to fit the functionalities required by end users.
At the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2016) this week in Stockholm, the researchers are presenting a design rationale demonstrating user requirements to consider when designing homogeneous modular interactive devices. They will show the Cubimorph mechanical design, and three prototypes demonstrating key aspects--turntable hinges, embedded touchscreens, and miniaturization--and an adaptation of the probabilistic roadmap algorithm for the reconfiguration.
"We hope our work will create discussion between the human-computer interaction and robotics communities that could be of benefit to one another," says Bristol researcher Anne Roudaut.
From University of Bristol News
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