Columbus on Video!

This week we post a video on a mobile application for exploring the world through geo tagged photos. By having to physically move around the physical surroundings to unlock photos geotagged at locations visited, the aim is to bring back a sense of exploring when browsing through geotagged photos.

The application is here presented by Mattias Rost.

Meeting with Bestic

Today we had the pleasure of meeting with Ann-Louise Norén from the company Bestic. The company is in the process of introducing their product - a robotic arm assistance tool for eating, to the market. Our initial discussions focused on how we could study the end user perspectives on such technology and in particular look at longer terms of interaction and social aspects. We are very much looking forward to dig deeper into actual practice and use of robotic materials!

Video of the week: Context Photography

This week we post a video of an old project called Context Photography, here presented by Maria Håkansson.

Here's a description of the concept. Watch the video for a demo of the mobile application!

When taking a picture, would it be possible and interesting to capture something in addition to the visuals of the scenery? We explore if e.g. sound, temperature and pollution could be used as parameters in a digital camera and how these phenomena could be "visualised" or "represented" in a picture. The fundamental idea is to go beyond the traditional parameters (light, speed and focus) used in both analogue and digital cameras, and widen the concept of what a camera can capture. Digital technology opens up for new dimensions that can affect photography! This means that digital cameras no longer have to resemble their analogue counterparts. Unlike the editing of a picture in e.g. Photoshop, we want the (new) parameters to affect the image in real-time.

We have collaborated with a focus group of open-minded and explorative Lomographers, as well as with other dedicated amateur photographers. They were not primarily our end user group, but a source of inspiration (and also participants in design sessions) when designing the camera prototype.

Kick-Off workshop of the Playful Experiences project

Playful Experiences is a new project in the Mobile Life Centre. The main purpose of the project is to understand what constitutes enjoyment of using a product; what kinds of experiences the product can elicit, and how to design something that evokes certain kind of experience. The kick-off workshop of the project took place in a beautiful cosy house in Bergianska trädgården, Naturens Hus. Together with 3 researchers from Nokia Research Center in Tampere and a group from the Mobile Life Centre (Ylva, Henriette and Nicolas) discussed and decided what we want to achieve in this project. From the playful experience of flirting to language differences around the word "playfulness", the discussions were intense and promising for the next steps of the projects. You can read more on the project on the Mobile Life website.

Video of GlowBots

Here's a video of GlowBots!

GlowBots are small round robots that displays visually appealing shapes on a color-intense hypnotizing display. Interacting with the robot encourages it to seek out and communicate its shape to other robots. Through their rich interaction a flora of shapes emerges that entices interest and engagement in an open ended fashion for joy and entertainment.



GlowBots are here presented by Mattias Jacobsson.

LIREC meeting in London

Ylva and Sara are going to London 8-10 of February to attend a LIREC meeting. Their ambition with the meeting is to discuss how to work with scenarios as a design-tool in robot research, and to go from this towards design requirements.

I'm back!

After being on parental leave during 2009, I'm now looking forward to face new interesting research challenges! I'm very happy to soon start developing forecasts about future scenarios of technology use, in a collaboration project between Wireless@KTH, Mobile Life and several industry partners. I'll also continue my work in the LIREC project about everyday robotics and ethics. Furthermore, I'm hoping to soon contribute with new funding and interesting projects at the Mobile Life Centre!

Cheers,

Sara Ljungblad