HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Physical computing involves interactive systems that can sense and respond to the world around them. While this definition is broad enough to encompass systems such as smart automotive traffic
control system A control system manages, commands, directs, or regulates the behavior of other devices or systems using control loops. It can range from a single home heating controller using a thermostat controlling a domestic boiler to large industrial ...
s or factory
automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...
processes, it is not commonly used to describe them. In a broader sense, physical computing is a creative framework for understanding human beings' relationship to the
digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...
world. In practical use, the term most often describes handmade art, design or DIY hobby projects that use
sensor A sensor is often defined as a device that receives and responds to a signal or stimulus. The stimulus is the quantity, property, or condition that is sensed and converted into electrical signal. In the broadest definition, a sensor is a devi ...
s and
microcontroller A microcontroller (MC, uC, or μC) or microcontroller unit (MCU) is a small computer on a single integrated circuit. A microcontroller contains one or more CPUs (processor cores) along with memory and programmable input/output peripherals. Pro ...
s to translate analog input to a
software system A software system is a system of intercommunicating software component, components based on software forming part of a computer system (a combination of Computer hardware, hardware and software). It "consists of a number of separate Computer progr ...
, and/or control electro-mechanical devices such as motors, servos,
lighting Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight. ...
or other hardware. Physical computing intersects the range of activities often referred to in academia and industry as electrical engineering,
mechatronics Mechatronics engineering, also called mechatronics, is the synergistic integration of mechanical, electrical, and computer systems employing mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, electronic engineering and computer engineering, and also ...
, robotics, computer science, and especially embedded development.


Examples

Physical computing is used in a wide variety of domains and applications.


Education

The advantage of physicality in education and playfulness has been reflected in diverse informal learning environments. The
Exploratorium The Exploratorium is a museum of science museum, science, technology museum, technology, and art museum, arts in San Francisco, California. Founded by physicist and educator Frank Oppenheimer in 1969, the museum was originally located in the ...
, a pioneer in inquiry based learning, developed some of the earliest interactive exhibitry involving computers, and continues to include more and more examples of physical computing and tangible interfaces as associated technologies progress.


Art

In the art world, projects that implement physical computing include the work of Scott Snibbe,
Daniel Rozin Daniel Rozin (born in 1961) is an Israeli-American artist working in the area of Interactive art, interactive digital art. As an interactive artist Rozin creates installations and sculptures that have the unique ability to change and respond to th ...
, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Jonah Brucker-Cohen, and Camille Utterback.


Product design

Physical computing practices also exist in the product and interaction design sphere, where hand-built
embedded system An embedded system is a specialized computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is e ...
s are sometimes used to rapidly prototype new digital product concepts in a cost-efficient way. Firms such as
IDEO IDEO () is a design firm, design and consulting firm with offices in the U.S., England, and China. It was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1991. The company's 500 staff uses a design thinking approach to design products, services, environmen ...
and Teague are known to approach
product design Product design is the process of creating new Product (business), products for businesses to sell to their customers. It involves the generation and development of ideas through a systematic process that leads to the creation of innovative products ...
in this way.


Commercial applications

Commercial implementations range from consumer devices such as the Sony
Eyetoy The EyeToy is a color webcam for use with the PlayStation 2. Supported games use computer vision and gesture recognition to process images taken by the EyeToy. This allows players to interact with the games using motion, color detection, and als ...
or games such as
Dance Dance Revolution (''DDR'') is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, ''Dance Dance Revolution'' is the pioneering series of the rhythm and dance ...
to more esoteric and pragmatic uses including
machine vision Machine vision is the technology and methods used to provide image, imaging-based automation, automatic inspection and analysis for such applications as automatic inspection, process control, and robot guidance, usually in industry. Machine vision ...
utilized in the automation of quality inspection along a factory
assembly line An assembly line, often called ''progressive assembly'', is a manufacturing process where the unfinished product moves in a direct line from workstation to workstation, with parts added in sequence until the final product is completed. By mechan ...
.
Exergaming Fitness game, exergame, and gamercise (portmanteaus of "exercise" and "game") are terms used for video games that are also a form of exercise. Fitness games rely on technology that tracks body movement or reaction. The genre has been used to chal ...
, such as Nintendo's ''
Wii Fit is a 2007 exergaming video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii. It features a variety of yoga, strength training, aerobics, and balance mini-games for use with the Wii Balance Board peripheral. Designer Hiroshi Matsunaga ...
,'' can be considered a form of physical computing. Other implementations of physical computing include voice recognition, which senses and interprets sound waves via microphones or other soundwave sensing devices, and
computer vision Computer vision tasks include methods for image sensor, acquiring, Image processing, processing, Image analysis, analyzing, and understanding digital images, and extraction of high-dimensional data from the real world in order to produce numerical ...
, which applies algorithms to a rich stream of
video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...
data typically sensed by some form of camera. Haptic interfaces are also an example of physical computing, though in this case the computer is ''generating'' the physical stimulus as opposed to ''sensing'' it. Both
motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mocap or mo-cap, for short) is the process of recording high-resolution motion (physics), movement of objects or people into a computer system. It is used in Military science, military, entertainment, sports ...
and
gesture recognition Gesture recognition is an area of research and development in computer science and language technology concerned with the recognition and interpretation of human gestures. A subdiscipline of computer vision, it employs mathematical algorithms to ...
are fields that rely on computer vision to work their magic.


Scientific applications

Physical computing can also describe the fabrication and use of custom sensors or collectors for scientific experiments, though the term is rarely used to describe them as such. An example of physical computing modeling is the '' Illustris project'', which attempts to precisely simulate the evolution of the universe from the
Big Bang The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models based on the Big Bang concept explain a broad range of phenomena, including th ...
to the present day, 13.8 billion years later.


Methods

Prototyping plays an important role in Physical computing. Tools like the Wiring,
Arduino Arduino () is an Italian open-source hardware and open-source software, software company, project, and user community that designs and manufactures single-board microcontrollers and microcontroller kits for building digital devices. Its hardwar ...
and Fritzing as well as I-CubeX help designers and artists to quickly prototype their interactive concepts.


Further reading

*


References


External links


Arduino
a highly popular open source physical computing platform
Raspberry Pi
complete computer with GPIO's to interact with the world, huge community, many tutorials available. Many Linux distros available as well as Windows IoT and OS-less unikernel RTL's such as Ultibo Core.{{cite web , title=Ultibo Core , url=https://ultibo.org/ , website=Ultibo.org
BeagleBone
a complete Linux computer with GPIO's, but a little less flexible
FoxBoard (and others)
yet another Linux computer with GPIO, but with little information *Arieh Robotics Project Junior]. A
Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, ...
based Physical Computing PC built using Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio.
BluePD BlueSense
a physical computing platform by Blue Melon. This platform is visually programmable using the popular (open source) Pure Data system.

features images and video of Daniel Rozin's interactive installations and sculptures.
Dwengo
a
PIC microcontroller PIC (usually pronounced as /pɪk/) is a family of microcontrollers made by Microchip Technology, derived from the PIC1640 originally developed by General Instrument's Microelectronics Division. The name PIC initially referred to ''Peripher ...
based computing platform that comes with a
Breadboard A breadboard, solderless breadboard, or protoboard is a construction base used to build semi-permanent prototypes of electronic circuits. Unlike a perfboard or stripboard, breadboards do not require soldering or destruction of tracks and are h ...
for easy prototyping.
EmbeddedLab
A research lab situated within the Department of Computer Aided Architecture Design a

ETH Zürich.
Fritzing
- from prototype to product: a software, which supports designers and artists to take the step from physical prototyping to actual product.

another popular choice that allows building physical systems with PCs and traditional languages (C, Basic, Java, etc.) or standalone using a point and click development tool.
Physical ComputingInteractive Telecommunications Program
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

Physical Computing
by Dan O'Sullivan
Physical Computing
Tom Igoe's collection of resources, examples, and lecture notes for the physical computing courses at ITP.
Physical Computing
A path into electronics using an approach of “learning by making”, introducing electronic prototyping in a playful, non-technical way. (Yaniv Steiner, IDII)
Theremino
an open source modular system for interfacing transducers (sensors and actuators) via USB to PC, notebooks, netbooks, tablets and cellphones. Applications of computer vision User interfaces Design Digital art Virtual reality Computer systems