»research
The goal of the Fluid Interfaces research group is to radically rethink the human-machine interactive experience. By designing interfaces that are more immersive, more intelligent, and more interactive we are changing the human-machine relationship and creating systems that are more responsive to people's needs and actions, and that become true "accessories" for expanding our minds.
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current projects

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AudioPint

AudioPint

The reinvention of the musician's electronic toolbox: open, inexpensive, and extendable.

David Merrill and David Bouchard in collaboration with Ben Vigoda
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Augmented Mirror

Augmented Mirror

A mirror which also reflects intangible information about yourself.

David Bouchard and Pattie Maes in collaboration with Sajid Sadi, Enrico Costanza
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Blossom

Blossom

A mutilperson subtle remote awareness system.

Sajid Sadi
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Chameleon Guitar

Chameleon Guitar

Physical Heart in a Virtual Body: Digital Instruments Based on Physical Resonator.

Amit Zoran and Pattie Maes in collaboration with Marco Coppiardi
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Cherry Blossoms

Cherry Blossoms

When War Comes Home.

Alyssa Wright
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Compact Contract: Commitments Made Easier

Compact Contract: Commitments Made Easier

A tool for making small "contracts" with our friends and family, with a built-in reminder.

Sajid Sadi, Marcelo Coelho and Pattie Maes
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Connectus

Connectus

Mapping connections in a physical social space via our digital patterns.

Doug Fritz and Pattie Maes
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Embodied Emergence

Embodied Emergence

How we can leverage emergent patterns to create visual and sonic textures that can be directly manipulated by users.

David Bouchard and Pattie Maes
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Engaze

Engaze

Generating representative data flashes of iconic images to be exchanged in the act of gazing.

Doug Fritz and Sajid Sadi
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Face Zoom

Face Zoom

Face Zoom is an interface for exploring zoomable data sets by moving your body.

Doug Fritz
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Flexible Urban Displays

Flexible Urban Displays

A flexible and modular LED-based display surface.

David Bouchard and Sajid Sadi in collaboration with Orkan Telhan
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Hero Reports

Hero Reports

Mapping Civic Courage.

Alyssa Wright
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Influence

Influence

Influence is an interactive artwork visualizing collective behavior in a social network.

Orit Zuckerman, Sajid Sadi and Pattie Maes
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inktuitive

inktuitive

An intuitive physical design workspace.

Pranav Mistry in collaboration with Kayato Sekiya
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Invisible Media

Invisible Media

Invisible Media can augment objects around us to make them sensitive to our attention.

David Merrill and Pattie Maes
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ioMaterials

ioMaterials

Using collocated input and output to create interfaces that provide interactivity through the materials that make up our world.

Sajid Sadi, Marcelo Coelho and Pattie Maes
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Life in a Comic

Life in a Comic

Adding time domain to a static comic using thermochromic ink.

Amit Zoran and Pattie Maes
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MemTable

MemTable

Embodying Contextual History in Shared Workspaces.

Seth Hunter in collaboration with Emily Zhao, Alexandre Milouchev
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Midas: Touched-based Personalization

Midas: Touched-based Personalization

Touch-based personalization for ubiquitous systems.

Sajid Sadi
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Moving Portrait

Moving Portrait

A sensate evocative portrait that can reveal different aspects of its own personality.

Orit Zuckerman and Pattie Maes
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Portrait of Cati II

Portrait of Cati II

Portrait of Cati 2 is an homage to the project "Portrait of Cati" done by Stefan Agamanolis.

Orit Zuckerman, Sajid Sadi and Pattie Maes
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Pulp-Based Computing

Pulp-Based Computing

Pulp-Based Computing is a series of explorations that combine smart materials, papermaking and printing. .

Marcelo Coelho and Pattie Maes in collaboration with Joanna Berzowska and Lyndl Hall
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PureJoy

PureJoy

A flexible vocal expression interface. You voice is the source material, and your hands can sculpt it with looping, layering and effects.

David Merrill
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Quickies: Intelligent Sticky Notes

Quickies: Intelligent Sticky Notes

Sticky Notes that can Remember, Remind, Send Messages & be Located.

Pranav Mistry and Pattie Maes
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ReachMedia

ReachMedia

A system that supports on-the-move interaction with every day objects.

Assaf Feldman, Sajid Sadi and Pattie Maes
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reAcoustic eGuitar

reAcoustic eGuitar

Googling, sharing & downloading acoustic guitar parts to be 3D printed .

Amit Zoran
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ReflectOns: Persuasive Objects to Think By

ReflectOns: Persuasive Objects to Think By

Objects that help people think about their actions and change their behavior based on subtle nudges given in moment of action.

Sajid Sadi and Pattie Maes
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Relational Pillow

Relational Pillow

With the Relational Pillow project, we're trying to provide a simple, intimate, and personable communication medium between loved ones.

Sajid Sadi and Pattie Maes in collaboration with Amir Mikhak
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Shutters

Shutters

Shutters is a soft permeable surface for environmental control and communication.

Marcelo Coelho and Pattie Maes in collaboration with Steve Helsing
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Siftables

Siftables

Siftables aims to enable people to interact with information and media in a physical, natural and intuitive manner.

David Merrill and Pattie Maes in collaboration with Jeevan Kalanithi
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SixthSense

SixthSense

A wearable gestural interface that augments the physical world with digital information and lets us use natural hand gestures as the mechanism to interact with that information.

Pranav Mistry and Pattie Maes
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Soft Mechanics

Soft Mechanics

Soft Mechanics is a design approach that uses the physical properties of materials to generate kinesis and actuation.

Marcelo Coelho and Pattie Maes
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Spotlight

Spotlight

Spotlight is about an artist's ability to create a new meaning using the combination of interactive portraits and diptych or polyptych layouts.

Orit Zuckerman, Sajid Sadi and Pattie Maes
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Sprout I/O

Sprout I/O

Sprout I/O is a kinetic fur that can capture, mediate, and replay the physical impressions we leave in our environment.

Marcelo Coelho and Pattie Maes
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subTextile

subTextile

A construction kit for computationally enabled textiles.

Sajid Sadi and Pattie Maes
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Surflex

Surflex

Surflex is a programmable surface for the real-time design and visualization of physical objects and spaces. .

Marcelo Coelho and Pattie Maes
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TaPuMa

TaPuMa

Tangible Public Map for Information Acquirement through the Things We Carry.

Pranav Mistry in collaboration with Tsuyoshi Kuroki
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TeleStory

TeleStory

A Tangible Interface for Interactive Learning on Television.

Seth Hunter in collaboration with Woohyoung Lee, Katya Popova
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the Sound of Touch

the Sound of Touch

A new instrument for manipulating digital sound that utilizes our intuitions about the sonic properties of materials.

David Merrill in collaboration with Hayes Raffle, Roberto Aimi
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Theme Stream

Theme Stream

Visualizing complex time-based information.

Doug Fritz and Pattie Maes
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thirdEye

thirdEye

Technique that enables multiple viewer to see different things on a single display screen.

Pranav Mistry and Pattie Maes
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Transitive Materials

Transitive Materials

Transitive Materials is an umbrella project encompassing novel materials, fabrication technologies, and traditional craft techniques.

Marcelo Coelho and Sajid Sadi in collaboration with Neri Oxman and Joanna Berzowska
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WordPlay

WordPlay

A Table-Top Interface for Collaborative Brainstorming and Decision Making.

Seth Hunter and Pattie Maes
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Words In Words: MIT Media Lab the Complete Series

Words In Words: MIT Media Lab the Complete Series

An anti-visualization of all English word combinations that contain "MIT Media Lab".

Doug Fritz

old projects

CASY: Contextual Asynchronous System

CASY: Contextual Asynchronous System

CASYis a communication technology integrating audio/video messaging, asynchronous communication, and context-based delivery.

Orit Zuckerman and Pattie Maes
Collective Memory/Collective Intelligence

Collective Memory/Collective Intelligence

Interfaces that allow people to benefit from the knowledge and experience of others.

Xinyu H. Liu and Pattie Maes
Initimate Interfaces for Mobile Human-Computer Interaction

Initimate Interfaces for Mobile Human-Computer Interaction

"Intimate interfaces" are discreet interfaces that allow interaction with mobile devices through subtle gestures and peripheral cues.

Enrico Costanza and Pattie Maes
Intimate Communication Armband

Intimate Communication Armband

A small wireless device embedded in an armband allows to interact with mobile devices in a subtle and unobtrusive way.

Enrico Costanza and Pattie Maes in collaboration with Rebecca Allen (UCLA), Sam Inverso (ANU) and Alberto Perdomo
Object Awareness

Object Awareness

Allow a user to gather personally relevant information about and interact with inanimate objects.

David Gatenby and Pattie Maes
Playful Spaces

Playful Spaces

Immersive environments that allow a person to interact with a system or simulation in a natural way.

Pattie Maes and David Gatenby in collaboration with Benjamin Buchwald and Ron MacNeil
Q&A@T

Q&A@T

A local communication channel for the public and the neighborhood.

James Teng and Pattie Maes
tagNet

tagNet

social tagging, collective intelligence, media sharing, media browsing, cool.

James Teng and Pattie Maes in collaboration with Wu-hsi Li
xLink

xLink

xLink is a context management solution for commodity ubiquitous computing environments.

Sajid Sadi and Pattie Maes