Tangible Interaction with Anthropomorphized Smart Objects

Abstract

In increasingly complex environments, users often have to interact with a variety of embedded computational devices, which requires new interaction metaphors to make such environments accessible - particularly for novice users. This work examines the possibilities and limitations of an interaction pattern that we call anthropomorphic objects, which involves spoken language and gesture interfaces for instrumented objects. The main idea is to provide an intuitive interaction metaphor that exploits the advantages of combining verbal communication and haptic affordances of smart objects.