Fernaeus, Y. & Jacobsson, M. (2009). Comics, Robots, Fashion and Programming: outlining the concept of actDresses. In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Tangible and Embedded Interaction. New York: ACM.
This paper is about how physical languages can be used to controlling and programming robotic consumer products. By using pieces of clothing and the sign system used in comics to control the behavior of the robots. I like the idea of trying to bring a balance between appearance and action by using clothing. Many devices today do not even have a display or any other visual feedback to the user. Instead you have to rely on some complicated instruction manual.
By using this physical languages the barriers of technology adoption for children, seniors etc might be lowered. Sometimes people that are not used with technology are afraid to experiment and learn by doing, therefore something like clothing could be a solution to overcoming these barriers. But to find really good and logical applications for the "actDresses"might take a while. But I still think it has a lot of potential.
Question: Is there any technology today that would benefit from actDresses?
What role will prototypes play in research?
By
using prototypes some abstract or complicated ideas can be visualized
and evaluated at a early stage. The iteration process becomes much
simplified if there is a prototype early in the research.
What are characteristics and limitations of prototypes?
Prototypes makes evaluation and feedback becomes easier to come by. Errors can also be detected much earlier. It can also help the group working on the prototype to make sure they are all aiming for the same goal. Limitation is that creating the prototype might take longer than expected.The different iteration of a prototype might only refine the product, and the final product might only be a incrementally better than the first version.
Hey. Yes, I agree with you that many devices or toys today usually don't have a display with feedback, but there's also usually no feedback with physical languages, like putting on accessories or clothes. Such feedback is instead relied on buttons most of the time in order to cue some action from the toy. By using languages that are more natural for us humans to bring feedback (rather than buttons which are robotic), it would be more enjoyable to play with the toys I think? It's easier to understand how to play with it, rather than having to read through instruction manuals as you mentioned.
SvaraRadera