Jinha Lee: Reach into The Computer and Grab a Pixel - TED Talk
The gap between the physical world and the virtual world has shortened more and more from the time the first computer was invented to the present day, where modern computer technology is accessible by all in various portable formats, becoming integral parts of our lives.
As a speaker at a TED conference, Jinha Lee discusses his work as an interface designer, engineer and product strategist experimenting with the boundaries of the physical and the digital worlds. He talks about how he began to experiment with this idea and explored the possibility of a reality which did not have any such gap or boundary between the two worlds. He has created various devices that augment responses to various stimuli in the real world. He has done so by designing objects that are simple to use and have similarities to other objects of similar functions applicable in the real world such as a pen, for example.
One of his devices, termed 'Beyond', acts as a 'pen' on an electronic surface – a screen. He was inspired by the idea of reaching into the screen and manipulating things within the realm of the virtual world. The device, when presses against the screen, collapses in the real world and extends into the virtual digital world from the surface of the screen. Now the user gets an impression that their physical stylus has extended into the virtual 3 dimensional world and has broken the barrier between the two. The user can now draw and sculpt in the 3D virtual space using the augmented extension of the stylus.
Jinha Lee's 'Beyond' in use:
He then talks about how he further wanted to explore into the idea of how it would feel to experience interaction with 3D virtual objects within the computer by using only bare hands. In collaboration with Microsoft, he studied and experimented with the space available around the computer and resolved a design that created a digital workspace above the keyboard. The idea here is to combine the 2D interactions with the computer such as typing, scrolling, drawing and clicking with the 3D spatial interaction gestures of the real physical world. The design of this 'SpaceTop' computer comprises of a transparent display and depth cameras (that sense the finger movements of the user) that are ereceted above the keyboard of the computer. When using the SpaceTop, users can lift up their hands from the keyboard into the space beneath the transparent screen display, giving them the impression of having their hands inside the virtual world display of the computer. Now, the users can 'reach inside' the 3D space and 'grab' pixels using their bare hands. The user interface software of the SpaceTop is also very real world-like. Documents and files are arranged in horizontal stacks, like in a drawer of files and can easily be accessed and manipulated using bare hands.
Jinha Lee's 'SpaceTop' in use:
Exploring further, he began to think about how we could allow the digital world to reach us instead of us having to reach inside it and interact with it. Experimenting with the the technology of augmented reality (AR), he has implemented this idea onto the market of online shopping. Allowing the system to understand the geometry of the user's body, and the usage of a head-mounted or see-through display, the system is able to project the chosen item onto the body of the user in the real world through the virtual digital world.
It is interesting to see how bridging the gap between the two worlds can create potentially endless possibilities of how we perceive the world around us. It also directs towards a future that can be both technologically profound and also harmonized with the natural ways of the human life. This type of technology strives to erase the line between what is imaginary and what is real and mixes the virtual world with the real world in terms of space and human interaction, and thus can also be applied to design and architecture as they too, deal with the two. Forms, objects, spaces, etc., can be projected / augmented onto bodies and interactive and engaging environments can be set up to create further experiences. Then the perception of these objects changes (on a small scale) the way we think of and function in life in general (on a large scale).
