Exploring expression of form, action and interaction

The central theme in Ambient Intelligence is that powerful computation, communication and storage facilities are available, but are invisible. We believe that objects will play an important role as mediators. In order to make models of mediation and to study the mediation of behaviour, traditional modelling techniques, such as foam models, rendering etc. fall short. Although it is easy to make two-dimensional models of screens and frontpanels and connect actions to the corresponding buttons, this approach is inadequate for new types of interfaces and behaviours which are not screen-based. Therefore we have experimented with an approach which we call 4D Sketching. The term 4D refers to the fact that it includes sketching in 3D space with the active behaviour adding a fourth, temporal dimension. We use foam, cardboard, a glue-gun, and other easy-to-use materials for the spatial sketching. We use a microprocessor, servo-motors and sensors to sketch active behaviour. The article describes the underlying philosophy, the technical aspects and a number of experiences gathered so-far, including student work from a project called Semotion