We demonstrate rich inferences about unaugmented everyday objects and hand object interactions by measuring minute skin surface deformations at the wrist using a sensing technique based on capacitance. The wristband prototype infers muscle and tendon tension, pose, and motion, which we then map to force (9 users, 13.66 +/- 9.84 N regression error on classes 0–49.1 N), grasp (9 users, 81 +/- 7 % classification accuracy on 6 grasps), and continuous interaction (10 users, 99 +/- 1 % discrimination accuracy between 6 interactions, 89–97 % accuracy on 3 states within each interaction) using basic machine learning models.

With the proliferation of flexible displays and the advances in smart materials, it is now possible to create interactive devices that are not only flexible but can reconfigure into any shape on demand. Several Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and robotics researchers have started designing, prototyping and evaluating shape-changing devices, realising, however, that this vision still requires many engineering challenges to be addressed. On the material science front, we need breakthroughs in stable and accessible materials to create novel, proof-of-concept devices. On the interactive devices side, we require a deeper appreciation for the material properties and an understanding of how exploiting material properties can provide affordances that unleash the human interactive potential. While these challenges are interesting for the respective research fields, we believe that the true power of shape-changing devices can be magnified by bringing together these communities. In this paper we therefore present a review of advances made in shape-changing materials and discuss their applications within an HCI context.

In early design, instrumenting an object with touch sensing capability, especially one with complex surface geometry, can be problematic. In this paper, we show how resistive graph patterns--or resigraphs--can be used to quickly fabricate multi-touch sensors tailored to an object's shape. In very early ideation, resigraphs can be drawn using conductive ink. In later refinements they can be silk-screened or laser cut from off-the-shelf materials. A resigraph uses a commonly available microprocessor (e.g. Arduino), re-quires only three wires, and enables touch input on non-planar and non-developable surfaces.

We present Unifone, a prototype mobile device that explores the use of auxiliary finger input in one-handed mobile interaction. Using force-distributed pressure sensing along the side of device, we examine how squeeze-based gestures impact four common mobile interactions: scrolling, map navigating, text formatting, and application switching. We evaluated the use of Unifone in these tasks using one-handed interactions by the non-dominant hand. Our user study shows that one-handed isometric gestures perform best when they augment rather than restrict or alter the primary pointing action of the thumb and, generally, are suitable for coarse isometric pressure input.

With the emergence of flexible display technologies, it will be necessary for interface designers to move beyond flat interfaces and to contextualize interaction in an object's physical shape. Grounded in early explorations of organic user interfaces (OUIs), this paper examines the evolving relationship between industrial and interaction designs and examines how not only what we design is changing, but how we design too. First, we discuss how (and why) to better support the design of OUIs: how supporting sketching, a fundamental activity of many design fields, is increasingly critical and why a ‘hypercontextualized’ approach to their design can reduce the drawbacks met when everyday objects become interactive. Finally, underlying both these points is the maturation of technology to that of a computational material; when interactive hardware is seamlessly melded into an object's shape, the ‘computer’ disappears and is better seen as a basic design material that, incidentally, happens to have interactive behavior.

Glassblowing is an artistry that shapes, forms, and manipulates molten glass. Using fire and air, glass is repeatedly melted and inflated until an aesthetic surface geometry is satisfied. Studio participants will learn and experience this art first hand. Beginning with a small glass object, they will then follow suit by making a larger and more complex shape. Finally, led by Arduino and a DIY approach, these glass objects will be imbued with pixels and sensing, ultimately forming a computational glass material.

In this paper, we present Paper Windows, a prototype windowing environment that simulates the use of digital paper displays. By projecting windows on physical paper, Paper Windows allows the capturing of physical affordances of paper in a digital world. The system uses paper as an input device by tracking its motion and shape with a Vicon Motion Capturing System. We discuss the design of a number of interaction techniques for manipulating information on paper displays.

This paper presents visual constraint diagrams (VCD), an extension to UML (Unified Modeling Language) object diagrams for expressing constraints over object models. VCD allows designers to express well-formedness constraints that cannot be expressed using class diagrams alone; an example of such a constraint is that a linked list data structure cannot have any loops. VCD offers two advances over existing techniques: (1) they allow constraints to be expressed within the visual notation of UML, without resorting to complex textual notations such as OCL; and (2) VCD can be checked at runtime, increasing the value of design documents to developers. An editor and a checker for VCD have been implemented as part of the Rosetta software design tool.