Augmented interface project from the MIT Fluid Interfaces Group lets you connect and program objects in the real world to perform alternative functions:
The Reality Editor is a new kind of tool for empowering you to connect and manipulate the functionality of physical objects. Just point the camera of your smartphone at an object and its invisible capabilities will become visible for you to edit. Drag a virtual line from one object to another and create a new relationship between these objects. With this simplicity, you are able to master the entire scope of connected objects.
The Reality Editor is a result of three years of MIT research. The goal of our research is the creation of technology that grants the user maximum control by leveraging human strength such as spatial coordination, muscle memory and tool-making. For example, that light switch in your bedroom you always need to stand up in order to turn off—just point the Reality Editor at an object next to your bed and draw a line to the light. You have just customized your home to serve your convenience. From now on you will use your spatial coordination and muscle memory to easily operate the object next to your bed as a tool for controlling the light. If you want a timer linked to the light, just borrow the functionality of an object with a timer, such as a TV, by drawing a line from it to the light. Another example is the interior of a car – sometimes it may be too warm in the summer or too cold in the winter when the engine is started. Just point the Reality Editor at your bed and then connect it to the temperature system in your car – when you wake up, the car sets the correct temperature for you to drive to work.
