MIT's Siftables let you juggle your data... for real

The cats and kittens at the MIT Media Lab are always on some next-level type of wackiness, and the Siftables project doesn't break from that trend. The concept seems simple enough: a collection of small, self-contained input / display devices wirelessly link together to form an independent mini-network, or a control system for a PC. The cubes feature OLED screens, a 3-axis accelerometer, Bluetooth, flash memory, and a haptic actuation driver, and feature additional ports for attaching other devices. The aim is to create a more natural system for handling and displaying data, though we won't be surprised if this is somehow incorporated into an even more realistic version of Call of Duty. Check out the video after the break to see the little guys in action.

[Via OhGizmo!]

[Raheem @ Mar 15th 2008 7:09AM]

Are those lines on the screen because it's being filmed?

[Tony Rayo @ Mar 15th 2008 7:29AM]

Are you talking about scanbar lines, like what you see if you record a TV or something? If so then yes, that's just the effect of the refresh rate or display.

[david merrill @ Mar 15th 2008 10:00AM]

yeah, it's a mismatch between the filming camera's frame-rate and the screen's refresh rate - in person you don't see the flickering.

[Armoured @ Mar 15th 2008 7:21AM]

that's pretty cool, but it has no practical uses.

[Tony Rayo @ Mar 15th 2008 7:25AM]

That's non-sense. There are already very expensive, and less functional, OLCD buttons like this that a company sales for different applications. I cannot remember their name, but they are the same ones that make that over-priced but very cool keyboard, where each button is an OLCD screen you can program to display whatever you want on them.

[Teetdogs @ Mar 15th 2008 12:21PM]

Your thinking of the optimus maximus keyboard, but that is nothing like this. These are mini interactive displays that are multi funtion, the optimus maximus just allows you to assign a picture or functition to each key unlike this which allows dynamic and interactive content on each device then allows them to interact with each other, you, and your PC. Off the top of my head I really dont see a practical use for these exact devices but once the tech has been improved on, I could see this being used for things like credit cards or name badges or my personal favorite a really really cool universal remote like the harmony 1000 but on technology steroids. Like each little screen is for a different device and then when you add new components you just add one of these things to the remote and viola automaticly integrated and interactive, I dunno just a thought.

[Sam Winter @ Mar 15th 2008 9:53PM]

@Tony Rayo
and BTW, it's OLED not "OLCD"

[gtsaigt @ Mar 15th 2008 10:25PM]

don't assume it useless too early. Exclude the technology part that I don't know much about, but I can see this concept been apply as a kind of computer device use by disability people. Since there are still many people can't easily use computer/or high tech device with just vision; the interaction is important and will be in the future high technology design.

[randomwhateverguy @ Mar 16th 2008 3:31PM]

No practical uses? Tell me you're kidding. The potential for Scrabble alone would be amazing! Let alone manually configuring work processes on a table instead of huddled around a monitor.

Very cool :)

[mabhatter @ Mar 19th 2008 12:02AM]

Finally, we could get a good game of Sabbacc!! These would satisfy the games requirement for the cards to change while in your hand.

[Osiris @ Mar 15th 2008 7:34AM]

I can see a more practical use of this in a virtual environment on some sort of touch screen display instead.
That way you're not limited by the amount of 'siftables' you own/can-afford/are-manageable, don't have to rely on their battery life nor their crappy low res screens.

I suppose you'll lose some of the functionality like the 'pouring' action but I'm pretty sure that can be easily implemented with a different action.

I suppose what I'm describing is MS Touch really, but it could be more refined for the applications this idea is designed for..

[NJDSTAR.COM @ Mar 15th 2008 8:16AM]

Would be really great if they could be adapted to move to a location on a flat surface in relationship with GIS (APRS) input. Search and Rescue teams would present themselves on the table with DSTAR data and orient themselves on the flat surface in North up presentation. Displays would show Cam uplink of SAR first responders environment along with team info and text messages.

[Genome @ Mar 15th 2008 9:34AM]

"Siftables was created by"
Good thing MIT is well known Technology as opposed to English.

Apart from that a nice idea, and a cool interface, well implemented.

If they could somehow replace the keyboard/mouse Id be interested, because then my desk would be simplified.
I don't really want to shake or physically move something other than my mouse whenever I want to access a file in a directory.

I could also see them working very well in RTS games where groups of units can be represented by siftables.

Or maybe a game where you could control a mech using 2 siftables, and have that mech transform by rearranging the siftables in relation to each other.

[patsy @ Mar 15th 2008 11:24AM]

>> "Siftables was created by"
> Good thing MIT is well known Technology as opposed to English.

They're most likely talking about the presentation itself, not the gadgets--especially considering it was done by MIT Media Lab--so the singular is entirely appropriate.

[ryan @ Mar 15th 2008 9:52AM]

Looks like a step towards Minority Report's "glass" video data storage cards. Then again, MIT did give Spielberg a lot of ideas for that movie, and this that probably one of them.

We've been seeing a lot of new control schemes for different things come out recently (ie: Wii, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, better touch screens on many devices, etc). The one thing I've noticed is that it doesn't make sense to make the control scheme so specific for a certain use. When this happens, you end up shelling out cash for crap you will only use for a few applications, and wasting your money. Why should I have to pay for the guitar in guitar hero when I'll get bored of the game in a few months and never be able to use it for anything else? This is one of the reasons keyboard + mouse is so popular: it works for a variety of applications. Well that and nothing better has come out yet :P

If this tech could be more generalized, it *could* take off. But I don't see people buying these things just for when they want to flip some virtual pictures around... I'll pass for now.

[david merrill @ Mar 15th 2008 10:01AM]

the important difference between the Wii and Guitar Hero controllers is that the Wii-mote *is* a generalizeable interface - it can be used for an huge number of different applications (far beyond games, btw - have you seen what Johnny Lee from Carnegie Mellon has been doing?). The Guitar Hero controller (although I am a big fan) is *not* a generalizeable user interface - it's built for a single application. Siftables is in the first camp - since the tokens are not built to rely on their physical shape to support a single application, and they can be reprogrammed easily, showing different graphics for different applications, they are a generalizeable, multi-purpose platform.

[Eric @ Mar 15th 2008 11:16AM]

"When this happens, you end up shelling out cash for crap you will only use for a few applications, and wasting your money."

Well, duh. Isn't it all about the stuff? SOMEBODY needs to get us out of the recession. Why not the gamers?

[TomR @ Mar 15th 2008 11:19AM]

Wow, what a fantastic bit of hardware! Are these things available for people to fool around with, or are you guys homebrewing them over there?

[Sam Winter @ Mar 15th 2008 9:56PM]

This being an MIT media lab project, I would assume they are custom built.

[John @ Mar 15th 2008 12:15PM]

I could see this replacing our kanban board.

[John @ Mar 15th 2008 12:19PM]

You're about as imaginative as Ken Olsen.

[R.Yu @ Mar 15th 2008 10:49PM]

a few years ago, nokia made a necklace w/ these types of displays that connected to your mobile in order to display data that you had on your phone (photos, gifs, etc).

practical applications? well, not yet, but it's just a more accessible medium for digital info that is increasingly prevalent.

[Chevine @ Mar 16th 2008 1:44AM]

The military appliactions are vast and more effiecient at times than a computer. If positioned on a surface that can realey data on current events in that local. Troop movement, weather patterns, CO2 reaction with the atmosphere etc. The options for this will depend on industry manly. This technolgy will have to be that way first and bcome practical for everyday use. The Finacial market could use this to group information about events on a transmitters. It also gives me the feel of more a push technolgy. Information is moved to you in groups. Homes - Parents good use it too track cars, kids, and other things by the gps transmitter that will be embedded in more celluar and mobile devices. Respond to discuss more by leaving a message about it application.

[Serviced apartments bangalore @ Mar 16th 2008 2:25AM]

How much are these going to cost ? and when could we buy them ?

[ReggieXuk @ Mar 16th 2008 3:26PM]

wow... pointless

[brian LAU @ Mar 24th 2008 8:15PM]

hi MIT,

i am old school so my concern is how easy it would be to lose one of these pieces and with it, a lot of info that may impinge on the system itself...

or am i just old....

but i like the physicality of the pieces. the digital world has become so virtual that tactility will seem obsolete in several generations from now (like smell and taste which we no longer rely on so much, based on an evolutionary standard.)

cheers