curlybot

2001

Hiroshi Ishii (US) (JP)

Victor Su

Tangible Media Group
Phil Frei

"curlybot" is an educational toy that records and plays back physical motion. When the user takes hold of "curlybot" and moves it around on a flat surface it remembers how it has been moved. When it is then released, it replays the movement with all the intricacies of the original, including every pause, acceleration, and tremor of the user's hand. It was designed to help children develop geometrical thinking and as a medium for lyrical expression.

Phil Frei created the "curlybot" concept in late 1998, completing the industrial and interaction design himself. With the support of Victor Su for electronic circuit design and prototype construction, the first prototype was completed in the spring of 1999.

The force-feedback technology used for real-time simultaneous communication in "inTouch" is used in "curlybot" for the recording and playback of non-simultaneous gestures. This project has significance in terms of both interface design and the use of computers for educational "pUrposes".

As a tangible interface it blurs the boundary between input and output (similar to "inTouch"): "curlybot" itself is both an input device to record gestures and a physical display device to re-enact them. By allowing users to teach "curlybot" gestures hand and body motions, "curlybot" enables a strong connection between body and mind not obtainable from anything expressed on a computer screen.

From an educational standpoint "curlybot" opened new horizons as a toy to aid in the acquisition of geometrical mathematical concepts.