Digital Cubes
A "Dominoes" Game Using Electronic Cubes

2002

Simon Schießl (DE)

"Digital Cubes" is an aesthetic "dominoes" game played with a set of electronic cubes. When the cubes are laid next to one another, they exchange information, which is visible as a light pattern. In the case of two adjacent cubes, the data are disordered; it’s only in the case of three or more cubes that the data pattern becomes orderly and words legible.

Each cube has four words in memory, which it emits depending upon its orientation to the scrolling direction of the whole text. Each of these autonomous miniature computers contains a 16-bit microprocessor, a display, and infrared interfaces on each of its four vertical sides. In this way, the adjacent cubes can form a simple data network.

Each of the cubes’ surfaces is 8 cm (about 3.15") square, and each cube contains a high-performance 16-bit microprocessor. On the top surface is a display consisting of 8 x 8 light diodes. Externally invisible infrared interfaces on each of the four vertical surfaces enable each cube to communicate with neighboring cubes without being physically connected to them.

When two cubes are placed side by side, they continually exchange data with each other, and the initially darkened displays on their top surfaces are activated. The light pattern they display symbolizes the flow of information in the cubes. The adjacent surfaces are its source.

One source alone generates uninterpretable information and thus random patterns on the display surface. It is only when the flows from two data sources are combined in one cube that the visual static sharpens into a decoded pattern and words become legible.

Each cube accommodates four terms, one per contact surface. Depending upon which vertical surfaces touch, their orientation, and the number of connected cubes, combinations of the following word groups scroll across the displays "marquee" style: "evil, good, smart, dumb; happy, sad, bored, excited; big, small, plenty, nothing; now, never, yesterday, tomorrow."

The aesthetic quality results from the dynamic reaction of the light pattern in real time to the respective position of the cube and from the element of discreteness that is inherent in the form of the macroscopic pixel and in the jerky depiction of the light pattern. The cubes themselves are building blocks—i.e. pixels of a modular image. They in turn contain 8 x 8 picture points, 64 chunky light diodes each measuring 10 mm square.

The Concept

The "Digital Cubes" feature internal microprocessors, an illuminated display on their top surfaces and invisible data interfaces on their four vertical sides. It is easy to pick them up and arrange them in different combinations on a tabletop. The computer becomes a game of "dominoes."

Each of the 8 x 8 cm digital building blocks is an autonomous computer system with a CPU, a display and infrared interfaces. Adjacent cubes form a simple data network and, depending on how they are arranged, variable graphic patterns appear on the cubes’ top surfaces. Here, visual static, legible texts and picture interference symbolize different configurations of overlapping data flows.

The physical form of these handheld devices has been monolithically reduced to the cube—there are no cables, switches or other user-operable elements—and they are thus very different in appearance from a conventional PC with its choppy surfaces that maximize information flow—e.g. the keyboard or a richly detailed graphic display.

The active top surface—the 8 x 8 matrix of glowing quadrants—offers a view into the inner workings of these black boxes in white. When two vertical surfaces of adjacent cubes come into contact, they continually exchange information; a reciprocating data channel is opened up. These points of contact function alternately as data sources, data transceivers or data receptacles, depending upon the individual cube's position in the overall arrangement. The resulting data flows throughout the entire network of intercommunicating cubes are propagated step-by-step, line-by-line of illuminated information from the receptor surface to the adjacent cube surface. As this takes place, all four potential directions are overlaid free of interference. If only one stream of data flows through the cube, then a random pattern of visual static appears on the top surface. Once two flows mix from perpendicular or opposite in-line directions, the image pattern is transformed into a legible text. If a third flow of data from another direction is added to the mix, it interferes with the existing pattern and makes it illegible once again. This interplay of random noise, visually clear information and mixed-up data symbolizes the dynamic processes taking place as the cubes communicate with one another.

The illuminated matrix's legible text, which is the result of the interplay of several cubes, scrolls in "marquee style" across the display surfaces. The text consists of a combination of words, the number of which corresponds to the number of cubes involved in the flow of data; the text is also dependent upon the relative orientation of the cubes to the scrolling direction. Thus, each cube contributes one word depending on its orientation to the overall text. The total of four cubes contain the following sets of terms: Cube 1: "evil, good, smart, dumb"; Cube 2: "happy, sad, bored, excited"; Cube 3: "big, small, plenty, nothing"; Cube 4: "now, never, yesterday, tomorrow."

The chief significance of these expressions has to do with human beings. As pure data material automatically moving from cube to cube, they provide a stark contrast to their angular and grid-shaped technical substratum. In this context, however, the terms do not entirely shed their role as bearers of meaning. A remnant of their normal everyday use remains intact and constitutes a reference to the tense interrelationship of human and machine.

The "Digital Cubes" behave in highly dynamic fashion. On its own, a single cube is dark and seems passive. It fits perfectly into the palm of the hand. But when you take two of them and place them alongside each other, graphic patterns spread out across the top surfaces of the cubes on both side of the contact plane. Just like striking two flints together to produce sparks, glowing information springs out of the gap between the two cubes. This entices users to experiment further. Arranging the cubes in a variety of different ways first brings forth light from the darkness of the display screens; in a second step, the random patterns are transformed into recognizable texts.

It is fascinating to discover how "Digital Cubes" behave when they interact with each other. They also enable us to grasp essential characteristic traits that are inherent in the digital technology that surrounds us in everyday life.

The present form of "Digital Cubes" has been reduced to a few functional elements. Its rough angularity can be diminished by revising its mission. Considering the cubes as a modular picture screen that can be assembled any way the user desires opens up new possibilities as a medium. More fluid animation as well as funny or educational graphic elements are conceivable. Increasing the degree of resolution from 8 x 8 pixels to allow for a more detailed and more colorful depiction ultimately yields new utilization concepts for picture display. The effect of such a system, however, will be smooth and flawless, and thus fundamentally different from the sharp, square-cut design of "Digital Cubes" in its current form.