Pegblocks

2001

Hiroshi Ishii (US) (JP)

Ben Fielding Piper
Matthew Karau
Beto Peliks
Tangible Media Group

"Pegblocks" are networked tactile transducers. As users manipulate the array of pegs, sliding them back and forth, motion is converted to electricity and converted back into motion through out the rest of the network. The resulting movements of the pegs is not determined by any one individual input but by the networked group as a whole.

Each peg is coupled to an electric dynamo/motor. The dynamo/motor can act in two modes: it can generate electricity from motion and convert electricity inton motion. As the peg is moved back and forth electric energy is generated and converted back into motion through out the rest of the network.

The installation "Pegblocks" extends the notion of "Distributed Shared Physical Objects" of "inTouch" to explore re-configurable, haptic communication network, integrating representations using peg patterns that were impossible in "inTouch". They allow the simultaneous touch of multiple human hands to be extended over space, as well as asynchronous exchange of peg patterns.

"Pegblocks" is based on an early prototype developed by Ben Piper as a class project in a Physics and Media class taught by Prof. Neil Gershenfeld, MIT Media Lab, in the fall of 1999.