We're very attached to our devices nowadays. We even sleep with them under our pillows, eat meals with them and occasionally take them with us into the restroom. They're part of us. But could there be a day when we won't actually have to interact with the device by direct touch?
We recently came across this video of an augmented reality sandbox that's Kinect-powered and built by researchers at UC Davis. A real-time topographic map with contour lines is projected onto the sand surface, which allows the user to manipulate it without ever having to touch a device. Take a look:
Sure, it's just a sandbox, but we're not far from a time when we'll no longer to have to touch a device to operate it or manipulate data.
Take for instance Google's augmented-reality glasses, which is the perfect example that devices are more extensions of self than anything else. More than that, it's an example of a time when there will be more and more integrated means of interaction and data display.
Of course, there's also the new Leap 3D motion control, which creates a virtual workspace of about four cubic feet in front of your monitor, so you can manipulate what's on screen.
Soon screens will no longer be trapped by a device, where we can manipulate projections in front of us, like some display on a science-fiction starship. A time when we'll design for data rather than devices. In a way, we're halfway there ''designing for four corners, no matter the size and not for any specific device. The future is creeping around the corner, it'll be interesting to see how we meet it.