No, this isn’t science fiction or fantasy.
Disney is experimenting with using plants as interfaces to computers. The concept may sound a little different, so here’s a couple of videos to demonstrate the technology in action.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/_uTJiEYI1ik[/youtube]From the description:
The visitors communicate with living and artificial plants by reaching to and touching them and observing the plants “reply” in the form of rich computer-generated imagery and sound.
Sounds intriguing and kind of cool, but what is it and how does it work?
This second video explains the technology behind it and how it can be used with both living and fake plants
[youtube]http://youtu.be/EcRSKEIucjk[/youtube]Haptic technology has come a long way, though I’m still writing this using an “old fashioned” keyboard!
You can find out more about the project on the Disney research site
Related articles
- Turning living plants into multitouch interfaces (boingboing.net)
- Disney creates Botanicus Interacticus multi-touch plants (slashgear.com)
- Disney shows you how to play music on a house plant (wired.co.uk)
About the Author: Michele Neylon
