Courtesy of MIT Tangible Media Group, under Creative Commons license.
Think of your daily interactions with water. Few of us deal with its natural asymmetry in rivers, lakes, and oceans. By and large, we see it come out of a single stream from a faucet, or spraying out of a shower head in dozens of tiny threads. Maybe we see a water fountain in a park, though perhaps without much regularity. But with HydroMorph, researchers at MIT, Harvard, and Wellesley College are sculpting water through interactive displays to render shapes like a flower, the sun, and a bird, to name a few.
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The project, led by MIT Tangible Media Group’s Ken Nakagaki, takes its inspiration from a water stream hitting a smooth surface and creating a membrane. Picture this by thinking of the membranous dome created when water strikes a spoon. Nakagaki tells The Creators Project that they were also inspired by the “Water Membrane Creatures” developed by Yuki Sugihara and Atelier OPA. To achieve a similarly interactive effect, Nakagaki and his compatriots paired software written on Processing with a water-shaping device, a computer, an Arduino UNO microcontroller, a camera, and a water source.
Courtesy of MIT Tangible Media Group, under Creative Commons license.
“As the stream of water from the source hits the water-shaping device, various shapes are created according to the actuation data sent from software on the computer through the microcontroller (Arduino UNO),” the researchers explain in their paper. “The camera is mounted fixed above the system to overlook the entire device. The camera is used to detect physical objects and human hands around the device by distinguishing color of them.”What exactly is futuristic about the HydroMorph? Nakagaki and his fellow researchers see it being used for faucets, interior displays and exterior fountains, but that doesn’t necessarily make it futuristic.
Courtesy of MIT Tangible Media Group, under Creative Commons license.
“With the capability of displaying information through iconic shapes, it may inform users the invisible properties of water such as temperatures and nutriments using additional sensors,” they explain. “For example, the system could notify users that the water is safe to drink by creating a shape of full-bloomed flower, or alert not to drink with a shape of a faded flower.”
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As for the HydroMorph as an interior display, Nakagaki sees it as possibly becoming a piece of interactive furniture, one that also could present information about weather. It might also be used for as interactive sculptural fountains at public parks. It’s hard to say if people would actually buy into this futuristic aquatic expressionism and information sharing technology. But as long as it’s not wasteful, then why not bring a little variety to one’s water supply?
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