James Patten: The best computer interface? Maybe ... your hands

譯者: Thunder Song 審譯者: Jina Chen

A computer is an incredibly powerful means

電腦有著不可思議的強大功能，

of creative expression,

在於它極具創意的表達方式，

but for the most part,

但是大部份電腦，

that expression is confined to the screens

表達方式僅限於有限的螢幕

of our laptops and mobile phones.

也就是我們的筆電以及手機螢幕。

And I'd like to tell you a story about

我想告訴你一個故事，是關於

bringing this power of the computer

如何將這些強大的電腦

to move things around and interact with us

移動身邊的東西和我們互動，

off of the screen and into the physical world

離開屏幕並且進入現實世界，

in which we live.

也就是我們的生活之中。

A few years ago, I got a call from

幾年前，我接了一個電話，

a luxury fashion store called Barneys New York,

來自一個豪華時尚的商店，叫做巴尼斯紐約， （巴尼斯紐約：Barneys New York， 一家著名的高檔百貨連鎖店）

and the next thing I knew,

接下來我了解到的是，

I was designing storefront kinetic sculptures

我當時正在設計 商店展櫥裏動態的雕塑

for their window displays.

用來放在櫥窗裡展示。

This one's called "The Chase."

這個叫做“追逐”。

There are two pairs of shoes,

這裡有兩雙鞋子，

a man's pair and a woman's pair,

一雙男鞋，一雙女鞋，

and they play out this slow, tense chase

它們進行著這樣的緩慢的，緊張的追逐，

around the window

就在櫥窗當中，

in which the man scoots up behind the woman

男人嘗試迅速的走到女人的身後，

and gets in her personal space,

當他接近她時

and then she moves away.

她卻又走遠了。

Each of the shoes has magnets in it,

每雙鞋子都裝有磁鐵，

and there are magnets underneath the table

並且在平台下面也有磁鐵，

that move the shoes around.

使鞋子能夠移動。

My friend Andy Cavatorta was building

我的朋友安迪卡瓦托達當時正在建造

a robotic harp for Bjork's Biophilia tour

一個機器人豎琴，是為了 碧玉的專輯－自然定律的巡演，

and I wound up building the electronics

我最後負責設計電路

and motion control software

以及動作來控制軟體，

to make the harps move and play music.

讓這些豎琴能夠演奏音樂。

The harp has four separate pendulums,

豎琴有四個分開的單擺，

and each pendulum has 11 strings,

每一個單擺都有11根琴弦，

so the harp swings on its axis and also rotates

所以每個豎琴在自己的 軸上擺動同時能夠旋轉，

in order to play different musical notes,

這樣就能夠演奏出不同的音符，

and the harps are all networked together

並且所有的豎琴 都是通過網絡連在一起，

so that they can play the right notes

這樣就能讓它們 演奏出正確的音符，

at the right time in the music.

同時在正確的時間點演奏。

I built an interactive chemistry exhibit

我建造了一個互動的化學展品，

at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago,

在芝加哥的科學工業博物館，

and this exhibit lets people use physical objects

這個展品讓人們可以使用物品

to grab chemical elements off of the periodic table

將化學元素從元素週期表中取出，

and bring them together to cause

然後放在一起，

chemical reactions to happen.

引起化學反應。

And the museum noticed that people

博物館的工作人員發現

were spending a lot of time with this exhibit,

人們會在這個展品上花費大量的時間，

and a researcher from a science education center

一個來自澳大利亞 科學教育中心的研究者

in Australia decided to study this exhibit

決定去研究這個展品

and try to figure out what was going on.

並且嘗試找出原因。

And she found that the physical objects

然後她發現這些人們使用的物品

that people were using were helping people

能夠幫助人們去了解

understand how to use the exhibit,

如何使用這樣的一件展品，

and were helping people learn in a social way.

幫助人們透過社會互動去學習。

And when you think about it, this makes a lot of sense,

當你開始考慮這個的時候， 這是非常合理的，

that using specialized physical objects

使用一些特別的物品

would help people use an interface more easily.

能夠幫助人們更加容易的 去使用一種介面。

I mean, our hands and our minds are optimized

我的意思是， 我們的雙手以及我們的思維

to think about and interact with tangible objects.

會對思考如何接觸 有形的物體進行優化。

Think about which you find easier to use,

思考一下你覺得哪個更容易使用，

a physical keyboard or an onscreen keyboard

是物理鍵盤還是螢幕上的觸摸鍵盤

like on a phone?

比如說手機？

But the thing that struck me

但是讓我震驚的是

about all of these different projects

這些不同的案子

is that they really had to be built from scratch,

都是不得不從頭開始，

down to the level of the electronics

然後深入到電子元件

and the printed circuit boards and

以及電路板的層次進行設計，

all the mechanisms all the way up to the software.

最後讓所有的機械通過軟體控制。

I wanted to create something

我想創造一些東西

where we could move objects under computer control

我們可以通過移動 由電腦控制的物體

and create interactions around that idea

並且圍繞這樣的一個想法 建立出互動關係，

without having to go through this process

而不需要通過這樣的一個流程，

of building something from scratch

也就是每次建造都是從頭開始。

every single time.

So my first attempt at this

所以我的首次嘗試這個

was at the MIT Media Lab

是在麻省理工的媒體實驗室

with Professor Hiroshi Ishii,

和石井裕教授一起，

and we built this array of

我們一起創造了這個由

512 different electromagnets,

512個不同的電磁鐵構成的矩陣，

and together they were able to move objects around

它們能夠讓物體

on top of their surface.

在它們的表面上移動。

But the problem with this

這個存在的問題是

was that these magnets

這些磁鐵

cost over 10,000 dollars.

耗費了超過一萬美元。

Although each one was pretty small,

儘管每一個都是特別的小，

altogether they weighed so much

但是放在一起它們便會特別的重

that the table that they were on

甚至是它們下面的桌子

started to sag.

都會開始下沉。

So I wanted to build something

所以我想創造一些東西

where you could have this kind of interaction

也能產生這樣的一種互動

on any tabletop surface.

即便是在任何一種桌面上。

So to explore this idea,

要實現這樣的一個想法，

I built an army of small robots,

我創造了一小支機器人軍隊，

and each of these robots has what are called omni wheels.

其中的每一個機器人 都有一個“全方位”的輪子。

They're these special wheels

這就是這些特別的輪子

that can move equally easily in all directions,

能夠方便的朝任何一個方向移動，

and when you couple these robots

當你連接這些機器人的時候

with a video projector,

通過一個投影機，

you have these physical tools

你可以使用這些工具，

for interacting with digital information.

和數位資訊產生互動。

So here's an example of what I mean.

這裡有一個例子。

This is a video editing application

這是一個影片編緝軟體，

where all of the controls

軟體中所有的控制

for manipulating the video are physical.

以及控制這個影片 都是通過直接控制的。

So if we want to tweak the color,

如果我們想旋轉這個顏色，

we just enter the color mode,

我們只需要進入色彩模式，

and then we get three different dials

然後我們就能由三個不同的錶盤

for tweaking the color,

可以通過旋轉來改變顏色，

or if we want to adjust the audio,

或者說我們想改變聲音，

then we get two different dials for that, these physical objects.

接著我們就會有兩個錶盤。

So here the left and right channel stay in sync,

在這裏左邊和右邊兩個會保持同步，

but if we want to, we can override that

但是如果我們想，我們是可以調整的，

by grabbing both of them at the same time.

通過同時調節它們兩個。

So the idea is that we get the speed

這樣的想法能夠讓我們快速

and efficiency benefits of using these physical dials

並且高效地操作，並且這些物理錶盤

together with the flexibility and versatility

也同時兼備靈活性和通用性

of a system that's designed in software.

在軟件設計的系統當中。

And this is a mapping application

在這個能夠反應災難發生地點的

for disaster response.

定點地圖軟體中，

So you have these physical objects

你有用這三個物體

that represent police, fire and rescue,

分別代表警察，火警以及救援，

and a dispatcher can grab them

調度員可以通過抓起它們

and place them on the map

並且把它們放在地圖上

to tell those units where to go,

通過這樣告訴他們 應該去地圖上哪個地點，

and then the position of the units on the map

接著地圖上的這個地點

gets synced up with the position

便會和現實世界中的地點進行同步。

of those units in the real world.

This is a video chat application.

這是一個影片聊天軟體。

It's amazing how much emotion you can convey

令人震驚地是你會發現 你可以傳達多少表情

with just a few simple movements

而且只需要通過操作機器人

of a physical object.

執行幾個簡單地操作。

With this interface, we open up a huge array of possibilities

通過這樣的互動方式， 我們創造了很多可能性，

in between traditional board games

介於傳統的棋盤遊戲

and arcade games,

以及街機遊戲之間，

where the physical possibilities of interaction

可能產生的互動模式

make so many different styles of play possible.

可以創造許多不同類型的遊戲體驗。

But one of the areas that I'm most excited

但是之中我最感興趣的是

about using this platform for

這個平台可以應用在

is applying it to problems that are difficult

那些電腦或者人們 無法單獨解決的問題上。

for computers or people to solve alone.

One example of those is protein folding.

其中一個例子是蛋白質的折疊。

So here we have an interface

這裡有一個互動的例子

where we have physical handles onto a protein,

我們通過對蛋白質增加一些物理端口

and we can grab those handles

然後我們可以通過操作這些物理端口

and try to move the protein and try to fold it in different ways.

嘗試移動並且用不同的方式折疊這些蛋白質。

And if we move it in a way that doesn't really make sense

如果我們操作的方式是不可能實現的，

with the underlying molecular simulation,

通過後台化學分子的模擬

we get this physical feedback where we can

我們可以得到一些實際的反饋，

actually feel these physical handles

事實上能夠感受到這些物理端口

pulling back against us.

正在阻止我們並朝反方向拉扯。

So feeling what's going on

所以可以感受到

inside a molecular simulation

化學分子的模擬過程當中正在發生什麼，

is a whole different level of interaction.

這是一個完全不同等級的互動方式。

So we're just beginning to explore

所以我們正在開始去 探索什麼是可能發生的，

what's possible when we use software

當我們我們使用軟體 去控制物體的移動。

to control the movement

of objects in our environment.

Maybe this is the computer of the future.

可能這就是電腦的未來。

There's no touchscreen.

沒有觸摸屏，

There's no technology visible at all.

沒有任何可視的科技，

But when we want to have a video chat

但是當我們如果想進行視頻聊天的時候，

or play a game

或者玩遊戲，

or lay out the slides to our next TED Talk,

或者編排下一張TED演講的幻燈片，

the objects on the table come alive.

這些桌子上的物體便會活了過來。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）