New challenges for the office of the future

A series of sometimes curious design studies subjects acoustics, privacy and concentration suggest, that the need for effective solutions is growing necessary. The tendency to open office spaces enhances this need.

Telephone calls on the mobile phone, whether privately or work related or the communication with colleagues compulsorily intensifies the noise level in open office layouts. Respect for privacy and the possibility for concentrated work require new concepts. First trials brought quite curious solutions.

For example, the study Pentaphone of the Austrian designer Robert Stadler should facilitate calls with the mobile phone in the office. The mobile phone makes his call without being disturbed by ambient noise as well as others are not disturbed by his communication.

Pentaphone study by Robert Stadler

Another curiosity is the so-called Office Collar. With this gadget the field of visual distractions will be reduced. The Office Collar should help the user to focus on direct tasks in front of him.

The Office Collar by Simone Brewster

Even large office furniture manufacturer dealt with the issues acoustics and privacy in the workplace. From Steelcase there are some design studies for the year 2005.

Cell Cell by Steelcase

With the concept of "Cell Cell", a cylinder hanging from the ceiling was shown. Crawling beneath it you can make an undisturbed phone call. Even a short confidential stand up meeting is possible.

Digital Yurt by Steelcase

The Digital Yurt is a space for undisturbed brainstorming in the mid zone of the office. The center features a circular pad of paper table which allows everyone to write notes for capturing thoughts and ideas.

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Flexible plasma display

Early in October on the Japanese electronics fair Ceatec the idea of a novel plasma displays was presented. It is just one millimeter thick and pliable. With this technology any display size should be possible in the near future.

The plasma tube array display of Japan's leading plasma display researcher Tsutae Shinoda is unlike a conventional plasma display consisting of many individual gas cells. It is made of gas-filled thin tubes, arranged between two electrode plates.

At the fair a 50 by 100cm prototype display was demonstrated with just 800g in weight. Shinoda promises that basic panels of 1 by 2 meters are “glued” together frameless to any larger size displays in future. According to the displayblog the mass production should beginn in the second half of 2008.

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Innovations in keyboard design

The evolution of traditional input devices continues. The Russian design studio Art Lebedev is going to launch the first keyboard with variable OLED displays by the end of the year. Another approach focuses on the flexible arrangement of the keys.

Optimus Maximus, the russian interface
Every single button of Optimus Maximus is replaceable, has its own OLED display and can be used with different functions, such as letters, symbols or icons for special function buttons. The OLED with a resolution of 48 by 48 pixels displays the actual key function.

Optimus Maximus by Art Lebedev (youtube Video)

A great advantage is, that the key adapts to the respective program, which runs on the computer, and so work should be done faster and easier. Each user can adjust the keys to their individual needs and working patterns. But there are also some critical aspects of this product. First, compared with normal keyboards, despite the use of OLED technology, there is higher energy consumption (it requires a separate power supply). Form an ergonomic view the keyboard could act as a disturbing light source in the visual area of the user.

Ergodex DX1, even the position gets individually
A slightly different keyboard system offers the Ergodex DX1 keyboard. The keys don’t have displays, but the function of up to 50 keys could be defined individually. For each key you could choose the position on a special plate.

In the delivery contents are predefined or writable stickers for each key. With the free distribution of the keys a maximum ergonomic arrangement should be possible. Initial tests of this keyboard came to a conclusion, that the Ergodex DX1 is more a complement to existing keyboard, not a replacement.

Ergodex DX1 keyboard

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Eclipse a future workspace

The new things at the workstation called Eclipse designed by Marcus Ward Curran are the wings. The workstation has four of them on both sides, left and right. They can be moved individually and offer the possibility to separate a part or the whole workspace. The user is able to create and protects his personal space.

The complete station is on wheels. In the overhead bar there are speakers, a camera and lightings. The inner side of the wings should work as screens for video conferencing or should create a relaxing atmosphere.

video at youtube.

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Pico projector

A projector made for flexible applications. The projector is smaller than 4 centimetres and could be integrated into future mobile phones. Future versions will be able to project images in the size of a TV screen.

Construction of a pico projector

Microvisions pico projector is made of four parts: the MEMS (Micro-Electronic-Mechanic-System) scanner, a red, green and blue laser beam, a special optical system and electronics. The electronics receives the signal, processes it, controls the colour mixture and the position of each pixel and controls the MEMS-Scanner. Each pixel is made up by combining the three laser beams. The intensity of each beam can be adjusted to create a big variety of colours and grey scales. The scanning MEMS scanner controls these multicolour radiation and successions and sends them line by line to their position to creating a complete picture.

MEMS-mirror,laserbeam,optic, electronics.

A very similar technique is used in the Texas Instruments DLP-projectors.

Scope

The big advantage is the mobility of this projector. You can present photos of a camera or a mobile phone to friends or work colleagues via projection onto a white wall, or you can watch a movie during a train ride.

Challenge

Red lasers are used in any CD drive, the blue laser in the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD drives, so the procurement of this two is not very difficult. But green laser yet has not been produced for industrial use and was therefore difficult in matching the size and producing the number of units to have a sensible price. This problem has now been solved. The actual challange is to replace the still expensive laser trough cheaper LEDs.

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Multi-touch interface - Microsoft Surface

With the planned introduction early 2008 Microsoft fosters the final breakthrough of a special variant of human-machine interaction - the so-called multi-touch interface. An intuitive digital data handling seems to be possible.

History of the multi-touch interfaces
Research in multi-touch systems is done since the early 1980s. In various research layouts at universities and major corporations the technology was developed. According to Microsoft, the first Surface prototypes were put in an Ikea table in 2001. Since then, about 80 more prototypes of the Surface were built. A very good overview of the historical development stages shows the site of Bill Buxton.

Structure of the Microsoft Surface
It uses a standard PC with Microsoft Vista, five infrared sensors and a DLP-projector, which projects the picture from the bottom of the table. With the infrared sensors the touching is registered. Further details about the technical design at popularmechanics.

technical structure of the Microsoft Surface

Unlike a conventional touch-screen, Surface recognizes the movements of several fingers. Therefore several people can work at the same time on the Microsoft Surface. Microsoft calls this feature "Multi-User Experience". Using "Object Recognition" the Surface recognizes items placed on it.
The system is equipped with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, to exchange data with mobile phones or digital cameras. In future, RFID or NFC should also be in use.

the Surface as an interface for data exchange of mobile devices (youtube video)

Initial applications
Microsoft delivers the Surface early 2008 only to business customers like casinos or hotels. At T-Mobile USA the Surface should be used as a tool to support sales of mobile phones. The price will be in a range from 5,000 to 10,000 US dollars.

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Multi-Gigabit wireless

In a few years cables could be history in the home data transport. At the Georgia Electronic Design Centre researchers are currently working on the so-called Multi-Gigabit wireless data transmission, which should replace the wires in home networks and computer centres within the next three years.

The researchers focused on a frequency of 60 giga heart because this frequency ranges because there is no license needed for this range in the USA. Until now they have reached a transfer rate of 15 gigabits per second (Gbps) over the distance of one meter. At a distance of 10 meters they still reach 10 Gbps and over 5 meters still 5 Gbps.


In less than two years, the first connections for fast data transfer between external hard disks, laptops, cell phones, MP3 players, digital cameras, TV, DVD players, etc. should be available. With this system laptops could be synchronized within seconds.


They also work on an adapter to make systems which until now worked via USB or FireWire to make them compatible with the new technology. Moreover they want to doubling the data throughput in the next year with keeping the yet low consumption of power. Links: Georgia Electronic Design Center

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Heliodisplay

Heliodisplay is a development of IO2Technology from California. In this interactive display the picture is projected into the air. The projected image seems to float and looks like a hologram because a reference to the depth is missing. Conventional television, computers and DVD players can be used as image sources.

Furthermore the control doesn’t only work by mouse but also intuitive with your fingers. Heliodisplay is a projection technology that works with suspended particles of moisture that can create an interactive display experience literally out of thin air.

Video at youtube.
More information at cbc.ca

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Augmented reality

The term augmented reality is beside the term virtual reality more often to be found. For many people almost unnoticed, the augmented reality already is part of our everyday life. It is one of the key technologies for the future.

Definition
Augmented reality is an extension of our perception of reality by additions of digital data in real time. This can affect all sense organs, but is usually associated with the expansion of visual reality needed. More information at wikipedia.

Applications
The first use of augmented reality systems took place in head-up-displays of jet pilots. Meanwhile this system is also installed in cars.

Head-up displays in a car and an airplane (source: car, airplane)

Applications in everyday life
A typical example is the free kick situation in soccer. The television adds a line and the distance to the goal. Line and distance are seen but aren’t part of the game - they are digitally added. In this example, it was just "augmented TV". If the spectators in the stadium would see the same effect you would call it augmented reality. Simple augmented reality applications can already be found in objects of everyday use. The tab Canyon from Hansa is just one example. The water jet is lit and changes the colour depending on the temperature from the cool blue in a hot red.

Hansacanyon by Hansa

Potential
The accumulation of reality with virtual information offers many possibilities. For example, fitters could see the next steps 1:1 to exactly pursue the construction building site, designers could work together on virtual objects, or it could make the so-called X-ray view possible. At the MIT a research for an augmented reality kitchen takes place. A projection at the fridge door shows what is in the fridge. Virtual recipes can be projected on the work space. Door handles on cupboards start to shine to find a needed item easier.

MIT Augmented Reality Kitchen

Challenges
The big difficulties are still very complex algorithms and large quantities of data which are required for such real-time applications.

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