Frederic Kaplan : Interview

Born in Paris, Frederic Kaplan worked ten years for Sony, designing brains for entertainment robots. He now supervises the development of novel interactive furniture and robotic objects at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. In 2008, he co-founded OZWE with Martino d'Esposito.

Q: Can you describe QB1 in just a few words?

FK: QB1 is a novel kind of personal computer, adapted to our 21st century lifestyle. No mouse, no keyboard, no remote control. You don't touch anything. You simply use gestures to interact. Its display is motorized. Once its sees you it turns in your direction. So you can freely move while interacting with the device.

Q: You present QB1 as a new kind of computer. Aren't today's computers good enough?

FK: Personal computers were designed to be efficiently used by an individual user - hence their name - in a sitting position, either working or playing, fully concentrated on the task at hand. As the scope of applications and domains of computer usage has widened, personal computers have started to be used in situations where continuous full attention to the device is likely to be an obstacle to other forms of social interactions. In addition personal computers tend now to be used in casual settings where the sitting position is actually unnatural. To play music in a party, to serve as an aid in the kitchen, to interact with visitors in a museum or to give advice to customers in shops, interaction systems of classical personal computers are clearly ill-adapted.

Q: So, QB1 is essentially introducing a new kind of interface.

FK: I think it is more than this. QB1 is likely to be one of the first members of a new family of devices for which radically new kinds of applications can be built. Most current applications of personal computers were designed for a very different style of interaction. We try as much as possible not to be influenced by this legacy and invent novel use of computers that would exploit the natural richness of free gestural interactions in space. You know, the one you observe everyday when people use tools, play musical instruments and interact with one another.

Q: QB1 seems to be a kind of mix between a computer and a robot? You have yourself worked many years in the field of robotics. Why would you want to create such kind of hybrid device?

FK: During the last ten years, personal robots targeted for entertainment have started to be produced and sold. These devices, which can be viewed as computers with physical actuation systems, have introduced radically novel ways of interactions based on artificial vision techniques, gesture recognition and most importantly co-presence in a physical space. Important research efforts have been done to make interactions with these robots as natural as possible, taking advantage of our deep expertise in how to communicate with people. However, despite some successful results this kind of natural interaction system has tended to be used only in the domain of anthropomorphic or zoomorphic robots and progress in these fields has not impacted more mundane kinds of computer systems. QB1 does not like a robot, but its display is motorized and equipped with a 3d perception system. Once it sees you, QB1 follows your movements and you can interact directly with it as iif it was a face-to-face interaction.

Q: Why is that sort of robotized behavior interesting?

FK: First, it is possible to interact with QB1 from various positions in the same room and not simply from the frontal position. The device can easily search for and actively track people and objects in order to maintain them in sight, thus permitting various styles of contact-free distal interaction. In the same way that we can freely move during a human conversation, the device permits now to freely move while interacting with a computer. In addition, the kind of movements that the device can perform permits a wide range of non verbal physical expressions that augment interaction in the same way that numerous non verbal cues augment our language exchanges.

Q: What does this add to the user?

FK: These various features permit to give QB1 an actual presence in both the physical and social spaces. This allows to take benefit of the tendency people have to treat computers like real people and to operate a shift from a device mainly considered as a tool to a device which takes the role of team member, companion or assistant.

Q: How do you actually interact with the device?

FK: QB1 perceives the world in 3D and knows where potential users are. You interact with it by acting directly in the physical world. In classical graphical user interfaces, the user typically moves a cursor, using for instance a mouse, inside a graphical environment, for instance figuring metaphorically a desktop. His actions take place in this graphical virtual environment and not in the real one. This explains why one has to be fully concentrated while interacting with a personal computer. With QB1 interaction system, the user sees an image of himself on the display. It can either be directly the picture taken by the camera, a silhouette or a 3d reconstruction. The user identifies very easily with this representation of himself which moves exactly the way he does. In some way, the system can be understood as an augmented mirror.

Q: What is actually new about this kind of interaction?

FK: Depending on the position of the user the interface changes. More information is provided if the user is near, less if he is far away. Moreover, interactive zones on the display can be defined in relation to the user's location. This interface system is user-centric in a strong sense: it is centered around the user. For instance, some interface elements only appear when the user is in sight and they disappear as soon as the user leaves (why should there be buttons, if there is nobody to interact with them?)

Q: Do you think this kind of computers will one day replace our PCs?

FK: No, I think this sort of devices are adapted to rather different contexts of use, namely casual everyday interactions. Desktop and laptop personal computers are still the best tools to engage in tasks that need high concentration or isolation such as writing, composing and the likes.

Q: Do other teams in the world work on similar projects?

FK: Not many. There is a team at the MIT Media Lab working on a robotic screen which has some similarities with our device. But contrary to QB1, their project seems to focus on a sitting user interacting with the computer in a very traditional way. I think QB1 introduces an interaction paradigm which is really novel in that respect : contact-free interface, free movement. I also think that we'll see many more robotic computer projects designed for everyday environment in the future. Actually, this is maybe the way that robots will eventually enter our home, not with the shape of Science-Fiction humanoid creatures, but in the guise of robotized everyday devices.

Martino d'Esposito : Interview

After a childhood in the Middle East, Martino d'Esposito studied industrial design at the Ecole Cantonale d'Art de Lausanne (ECAL). He is now designing objects and furniture for several companies including Ligne Roset, Cinna , Neweba and Monodor. in 2008, he co-founded OZWE with Frederic Kaplan.

Q: Why make a moving computer?

MdE: It seems to be that objects should communicate with people who use them, give them a help without loosing their object identity. We wanted to create a computer with which we could communicate in a more natural manner, but which would still not look human. The idea was that it would be humanized by its gestures, not its look.

Q: The idea of objects that help can be traced back in several of your past creations, like for instance this tray that adapts to the waiter's gestures or this side table that can save your life in the case of an earthquake. Is QB1 also in the lineage of these objects?

MdE: QB1 tries to adapt to the persons present in its environment and not the other way round, like it is usually the case with personal computers. It turns towards you, following you in order to be always ready-at-hand if you need one of his services. Similarly as the anti-sismic table that can be, depending on the context, an ordinary side table or a surviving kit, QB1 is ready to offer functions continuously adapted to the present situation.

Q: There is also a fun factor, isn't there?

MdE: I'm trying to design objects that are not really games but that add some entertainment aspects in our everyday life. For instance, I have created a few years ago, a set of forks including one shorter item as an invitation to decide using a short-straw game who is going to wash the dishes. QB1's movements permit an always adapted position in terms of usability, but can also surprise the user in terms of unexpected behavior. This mix between function and fun factors is one of the line I'm currently exploring in my work with Alexandre Gaillard.

Q: Why have you decided to equip QB1 with a fabric slipcover?

MdE: I wanted to get away of the traditional plastic shell used in most hi-tech devices nowadays. These shells are impersonal, get dusty and are a waste of primary good. In our case, there was also a weight constraint. It was crucial for the head to be as light as possible. This is why I have decided to work with a dressmaker in order to create a real clothe for QB1. This slipcover smoothes the movements of the device. In addition it permits to change the QB1's look, by simply changing the zip equipped slipcover.

Q: Will there be one day a whole collection of clothes for QB1?

MdE: Why not? You can dress QB1 with a lot a various materials. Dressmakers can contact us, if they are interested! It is also likely that anyone will be able to create clothes for their technological objects. This is what is currently happening for mp3 players and cell phones which are customized in various ways. It is a way of turning objects with a rather cold and anonymous design into personal items.