Ferro Tale: Electromagnetic Animation Interface (2011)

In this video we demonstrate the idea and the prototype
of an electromagnetic animation interface, ferro tale.
Ferromagnetic particles, such as iron lings, have very
fascinating material characteristics. Therefore they are
widely used in art, education and as toys. In addition to
the material's potential to enable visual and tactile
feedback and to be used as a medium for high resolution
tangible input, people's natural desire to engage and
explore the behavior of ferromagnetic particles makes
them interesting for HCI.
Inspired by the expressiveness of sand drawing, we want to
explore ways to use an electromagnetic array, camera
feedback, computer vision, and ferromagnetic particles to
produce animations. Our current magnetic actuation
device consists of a 3 by 3 coil array. Even with such a
small number of actuators, we are able demonstrate
several animation examples.

Nan Zhao, Xiang Cao, Jaturont Jamigranont
http://research.microsoft.com/~xiangc/

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  Science & Technology