Sajid Sadi and Pattie Maes of MIT’s Ambient Intelligence Group, part of the Fluid Interfaces research program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US, and Amir Mikhak, have created the relational pillow in an attempt to boost relationships while communicating through pillows.
The pillows are capable of sensing touch information, and displaying incoming touch data as a pattern of lights that show the outline drawn upon the remote pillow. Pillows can connect to each other over the network so that this sense of touch can be shared across long distances.
The physical sensation of holding a pillow and interacting with it builds upon the idea of using the natural features of the object in order to achieve a deeper connection between the users, without interfering in the communication process itself.
The MIT Ambient Intelligence Group focuses on developing interfaces that are interactive and responsive in nature. The goal of the Fluid Interfaces research group is to radically rethink the human-machine interactive experience.
