A prototype for an interactive mobile device, “Cubimorph,” which can change shape on-demand, will be presented this week at one of the international forums for robotics researchers, International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2016, in Stockholm, Sweden from May 16 to 21, 2016.

There has been a growing interest toward achieving modular interactive devices in the human computer interaction community, but so far existing devices consist of folding displays that barely reach high shape resolution.

Cubimorph is a modular interactive device that holds touchscreens on each of the six module faces and that uses a hinge-mounted turntable mechanism to self-reconfigure in the user’s hand. One example is a mobile phone that can transform into a console when a user launches a game. The modular interactive device, made out of a chain of cubes, contributes towards the vision of programmable matter, where interactive devices change its shape to fit functionalities required by end-users.

At the conference, researchers will present a design rationale that shows user requirements to consider when designing homogeneous modular interactive devices. The research team will also show the Cubimorph mechanical design, three prototypes demonstrating key aspects: turntable hinges, embedded touchscreens and miniaturisation and an adaptation of the probabilistic roadmap algorithm for the reconfiguration.

University of Bristol
www.bristol.ac.uk