Programmable Droplets for Interaction

Programmable Droplets for Interaction Udayan Umapathi, Patrick Shin, Ken Nakagaki, Daniel Leithinger, Hiroshi Ishii CHI 2018: ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Video Showcase Abstract We present a design exploration on how water based droplets in our everyday environment can become interactive elements. For this exploration, we use electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) technology as the underlying mechanism to precisely control motion of droplets. EWOD technology provides a means to precisely transport, merge, mix and split water based droplets and has been widely explored for automating biological experiments in industrial and research settings. More recently, it has been explored for DIY Biology applications. In our exploration we integrate EWOD devices into a range of everyday objects and scenarios to show how programmable water droplets can be used as information displays, interaction medium for painting and personal communication. DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1145/3170427.3186607 WEB:: https://chi2018.acm.org/