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Future Applications Lab

Nostalgia for an age yet to come


The Future Applications Lab currently works with two themes: Mobile Media and Ubiqutious Displays. Additionally, we have a number of projects where we develope Enabling Technologies, and we are also active in Education.

Publications

Results from projects are usually presented as academic publications, which are available from our publications page.

News & events


To see a history of earlier news and events from the group, click here.

Theme: Mobile Media

Mobile media projects concern how we create and interact with digital content on mobile devices. This can for instance be music, photos, text and images that we want to share or experience while on the move.

Project: Sonic City
Contact: Lalya Gaye
Partner: PLAY research studio

We are developing a system that enables users to create electronic music in real time by walking through and interacting with the urban environment. This project explores the use of public space and everyday behaviours for creative purposes, in particular the city as an interface and mobility as an interaction model for electronic music making.

Project: Mobile Music
Contact: Maria Håkansson

Mobile music devices such as MP3 players are transforming the way in which we consume music. We are investigating the music habits both ordinary music users and people in the music business, and will use this as basis for developing new mobile music applications.

Project: Picture This!
Contact: Maria Håkansson, Sara Ljungblad and Lalya Gaye

Digital cameras have introduced completely new opportunities for rapidly creating images. Based on investigations in how photography has historically been used for documentation and artistic purposes, we are exploring new ways of sharing and creating digital photographs.

Project: Collaborative Games
Contact: Johan Sanneblad

In the Collaborative Games project we introduce several new ways to play wireless mobile computer games! Using handheld devices connected in Wireless LAN ad hoc networks, Collaborative Games explore the possibilities of arranging the displays of multiple devices together to form larger play areas and encourage people to collaborate to play the games!

Project: Tejp
Contact: Lalya Gaye
Partner: PLAY research studio

This project explores various possibilities for overlaying personal traces and information on public spaces.

Project: Total Recall
Contact: Lars Erik Holmquist, Johan Sanneblad and Lalya Gaye

By using a hand-held PC as a movable filter, we can display captured whiteboard annotations in the same place as they were made. This makes possible new collaborative applications based on familiar interaction styles.

Project: Robots in everyday life
Contact: Lars Erik Holmquist, Sara Ljungblad and Lalya Gaye

We are exploring applications for embodied agents with emergent behaviour. As agent can for instance be a physical robot, providing sevices for humans in everyday surroundings.

Theme: Ubiquitous Displays

Ubiqutious displays are information displays that are integrated into everyday environments - not just on the desktop. They can take the form of traditional LCD screens, but also be something else - for instance intelligent push-pins.

Project: Pin&Play
Contact: Maria Håkansson
Partner: Lancaster University

We are developing applications for a system of "intelligent push-pins", that communicate through and draw power from the surface to which they are attached. During fall 2002, we will perform a number of workshops with potential users to explore possible applications for Pin&Play.

Project: Informative Art
Contact: Tobias Skog and Sara Ljungblad
Idustrial partner: SignIT

Informative Art takes the form of "digital paintings", that mimic the styles of ordinary visual art, while at the same time providing dynamically updated information from some information source. We are currently developing new forms of informative art to install and evaluate in public places.

Enabling Technologies

Project: Smart-Its
Contact: Lars Erik Holmquist and Lalya Gaye
Partners: Lancaster University, PLAY research studio, Teco, ETH Zurich, VTT

Smart-Its are generic, cheap computational devices that can be used for post-hoc computational enhancement of everyday objects. In the form factor of a sticker, Smart-Its allow objects to perceive their environment, communicate with peers, and have customizable behavior. Smart-Its is part of the Euroepan Union's Disappearing Computer intitiative.

Project: OpenTrek and GapiDraw
Contact: Johan Sanneblad

A platform for development of real-time graphics and ad-hoc networking applications on Pocket PC. OpenTrek and GapiDraw have been used in education and will feature in several FAL projects.

Project: Ubiquitous Graphics
Contact: Lars Erik Holmquist

We are currently developing a new technology for turning literally any surface into a potential computer graphics display. More information will follow as it becomes avilable.

Project: The Idea Factory
Contact: Lars Erik Holmquist

Idea Factory is a meta-project about developing the methods and means to create inventive future applications. Every morning at 9.30 we run a brainstorming session to explore new themes and ideas.  If you happen to be in the area one morning and want to join, contact Lars Erik Holmquist!

Education

We have ties with the Göteborg IT University, where Lars Erik Holmquist holds a guest chair in Ubiquitous Computing

At the IT University, we run doctorate courses in ubiquitous computing, with the ambition to expand this to a full Ph.D. program.
Information about the current doctorate course can be found here (in Swedish).

We are also active in the Mobile Informatics and Intelligent Systems Design masters programs at the Göteborg IT University. We sometimes do guest lectures at other universities and schools, such as Uppsala University and Chalmers University of Technology.