Create Interactive Furniture on Demand with Foxels
Foxels are a modular system that uses programmable building blocks to create smart furniture in a myriad of different configurations.
Several companies offer “smart furniture” in terms of connectivity or integrated technology, such as wireless charging, controlled temperatures, and other capabilities. While they may be smart, certainly so for IoT applications and connected homes, they are limited in functionality when compared to Austria’s Media Interaction Labs’ Foxels.
MIL describes their Foxels (Furniture Voxels) as “a modular, smart furniture concept that allows users to create interactive furniture on-demand by simply snapping together individual building blocks.” Think of them as giant reconfigurable programmable Legos that can be connected to create any number of interactive furniture designs, ranging from a desk with automatic lighting, to a brainstorming conference table with gestural control, to gaming systems — all created by rearranging the modular blocks.
Each block acts as an input/output platform that uses magnetic or mechanical connectors to form 3D arrangements. Each Foxel (24 in all) is equipped with different technology, such as interactive buttons, sensors, timers, displays and more, which can act in tandem with the others that are connected. For instance, a Foxel with an FSR (force-sensing resistor) coupled with one outfitted with a display can stream a movie when someone sits on the first module.
Other modular components include a PowerSwitch Foxel (provides power to external devices), Projector Foxel, Mail Foxel (sends an email to a specified address), and a MakeyMakey Foxel outfitted with interconnects and other equipment to build projects. Each Foxel can exchange information with each other based on their arrangement using Media Interaction Labs’ Tangible Programming, which allows them to pass on data through the connected signal chain. So, for example, if a sensor Foxel is programmed to engage a display when tripped, but is connected to several others in the setup, each module in the arrangement will pass that data along until it gets to the target module.
Chances are we won’t see Foxels on the market any time soon, as they are still in the development stages. That said, the engineers at Media Interaction Lab are already looking into designing different Foxels, and exploring ways of scripting their behavior, so they can react dynamically when configured in different arrangements.