“Smart objects will become more and more a part of our daily lives,” said S. Shyam Sundar, Distinguished Professor of Communications and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory at Penn State. “We believe the next phase is that objects will start talking and interacting with humans, and our goal is to figure out the best ways for objects to communicate with humans.” This research was part of a Penn State project about how humans interact with the smart objects in their world.
While the research in question focused on a talking box of tissues that can suggest when the users need one, and even bless them when they sneeze. The object got mostly positive reviews from the users who deal with them. While these objects are not exactly the objects we think of when we consider how this research could encourage smart wearable in the future.
As talking and interacting technology moves more into the mainstream and the components get less expensive they will be showing up in more products. In the release the researcher stated it in the following terms, “As sensors and computers increasingly become smaller and cheaper, smart objects will appear in more homes and offices and not be hidden or shielded from interacting with people, according to the researchers. For example, smart refrigerators could talk or send tweets to signal when certain food items are almost out, or when expiration dates are nearing…” In human terms this means that smart clothing may be showing up on the racks in stores in the near future, as the component costs become more feasible in the mass scale.
Source: EurekaAlert
Image: Morgue File
