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Home / News / Magical table changes shape with a wave of your hands

Magical table changes shape with a wave of your hands

In the future, your furniture could pass the salt down for you

MIT’s Tangible Media Group has revealed a shape-shifting surface which will change the way you look at tables forever.

Called Transform, the interactive table features 1152 plastic pins, each of which can independently move up and down thanks to a dedicated microprocessor.

If that seems familiar then it’s probably because you remember the team’s previous inFORM project, which used a Kinect camera to let users remotely interact with objects via the morphing pins.

The Transform is also able to detect your hand motion, and the pins shy away as your hands pass over them, like a school of startled fish.

Throw a ball on them though and they’ll gladly roll it around in a mesmerising pulsating display of control.

Naturally we’re not going to see smart furniture like this at your local IKEA anytime soon, but it’s an interesting take on how we could all be interacting with our surroundings in ways we’ve yet to even imagine.

READ MORE: Balluga Smart Bed hands-on: wafting you to sleep on a cushion of air cells

[via Wired]

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Esat has been a gadget fan ever since his tiny four-year-old brain was captivated by a sound-activated dancing sunflower. From there it was a natural progression to a Sega Mega Drive, a brief obsession with hedgehogs, and a love for all things tech. After 7 years as a writer and deputy editor for Stuff, Esat ventured out into the corporate world, spending three years as Editor of Microsoft's European News Centre. Now a freelance writer, his appetite for shiny gadgets has no bounds. Oh, and like all good human beings, he's very fond of cats.

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