Nowadays keyboard and mouse remain the main tools for digital interaction. Yet over the years various products have been developed in an effort to provide a more tangible interaction between users and computers. Solutions such as Reactable or Makey Makey are a proof of how this paradigm can be changed, offering new kinds of interaction more oriented to the high human ability to manipulate objects.
Our project, RadiantBoard, proposes a new type of tangible interaction. RadiantBoard is a board consisting of a 6x6 cell array. Each cell has electrical connections that allow the connection of RCubes. RCubes are electronic cubes with a variety of functions, depending on the context of use (and the imagination of developers). For example, considering an educational application on electronics, the cubes can allocate potentiometers, switches, buttons and electrical wires. Each cell also contains LEDs, which can be used to provide visual feedback to the user.
RadiantBoard can be easily interfaced with the computer, and thus becoming a real tangible tool for interaction with the system. The board can have a variety of application areas, such as a video games (e.g., puzzle and adventure games), music (similar to Mononome), and educational (e.g., interactive maps exploration).
RadiantBoard, is the evolution of a previous project called Radiant² (Radiant Square) born as a custom-built hardware interface for a videogame called OHR.
Now we are going to completely redesign the Radiant², to make it become a more versatile tool.