Seitaro Taniguchi

Almost all of the man machine interface devices are 'passive' interfaces. Passive interface means that it works by waiting for the input of the user. Exceptional 'active' interfaces are limited in digital experience like the display of input options for text inputting, display of search options for web search or recommendation systems of online shopping. The common point in active interfaces is the anticipation of the user’s next action by recording user experience and interpreting it.

'UREI' is an experimental project to bring the concept of anticipatory interface into the physical experience. Through being used by a user, this physical user interface is learning user behaviour in order to anticipate the user’s action. Also this project is exploring the interaction method used in this  interface, including a design approach.

The property of anticipatory interfaces is changed depending upon the time scale of the application. In the case of a continuous application like a lighting fixture it learns the optimised way of providing the function. As a result the opportunities of user control get reduced and it becomes independent of the user. In the case of the discontinuous application like an input device for a computer it takes over the repetitive process once after the user does the process.

By integrating this interface a tool is created that becomes like a nice servant.