Coffee Table as Universal Remote
Posted August 17th, 2009 by simon
There are loads of universal remote controls on the market but a research project called CRISTAL, which stands for Control of Remotely Interfaced Systems using Touch-based Actions in Living spaces, is working on a universal remote which doubles up as a coffee table. The table top displays a streaming view of the room from above and you can touch the various devices in the room to control them. You can turn lamps on and off, control digital picture frames and turn up the volume on the TV by sliding your hand over it. You can even drag a movie on to the TV in order to watch it.
This is touted as a simplistic alternative to programmable remote controls although exactly how you would change channel or browse the possible movies to watch isn’t clear. One of the assistant professors on the project, Stacey Scott, suggested this would make the process social and intuitive but I don’t see any reason people wouldn’t squabble over the coffee table the same way they squabble over the remote control. You can also imagine that the coffee table would be rendered useless for its usual purpose, or if you put a cup of coffee down you might accidentally turn on the lamp, put your feet up and the stereo suddenly blares into life. If that isn’t enough to put you off the potential $10,000 to $15,000 price tag probably will.
You can see a demo here.
