Thursday, September 24, 2009

Conceptual Ideas: Physical Computing

In a nutshell, physical computing is the interface between digital and analog. An action is performed, a stimulation is presented, electrons are transmitted, algorithms are run, a result is computed, a response is triggered - either digital or in turn analog as well. It's very basic in concept and yet very advanced, because the possibilities are almost endless.

Interaction with a keyboard or mouse - that's physical computing. It's a very basic input scheme, but it is the most advanced input that many people come across, or at least think they come across. Unfortunate for them, as there is so much more to the idea, if only you understand it. Everyday interactions that nobody thinks about are handled with physical computing all the time. Thinking about it is somewhat scary, because there is margin for error, albeit low.

Take traffic control. Traffic lights are all on timers calculated by an extremely complex algorithm to optimize traffic flow (or by a monkey who really has no idea what it is doing, depending on what city you are in.) However, during periods of low flow, and in less urban areas, traffic lights are controlled by physical sensors - either a camera that recognizes the presence of an automobile, or a coil underground that detects the presence of a rather large body of metal by how conductive it is. It's an analog input - the image being taken by the camera - feeding a digital output - the changing lights - after itself being run through an algorithm that says 'okay, you can change the lights if you really have to'. Imagine if the traffic system had a glitch, or if something broke down. It'd be chaos. Unless you're in Chicago, because they have traffic cops at every stoplight reminding people what each light means by yelling at them to go or stop or walk or don't walk, when the light says exactly what you need to know. Taxpayer dollars at work.

An iPhone is a brilliant piece of technical work, and a good example of physical computing, because it represents direct control through touch. Conceptually simple, beautifully executed. I love my phone. Apple knows what they are doing - they have mastered the art of the technological consumer good. Now if only they could lower their prices a bit more - paying for quality has its merits, though... for one, you get quality.

Tinkering with an Arduino is a perfect introduction to physical computing. It is open source, it can be adjusted to interact with any input (someone set one up to be controlled by a Wii remote), and it can be coded to operate just about any output device. You could run traffic control for a stoplight, and likely a small grid of stoplights, off of the computing power that an Arduino has available to it - it is quite robust.

As time passes, everyday devices will become less analog and more digital. We are careening towards a future of digital displays and voice commands that do everything for us, where we will no longer drive in anything not considered a relic of a bygone age. The world is changing, and the best way to not get behind later is to get ahead now.

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