RFID TORCH
The emergence of RFID sensing on mobile devices will not only affect how we engage in commerce, but will also streamline our access to the information describing our environment.
Using RFID tags as geographical markers, devices such as this RFID Torch can have location awareness. Each tag will trigger the Torch to speak the information which describes that location. Walking away from that location ceases the description.
The read range of this prototype is 15 cm, but as RFID technology progresses and DSP systems improve, this value will increase.
The torch has a Bluetooth link to a mobile phone for web access.
Information relating to each tag can be accessed and spoken according to the user's preferences.
As NFC (Near Field Communication) technology becomes a standard feature on most phones,
there will soon be no need for the external torch.
These discreet markers are interfaces to unlimited quantities of information.
This information is constantly available, is easily accessible whenever the user needs it,
yet remains invisible and doesn’t distract if they wish to ignore it.
Aside from the linking of locations in physical space with the information that describes it,
this information still needs to be useful and stored somewhere accessible.
For the purposes of this project, a new depository for all location-based information was created.
WikiNav, an online database for location-based information
WikiNav is an online community that, in the same spirit as Wikipedia, allows for any user to generate and edit the content describing our physical world. Over time, the descriptions will refine and for each place a generally accepted version emerges. The space will be described through the eyes of the users that use it, not just through one particular authority’s ideals.
Each WikiNav page describes a distinct location, but not every point on the world will deserve a Wikinav page. In much the same fashion as Wikipedia, a place will have to be considered sufficiently ‘Notable’ to merit a page.
Each geographical tag links to a single page on WkiNav or similar site.
3 prototypes
Talking Tactile Map
RFID Torch
Smart Camera
Helen Hamlyn Centre, 2008
Sponsored by the Audi Design Foundation