Claytronics: Building Matter from Microscale Robots
Today, computing engages a user’s senses of sight and hearing through video and audio devices whose effects the user must integrate into his or her mind. Suppose that electronic media could offer users an active form of original information that would fully integrate sight and sound and add the sense of touch for the user experience. Suppose that the person using information could interact physically with it.
This is the concept of claytronics, which is also known as programmable matter. Through this medium, users would engage with information in realistic, 3-dimensional forms — represented in the immediacy of the user’s personal space.