inForm: The Morphing Table from MIT

The inForm project from MIT's tangible media group. is a great system. Being a research project, this concept is far more interesting by seeing what it can become than from what it is.

But first of all, let's set aside a few of the ideas presented in the video above. These ideas are concepts that will not be what the design of the table would be used for. First, the idea of having it visualize data or bar graphs. This is useless as an application because actual, non-tactile LED/LCD displays do this just fin and with growing 3D and their interactivity capabilities. So the tangibility of data is simply not needed. As a matter of fact, using the inForm as almost any type of display is a misuse of the design.

The inForm is not meant make flat things 3D and real, it is meant to make 3D things 3D and real. The idea of having it form into  the shape of a toy or design is brilliant, because it makes rapid prototyping instantaneous. Or having someone interact through the table, this would also be very useful. The point of the display is to make things become real so that we can interact with them with our senses and the table can interact with us. It is meant to be a precursor to a holodeck not an iteration of the computer screen.

While the design is chunky right not it could easily be refined. But the chunky isn't bad either. For example if one was to super-size the chunky you could create an urban apartment that changes its layout and furniture to the needs of the tenants. Sure everything would be a little "blocky" but it would be so cool to watch your bed fall into the floor and be replaced by a desk and chair.