Using actuated devices in location-aware systems.

ABSTRACTLocation-aware systems have traditionally left mobility to the user through carrying, supporting and manipulating the device itself. This design choice has limited the scale and style of device to corresponding weight and form constraints. This paper presents a project introducing school children to location aware systems. We observed that it is hard to notice, physically grasp and simultaneously share these small personal devices in groups. These behaviours are partly grounded in the physical device design, but also in the location awareness model itself, which provides information 'right here' while the children are looking around and about them. These observations lead us to suggest the alternative model of pointing at locations so that they can be noticed and experienced by groups in public places. We further build this location model into the device itself by introducing actuated components from robotics to make a location-aware device called 'Limbot' that can be physically pointed. A preliminary study of the Limbot with the school children indicates rich sharing behaviours, but that user control of actuation at all points is critical to the ultimate success of our approach, and further exploration of our location model is required.