Whispering Bubbles: Exploring Anthropomorphism through Shape-Changing Interfaces

In anthropomorphic design, there has been increasing interests in using kinetic motion and shape changing of the physical objects as a medium to communicate with people. In this paper, we introduce an interactive installation named Whispering Bubbles to explore anthropomorphism through shape-changing interfaces embedded in a physical space. It aims to provide a poetic place for people to whisper with the organically shaped objects (bubbles), to help people release mental stress in their modern lives. When a person approaches bubbles within a given distance, slight up-and-down movements of the bubbles will be activated by infrared sensors embedded in the space; when a person stands nearby a bubble and whispers to it, the bubble will "hear" with its sound detector and be triggered to bend towards the person, indicating engagement in listening. A scale model is implemented to explore and demonstrate interactions.