The irresistible attraction of interactivity | Julio Obelleiro | TEDxMadrid

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences.
Julio Obelleiro, one of the most prominent interactive designers of Spain, invites us to follow him in a journey through his most interesting work, and to discover the magic of interactive, the sense of surprise and the pleasure of the unexpected reaction.

Let’s face it, that button has something
that draws us to it.

We can’t resist pressing it.

Just as curiosity sparks our interest
in our surroundings,

it’s the question of what might happen
if we press that button

that makes it irresistible.

Today almost everything,
even this talk, begins or ends

by pressing a button.

Now buttons are nothing new,

when TV became mainstream,
we had buttons,

but they just changed the channels,
nothing surprising.

After the age of passive TV viewing
videogames arrived.

Nothing crazy, but now buttons
did something else.

They had more than a single purpose
and became programmable,

so now you had to press them
to know what they did.

That sparked our curiosity:
the mystery of the button.

Then the 80s came along.

I grew up when videogames became popular,
especially game consoles.

This was the start of interactive
entertainment mediated by technology.

Although I lost often, as you can see,
I got hooked.

With that upbringing,
I wanted everything to have buttons.

Even if nowadays they don't have
a button's shape or are invisible

The button leads to an interaction.

In the first videogames,
the "bad guy" didn't do much.

He moved left and right,
maybe he jumped!

It was more control than interaction.

The digital artist Jim Campbell said
something that struck me:

“I feel as though
I can interact with my cat,

but not with an ant.”

This picture explains it.

This simple fact made me rethink
what I understood as interaction,

which is usually considered from
a technological point of view

rather than a human one.

From then on, I have tried to learn
as much as I can about interaction.

To do that I went back to its very origin.

One of the clearest examples
of technology applied to interaction

is the magic lantern.

It was the first
image projector in history,

a distant relative of what we know
today as “augmented reality".

It was invented by the German scholar
Athanasius Kircher in the 17th century.

It was used to project images
in theatre performances.

Or to project images through smoke
to create never before seen illusions,

known as phantasmagoria.

An interesting fact is that the same
technique used to create this,

called “Pepper's ghost” which created
an optical illusion in three dimensions

is still used today to create
holographic images.

I was inspired by this idea,
light that projected images,

so in 2006, along with Alberto Garcia,
I developed this project

“very originally” named Magic Torch,

tapping into the element
of surprise and magic.

We developed this little device

full of microchips, transistors,
and other electrical components

that didn’t do anything
but helped to make it mysterious.

Some people were
almost afraid to touch it.

Once the torch was on, all sorts
of images followed the light

[ MAGIC]

It was a very simple project
but I learned quite a lot.

I learned that magic was the key.

Since magic isn’t my thing

I focused on technology
as a means to create astonishment.

In 2011, I took on a little project
called “Water Drops.”

I had a hard time
naming this one as well.

I installed a faucet that did not have
water running but

you could hear it dripping.

If you covered the tap with
your hands, the water accumulated

and once you dropped them,
you would hear the accumulated water fall.

I could bring forth that feeling of magic

playing with your senses

and the fact that they sometimes
clash with logic and reason.

(Dripping sound)

Yes, I could have chosen
a more tasteful faucet

but it was the only one
with enough space to insert the sensors.

[EXTRA-ORDINARY]

I learned that

through technology, an ordinary
object can become extraordinary.

In this project called Building Music,
making a play on words,

building music as well as
having a musical building,

we made a huge musical
instrument out of a building.

Each window played a different
musical note or sound

and with the light of a torch,
the audience could create melodies.

All the music you hear
in the video was created

by the participants playing
with the building.

(Music)

It was interesting to observe how
the shape of each building

and most of all, each participant
with the same notes available

created very different melodies.

The beauty of designing interactive
projects is exactly that.

The creator is always surprised,
because the participants

always do something unexpected.

It's guaranteed.

A work of art is never complete

[Artwork - Observer]

until it reaches the observer.

In these interactive projects,
we take it very literally:

with no audience, there is no project.

That is why it is imperative to make
the audience want to participate.

[PLEASE, INTERACT]

The interaction must overcome that barrier

and spark curiosity, awakening the senses.

For example, we all know

we love to look at ourselves.

We are amused by gazing
at our own reflection,

or at best by our shadow.

That is what lead to
Magnéticos (Magnetics),

a project where you saw yourself
reflected through your shadow

and you could interact with it.

In this case, household
objects that we all collect,

were irresistibly drawn to your shadow

and turned into an outer shell.

The next idea was: "sure,
we love to look at ourselves,

but it’s a lot better with an audience".

And why not see ourselves as the stars

in one of the most visited
places in the world?

In this project, giant models interacted
with pedestrians in Times Square.

To give some background,
this intersection has

an average of
350.000 visitors every day.

Until then, people looked
at the screens

an average of less than 6 seconds.

This project multiplied
this figure by 20,

now people spent more than
2 minutes watching,

or rather, interacting with the screen.

The key was to make the participant
the center of attention,

the focus of interest
in such a crowded place.

The models did all sorts of things to you.

They could draw a picture
of you, fling you in the air,

they could kiss you
and turn into a frog,

They could even teletransport you
to Egypt if they wanted to.

So far, since the beginning
of this project in 2010

we have set up 30 different
types of interactions

to keep surprising the public

and of course we will set up more.

We could call this compulsory interaction,

you walk by and the model plays with you.

We recorded the models
against a green screen,

then we developed
computer visual technology

that allowed us to identify
and recognize each person

that walked in front of the screen.

The system then mixes it all in real time
to make the interactions happen.

And speaking of having an audience,

many of us have dreamed
of being rock stars.

And what could beat being the star of
a rock band with your friends or family?

This project was installed
in a store in Times Square

where we set up a photo booth

that used facial recognition technology

to copy your face onto a music video

where you are the main character.

In a matter of seconds
the video was generated

and projected onto
the building across the street

so you could have
a knockout performance guaranteed.

In order to create this music video,

the musicians had special
marks on their faces

to allow the facial recognition
technology to use the visitor's face,

like in the following clip.

(Music)

And just as half of us have
wanted to be rock stars,

who hasn’t ever dreamed
of being a super hero?

I know I have.

This project goes back
to the idea of extraordinary

with a very straightforward concept:

you could fly over buildings
by transforming into a superhero.

(Music and robotic sounds)

And like any superhero,
not only could you fly

but also shoot laser beams,
have super speed,

clone yourself and many more
superpowers inspired by classic comics.

I discovered that there are many
types of superheroes among us.

Some who apply themselves,

Some who look forward
to the future... thoughtful.

Some are happy...

…very happy

And some are real pros.

So far we have given superpowers
to 1.600 people

and we hope to continue doing so.

Although some may
turn into supervillains.

In developing this project
we also learned that Wikipedia

has a categorized list of superpowers
that is 12 pages long,

it is truly remarkable!

(Applause)

As if it had official status, you know.

Just as superhero fiction

has reached Wikipedia
as a reality of our time,

today we are living
in the golden age of technology.

For some years now, we’ve had
cameras with software

that can literally recognize
where someone is,

where his arm or hand is.

They can see and
understand depth in pixels.

In the months to come,
the next versions of these devices

will be able to tell someone’s heartbeat
without even touching them.

It is technology like this that makes
possible the projects I have shown you.

But the key to all of this is not
in the technology and devices

but rather the reactions caused
by the magic of technology.

Those reactions, the surprise,
the curiosity, the unimaginable.

They are and always have been,
the driving forces of technology.

We must strive to surprise ourselves
in order to keep surprising the world.

(Applause)