0:00:00.457,0:00:03.557
Throughout the history of computers

0:00:03.581,0:00:06.804
we've been striving[br]to shorten the gap between us

0:00:06.828,0:00:08.398
and digital information,

0:00:08.422,0:00:10.232
the gap between our physical world

0:00:10.256,0:00:12.030
and the world in the screen

0:00:12.054,0:00:14.872
where our imagination can go wild.

0:00:14.896,0:00:18.799
And this gap has become shorter,

0:00:18.823,0:00:21.564
shorter, and even shorter,

0:00:21.588,0:00:23.208
and now this gap is shortened down

0:00:23.232,0:00:24.518
to less than a millimeter,

0:00:24.542,0:00:26.396
the thickness of a touch-screen glass,

0:00:26.420,0:00:27.846
and the power of computing

0:00:27.870,0:00:32.749
has become accessible to everyone.

0:00:32.773,0:00:37.788
But I wondered, what if there[br]could be no boundary at all?

0:00:37.812,0:00:41.532
I started to imagine[br]what this would look like.

0:00:41.556,0:00:43.983
First, I created this tool

0:00:44.007,0:00:46.492
which penetrates into the digital space,

0:00:46.516,0:00:48.583
so when you press it hard on the screen,

0:00:48.607,0:00:51.916
it transfers its physical[br]body into pixels.

0:00:51.940,0:00:54.028
Designers can materialize their ideas

0:00:54.052,0:00:55.724
directly in 3D,

0:00:55.748,0:00:58.276
and surgeons can practice[br]on virtual organs

0:00:58.300,0:01:00.500
underneath the screen.

0:01:00.524,0:01:05.397
So with this tool, this[br]boundary has been broken.

0:01:05.421,0:01:08.364
But our two hands still[br]remain outside the screen.

0:01:08.388,0:01:10.848
How can you reach inside and interact

0:01:10.872,0:01:12.275
with the digital information

0:01:12.299,0:01:15.279
using the full dexterity of our hands?

0:01:15.303,0:01:17.581
At Microsoft Applied Sciences,

0:01:17.605,0:01:19.497
along with my mentor Cati Boulanger,

0:01:19.521,0:01:20.768
I redesigned the computer

0:01:20.792,0:01:23.649
and turned a little space[br]above the keyboard

0:01:23.673,0:01:26.014
into a digital workspace.

0:01:26.038,0:01:28.515
By combining a transparent[br]display and depth cameras

0:01:28.539,0:01:30.165
for sensing your fingers and face,

0:01:30.189,0:01:32.475
now you can lift up your hands[br]from the keyboard

0:01:32.499,0:01:35.313
and reach inside this 3D space

0:01:35.337,0:01:37.813
and grab pixels with your bare hands.

0:01:37.837,0:01:40.784
(Applause)

0:01:40.808,0:01:44.990
Because windows and files have[br]a position in the real space,

0:01:45.014,0:01:48.349
selecting them is as easy[br]as grabbing a book off your shelf.

0:01:48.373,0:01:50.502
Then you can flip through this book

0:01:50.526,0:01:52.219
while highlighting the lines, words

0:01:52.243,0:01:54.783
on the virtual touch pad[br]below each floating window.

0:01:54.807,0:01:57.318
Architects can stretch[br]or rotate the models

0:01:57.342,0:01:59.743
with their two hands directly.

0:01:59.767,0:02:01.363
So in these examples,

0:02:01.387,0:02:04.100
we are reaching into the digital world.

0:02:04.124,0:02:06.446
But how about reversing its role

0:02:06.470,0:02:11.265
and having the digital[br]information reach us instead?

0:02:11.289,0:02:13.337
I'm sure many of us[br]have had the experience

0:02:13.361,0:02:15.444
of buying and returning items online.

0:02:15.468,0:02:17.421
But now you don't have to worry about it.

0:02:17.445,0:02:22.059
What I got here is an online[br]augmented fitting room.

0:02:22.083,0:02:23.961
This is a view that you get from

0:02:23.985,0:02:25.705
head-mounted or see-through display

0:02:25.729,0:02:30.852
when the system understands[br]the geometry of your body.

0:02:30.876,0:02:34.403
Taking this idea further,[br]I started to think,

0:02:34.427,0:02:37.772
instead of just seeing[br]these pixels in our space,

0:02:37.796,0:02:39.294
how can we make it physical

0:02:39.318,0:02:43.556
so that we can touch and feel it?

0:02:43.580,0:02:46.605
What would such a future look like?

0:02:46.629,0:02:50.263
At MIT Media Lab,[br]along with my advisor Hiroshi Ishii

0:02:50.287,0:02:52.286
and my collaborator Rehmi Post,

0:02:52.310,0:02:55.930
we created this one physical pixel.

0:02:55.954,0:02:58.554
Well, in this case, this spherical magnet

0:02:58.578,0:03:00.906
acts like a 3D pixel in our space,

0:03:00.930,0:03:03.810
which means that both computers and people

0:03:03.834,0:03:05.708
can move this object to anywhere

0:03:05.732,0:03:07.677
within this little 3D space.

0:03:07.701,0:03:11.169
What we did was essentially[br]canceling gravity

0:03:11.193,0:03:13.308
and controlling the movement by combining

0:03:13.332,0:03:16.132
magnetic levitation[br]and mechanical actuation

0:03:16.156,0:03:18.609
and sensing technologies.

0:03:18.633,0:03:21.114
And by digitally programming the object,

0:03:21.138,0:03:23.891
we are liberating[br]the object from constraints

0:03:23.915,0:03:27.326
of time and space, which means that now,

0:03:27.350,0:03:31.222
human motions can be[br]recorded and played back

0:03:31.246,0:03:34.841
and left permanently[br]in the physical world.

0:03:34.865,0:03:37.874
So choreography can be taught[br]physically over distance

0:03:37.898,0:03:40.470
and Michael Jordan's famous[br]shooting can be replicated

0:03:40.494,0:03:43.948
over and over as a physical reality.

0:03:43.972,0:03:46.128
Students can use this as a tool

0:03:46.152,0:03:48.070
to learn about the complex concepts

0:03:48.094,0:03:52.154
such as planetary motion, physics,

0:03:52.178,0:03:54.973
and unlike computer screens or textbooks,

0:03:54.997,0:03:57.455
this is a real, tangible experience

0:03:57.479,0:04:01.113
that you can touch and feel,[br]and it's very powerful.

0:04:01.137,0:04:03.095
And what's more exciting

0:04:03.119,0:04:06.443
than just turning what's currently[br]in the computer physical

0:04:06.467,0:04:09.632
is to start imagining[br]how programming the world

0:04:09.656,0:04:13.352
will alter even our daily[br]physical activities.

0:04:15.460,0:04:17.918
(Laughter)

0:04:17.942,0:04:20.675
As you can see, the digital information

0:04:20.699,0:04:22.193
will not just show us something

0:04:22.217,0:04:24.303
but it will start directly acting upon us

0:04:24.327,0:04:26.602
as a part of our physical surroundings

0:04:26.626,0:04:30.800
without disconnecting[br]ourselves from our world.

0:04:30.824,0:04:35.146
Today, we started by talking[br]about the boundary,

0:04:35.170,0:04:37.826
but if we remove this boundary,

0:04:37.850,0:04:41.714
the only boundary left is our imagination.

0:04:41.738,0:04:42.962
Thank you.

0:04:42.986,0:04:48.071
(Applause)