Fig Lab, or Fig Lab, is a new research laboratory, described as the most crazy and crazy in the world of information technology, as it raises the slogan of searching for the problem "X", in order to put the solution "Y", to get the product "Z" out of it.
In other words, he is studying non-existent problems to put unknown solutions for them to reach unprecedented products after at least 25 years.
Coating material
And after failure nine times, for every single success, his first ambition is to reach a coating that costs about one dollar per square meter, and transform anything that you paint into an advanced display screen, transmitting touch screens and current gestures working with computers and smartphones for retirement, and making them something old and pardoned It is time.
FigLab is located in a century-old solar-powered building on the western side of the Carnegie Mellon University campus in Pittsburgh, and its research area is the issue of “human-computer interaction”, and it includes three research and development departments equipped with the latest technology, from devices High sensitivity sensor, to advanced CNC cutting, grinding and shaping machines, laser cutters, and dozens of other advanced equipment. It is led by a 35-year-old researcher, Dr. Chris Harrison, who is working with his team on research projects, who are not expected to have a tangible presence before being retired, that is, a quarter of a century from now.
Harrison talked about "FigLab" and his method of work, in a lengthy interview, conducted with him, "Digital Trends.com", a specialist in technology, and finally published.
25 years old
According to Dr. Harrison, the main task of FigLab is to study how the world will use computers, telephones, and other technology devices a quarter of a century from now.
That is why the lab does science-fiction-like work, as it tries to think about the possibilities that do not exist, and after having the idea, studies the problems that can arise in front of it and tries to solve them, and from here the crazy crazy lablab works arise, as Harrison said, including access to A "conductive" coating that transforms ordinary and dull walls into massive touch-sensitive panels at a cost of one dollar per square meter, a smart watch that works with laser projection to expand the touch screen on the vicinity of it up to the human arm, and a device to simulate touch in virtual reality, dealing with humans "as puppets" Alive.
Harrison added that "after 25 years, screens and interfaces in computers and other devices will make computing visible, and include multi-touch, with hand-zoom and zoom gestures."
Madness face
Harrison explained the way to work in "FigLab", saying: "The creation of future user interfaces that the lab is thinking of, is like a system stuck in the middle of the road, between two cultures, science and engineering on the one hand, and arts and humanities on the other, which is the description given by the world The British novelist, CB Snow in 1959, is on the eve of the technical revolution that was looming on the far horizon at the time.
He added that «engineering works great when facing a specific problem, such as building a bridge on a river, and in this case the bridge can be built, i.e. the solution can be reached when the problem is well defined, but the work in this lab is based on separating researchers from reality, to search for Non-existent problems, not just unspecified, and they develop solutions for them, and some of these matters can be taught through a doctoral project, which takes about six or seven years to achieve. This is the time for students to deal with laboratory philosophy and its approach to technology. ”
Initial models
Dr. Chris Harrison admitted that 90% of the prototypes built by the "lab lab" are unsuccessful, and only 10%, i.e. one fact for nine, is what is viable, and work continues on it, not to provide a product in the foreseeable future, but to become more like an idea With the idea of a computer mouse, which appeared in 1960, and became a commercial product after a quarter of a century.