Nicolas Villar http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/ Embedded Interactive Systems, Computing Department, Lancaster University UK en Copyright 2008 Thu, 17 Jan 2008 20:46:09 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss New Coordinates Please note I have moved!

As of January 2008 I am working as a Post Doc researcher at Microsoft Research in Cambridge.

Click here for my MSRC Homepage

]]> http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2008/01/new_coordinates.html http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2008/01/new_coordinates.html Notes Thu, 17 Jan 2008 20:46:09 +0000 ColorDex: A Novel Interface for Live Music Mixing To be presented at this year's conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME '07).

Submitted paper (2.6Mb PDF) LINK.
Demo video (36Mb MOV) LINK.


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]]> http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2007/03/post.html http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2007/03/post.html Projects Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:09:56 +0000 Tangible and Embedded Interaction Two VoodooIO-related papers were presented at the first international conference on Tangible and Embedded Interaction (TEI '07), held at Baton Rouge, Louisiana:

A Malleable Control Structure for Softwired User Interfaces ( PDF)
VoodooFlash: Authoring Across Physical and Digital Form ( PDF )

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More pictures of the event on Flickr.

]]> http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2007/02/tangible_and_embedded_interact.html http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2007/02/tangible_and_embedded_interact.html Pin&Play / VoodooIO Tue, 20 Feb 2007 17:18:03 +0000 HDDJ Development video showing how an old hard drive can be used as controller for a digital DJ'ing application (more details on this soon). Step-by-step instructions on how to build your own will be posted on the Instructables site.

Quicktime Video [26Mb]

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]]> http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2006/11/hddj.html http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2006/11/hddj.html Notes Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:08:43 +0000 VoodooIO @ SIGGRAPH '06 Dave Molyneaux's image gallery of the VoodooIO exhibit at SIGGRAPH '06 Emerging Technologies Exhibition. LINK.

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]]> http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2006/08/voodooio_siggraph_06.html http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2006/08/voodooio_siggraph_06.html Pin&Play / VoodooIO Tue, 01 Aug 2006 16:32:59 +0000 VoodooIO Website The new VoodooIO website is conviniently located at http://www.voodooio.com !
Visit for latest videos and publications about the project.

]]> http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2006/07/voodooio_website_1.html http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2006/07/voodooio_website_1.html Pin&Play / VoodooIO Thu, 27 Jul 2006 05:47:03 +0000 VoodooIO MechWarrior Cockpit A demonstration video showing how VoodooIO is used to create an adaptable cockpit for playing MechWarrior 4.

> Download Video (WMV)


]]> http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2006/03/voodooio_mechwarrior_cockpit.html http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2006/03/voodooio_mechwarrior_cockpit.html Pin&Play / VoodooIO Thu, 02 Mar 2006 18:39:41 +0000 Voodoo Cows Video Voodoo Cows is an instrument for physically fabricating sonic environments ad hoc. The concept was originally inspired by the collective sound produced by the cowbells from a herd of Swiss cows. The bell on each cow has a distinct tone and unique ringing pattern as each animal moves around and shakes its head at its own pace, creating interesting syncopated rhythms. Each ‘performance’ is dynamic, and unique to an audience that might encounter any particular ad hoc arrangement of cows in a field.

Voodoo Cows simulates this behaviour by providing a physical interface to compose soundcapes out of individually manipulable rhythmic cowbells. The bells are represented by Dial 'Pins that can be brought in and out of the area of a playing field (a location-aware, VoodooIO substrate). The actual sound of the bells is synthesized on a laptop, amplified and rendered through stereo speakers.

> Download Quicktime Movie (29.7Mb)

(Encoded using the H.264 codec, requires the latest version of the Quicktime software for playback.)

]]> http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2006/01/voodoo_cows_video.html http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2006/01/voodoo_cows_video.html Pin&Play / VoodooIO Tue, 31 Jan 2006 14:56:46 +0000 VoodooIO Video Submission to SIGGRAPH '06, Emerging Technologies track.

> Download Quicktime Movie (41Mb)


]]> http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2006/01/voodooio_video_1.html http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2006/01/voodooio_video_1.html Pin&Play / VoodooIO Wed, 18 Jan 2006 22:07:49 +0000 Ubicomp 2005 Ubicomp 2005, the Seventh International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing, was held in September 11-14 in Tokyo, Japan. Over 600 attendees took part in the workshop sessions, paper presentations and interactive demos.

One of my favourite demos was the Cochira navigation system that helps people find the way around train stations by literally pointing them in the right direction!

]]> http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2005/09/ubicomp_2005.html http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2005/09/ubicomp_2005.html Events, Exhibitions and Installations Wed, 14 Sep 2005 18:06:51 +0000 Drift Table & History Tablecloth at the V&A The Drift Table and History Tablecloth formed part of the Touch Me exhibition at the V&A museum, London.

Over 20,000 people visited the exhibition which ran between the 16th June and 29th August.

]]> http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2005/08/drift_table_history_tablecloth.html http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2005/08/drift_table_history_tablecloth.html Events, Exhibitions and Installations Mon, 29 Aug 2005 18:41:46 +0000 Ubiquitous Media and Social Infrastructure I was kindly invited to speak at the Ubiquitous Media and Social Infrastructure International Workshop, organized by the 21st Century Center of Excellence Program, Keio University.

The workshop was held at Stanford University on August 26th, 2005. Presided by Hideyuki Tokuda and chaired by Ikuyo Kaneko, Jun Murai and Hiroaki Chiyokura.

I presented an overview of my work on ad hoc physical interfaces in the Media Communication Design session chaired by Masa Inakage.

Download PowerPoint slides

]]> http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2005/08/a_flexible_fabric_for_physical.html http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2005/08/a_flexible_fabric_for_physical.html Contributions Fri, 26 Aug 2005 23:56:45 +0000 Drift Table in Tate Britain The Drift Table was included in A Picture of Britain, an exhibition at Tate Britain, London, running from the 15th June to 4th September 2005.

]]> http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2005/07/drift_table_in_tate_britain.html http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2005/07/drift_table_in_tate_britain.html Events, Exhibitions and Installations Fri, 15 Jul 2005 18:55:55 +0000 IEE International Workshop on Intelligent Environments Organized by the University of Essex (Colcheter, UK) and the IEE Robotics & Mechatronics Professional Network. June 2005.

Presented The Pendle: A personal Mediator for Mixed Intiative Environments in the session entitled Interacting with Intelligent Environments. I also participated in the PhD colloquium which took place at the end of the second day of the workshop.

]]> http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2005/06/iee_international_workshop_on.html http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2005/06/iee_international_workshop_on.html Events, Exhibitions and Installations Wed, 29 Jun 2005 19:39:30 +0000 The Pendle: A Personal Mediator for Mixed Initiative Environments N. Villar, G. Kortuem, K Van Laerhoven and A. Schmidt
IEE International Workshop on Intelligent Environments, June 2005, Colchester UK

Download PDF

]]> http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2005/06/the_pendle_a_personal_mediator.html http://ubicomp.lancs.ac.uk/~villar/2005/06/the_pendle_a_personal_mediator.html Contributions Tue, 28 Jun 2005 19:53:58 +0000