One of my graduate school professors runs the Body Language User Interface project called BLUI for short. It is a unique Human Computer Interaction (HCI) project that allows a user to paint in three dimensions. Projects like BLUI probably inspired the current generation of console controllers on products like the PlayStation3 and the Wii.
The prolonged sedentary use of computers is simply unhealthy. Human bodies were not designed to sit immobile in front of a screen for hours on end. Physical exercise may be important for mental health in general and is completely absent from conventional human-computer interactions.
The computer is arguably the most profound advance of human technology since the advent of the written word. Many of us today live computer-life-styles that would be impossible without these devices. Yet they are slowly killing us.
Wii users are now talking about soreness and fatigue from extended use of the Wii-mote. Repetitive-motion injuries are obviously a concern with any UI and the Wii offers the opportunity for you to experience tennis-elbow caused by a video game. These are just the hazards of owning a body and playing a sport.
And, now we can start to call some video games sports. Perhaps Electronic Sports are on the horizon? All the better. It means that our computers are going to stop being shackles that tie us to the desktop.
Some distant future may even give us a Full Body Interface (FuBI) where the users will dance to communicate with their machines. Dances that control fighter jets. Dances that control robot probes on the surface of Mars. Dances that communicate how to conduct the surgical removal of a tumor.
It's just an idea.
