Mutsugoto is an intimate communication device
intended for a bedroom environment. Instead of exchanging e-mail or
SMS messages using generic interfaces in business-like venues,
Mutsugoto allows distant partners to communicate through the language
of touch as expressed on the canvas of the human body. A custom
computer vision and projection system allows users to draw on each
other's bodies while lying in bed. Drawings are transmitted "live"
between the two beds, enabling a different kind of synchronous
communication that leverages the emotional quality of physical
gesture.
Human intimacy is a significant but often neglected part of modern
life. More people now than ever carry on long distance relationships
with romantic partners, sometimes for extended periods of
time. However today's communication systems are impersonal and
generic. E-mail, for example, is often read and written on the same
computer and at the same desk that one uses for any other kind of
communication. Phone calls and SMS messages are sent and received
between partners on the same devices used for work and business.
Mutsugoto is a new kind of communication device meant to be used by
romantic couples in long distance relationships. Breaking away from
traditional systems intended for operation by any pair of people in
any situation, the form and function of Mutsugoto is designed to more
strongly reflect the character of an intimate bond.
Mutsugoto is meant to be installed in the bedrooms of two distant
partners. You lay on your bed and wear a special touch-activated ring
visible to a camera mounted above. A computer vision system tracks
the movement of the ring and projects virtual pen strokes on your
body. At the same time these pen strokes are transmitted to and
projected on the body of your remote partner. If you follow your
partner's movements and your strokes cross, the lines will react with
each other and reflect your synchrony. Special bed linens, silk
curtains and other aspects of the physical context have been designed
to enhance the mood of this romantic communication environment.
Awards
Mutsugoto won a £5000
Alt-w Production Award
on 13 September 2008. This award will support further development of
Mutsugoto leading up to several exhibition engagements in 2009. The
distribution of Alt-w awards is managed by New Media Scotland and
funded by Scottish
Screen and the Scottish Arts
Council.
Call for Participation
Distance Lab and New Media Scotland are looking for three couples in long distance relationships where one partner lives in the vicinity of Edinburgh and the other at least 250km away. The couples would have the opportunity to use Mutsugoto and must be available in July, August or September. For further information and to express an interest in participation please email mutsugoto@mediascot.org. Additional information...
An earlier version of Mutsugoto was installed in an exhibition
entitled Touch
Me at the Victoria and Albert
Museum in London, 16 June - 29 August 2005.
Publications
Tomoko Hayashi, Stefan Agamanolis, and Matthew Karau,
Mutsugoto: a body-drawing communicator for distant partners (poster),
SIGGRAPH 2008 International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive
Techniques, Los Angeles, 11 - 15 August 2008, ACM Digital Library.
(PDF)
