PV-Interfaces: Self-Powered Interfaces and Interactions via Photovoltaic Surfaces

我们居住和移动的地方——我们的家、车站、咖啡馆、办公室等——将越来越多地嵌入物联网（IoT）设备。这些将使我们能够获得内容、交流、感知和调整我们的环境等等。虽然这是一个令人信服（而且非常有用）的未来愿景，但它带来的能源需求是巨大的。此外，过多的数字设备可能会使我们的物理环境变得混乱。在“发达”国家，这些问题将影响我们建筑环境的可持续性和质量。然而，在“发展中”国家，能源资源限制和物理资源问题意味着，如果没有创新，数十亿人将失去从即将到来的物联网革命中受益的机会。这个项目试图抓住物联网未来的好处，同时使其可持续、愉快和普遍可用。这项工作涉及一个由材料科学家和人机交互研究人员组成的团队，他们与合作伙伴一起开发一种新型物理材料，这种材料可以产生驱动数字界面和交互所需的能量。也就是说，我们将推动有吸引力的、扁平的和灵活的太阳能收集瓦（光伏- PV -瓦），它可能包含输入和输出功能，使人们能够与它们和其他连接设备进行交互。这些瓷砖可以集成到建筑物（例如墙壁和地板）和物体（如桌子、衣服和书皮）中。这些表面从室内和环境光中获取能量，并在同一表面上为用户呈现数字显示和界面。为了说明这些可能性，请考虑以下四种以用户为中心的场景：汤姆在厨房里忙着。一组互动光伏瓷砖，装饰安装在厨房表面的墙上，激活显示一个人影接近前门的剪影。汤姆正在等快递，所以他对着瓷砖做了个手势——门口的送货司机看到了门号PV瓷砖上的一条信息，要求她把包裹放在门廊上。雨季期间，Shashank走在孟买贫民窟狭窄的街道上。他走近一个挡暴雨的遮阳篷，指着编织在其中的一块灵活的互动光伏瓦。瓷砖上显示了一个禁止进入的警告标志，他决定改变方向，以避免走到前面通道的深洪水中。萨拉为她的卧室墙壁设计了一些互动艺术设计。她把它们送到她安装的交互式光伏显示屏上，后来她很喜欢它们，尤其是它们以个性化的方式向她展示外部天气预报。让她感到高兴的是，虽然它们像LED显示屏一样工作，但它们可以在不需要外部电源、电池更换或占用空间的标准光伏电池的情况下工作数年。索菲亚的衣服上有柔性的互动光伏瓷砖，她用它来用手势控制音乐播放器或智能手机，并通过触电反馈接收警报。当她从家里出发，穿过地下地铁系统，然后去一个灯光柔和的酒吧时，这个界面在各种环境和光线条件下都能工作，这给她留下了深刻的印象。项目的想法和工作本身的进展是与英国和全球行业合作伙伴以及印度的一个中心共同创造的，该中心有40多年的经验，为资源受限的社区提供设计见解。

Increasingly, the places we inhabit and move through - our homes, stations, cafes, offices and the like - will have embedded Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices. These will enable us to be provided with content, communicate, have our environments sensed and adjusted, and so on. While this is a compelling (and very useful) future vision, the energy demands it brings are enormous. Furthermore, we risk cluttering up our physical environments with a plethora of digital devices. In the 'developed' world these are problems that will affect sustainability and the quality of our built environments. In the 'developing' world, though, energy resource constraints and physical resource issues means that without innovation, billions of people will have reduced opportunities to benefit from the coming IoT revolution.This project is about trying to capture the benefits of the IoT future while making it sustainable, delightful and universally accessible. The work involves a team of material scientists and human computer interaction researchers, working together with partners to develop a new form of physical material that can generate the power it needs to drive digital interfaces and interactions. That is, we will drive towards attractive, flat and flexible solar energy harvesting tiles (Photovoltaic - PV - tiles), which may incorporate input and output features to enable people to interact with them and other connected devices. These tiles will be able to be integrated into buildings (in walls and floors, for instance) and objects (like tables, clothes and book covers). The surfaces capture the energy from indoor and ambient light and at the same surface can present digital displays and interfaces to the user.To illustrate the possibilities, consider the following four user-centred scenarios:1. Tom is busy in the kitchen. A set of Interactive-PV tiles, built decoratively into the wall along the kitchen surface, activates to show a silhouette of a figure approaching the front door. Tom is waiting for a delivery, so gestures at the tiles - the delivery driver at the entrance is shown a message on the door number PV tile, asking her to leave the parcel in the porch.2. Shashank is walking through the narrow streets of a slum in Mumbai during the monsoon rains. He approaches an awning protecting the street from torrential rain and gestures at a flexible Interactive-PV tile woven into it. The tile displays a no-entry warning sign, and he decides to change direction to avoid walking into a deep flood in the passageway ahead.3. Sarah has created some interactive art designs for her bedroom wall. She sends them to the Interactive-PV display tiles she has had installed, and later enjoys them, especially as they show her the external weather forecast in a personalised way. She's happy that while they work like LED displays, they can operate for years without needing external power, battery changes or space-consuming standard PV cells.4. Sofia has flexible designer Interactive-PV tiles on her dress that she uses to control a music player or smartphone with hand gestures, and to receive alerts via electro-tactile feedback. She's impressed that the interface works in a range of environments and light conditions as she moves from her house, through the underground metro system and later to a mellow lit bar.The project ideas and the work itself as it progresses have been co-created with UK and global industry partners and a centre in India that has over 40 years of providing insights into design for resource-constrained communities.