Some Challenges of Designing Shape Changing Interfaces

In this paper we describe some challenges we find in the design of shape changing user interfaces through our own work and thoughts on the current state of the art in HCI. Due to the large set of possibilities for shape changing materials we are faced with a too-large constraint system. Without a good understanding and the beginning of a standardization or physical language for shape change it will be hard to design interactions that make sense beyond those in very limited, one-off applications. We are excited by the challenge that this poses to researchers and look forward to understanding how to use programmable and shape changing materials in the future.