About

Modern devices sense and generate information, but they tend to hold this information closely. The information sharing potential between these objects has not been fully exploited. Objects usually don't share a language. More importantly, they don't ask each other the right questions. Sociable objects are different. They are intelligent, friendly and aware of their context through communication with each other. My thesis will investigate the ways in which these objects can share their data, learn about each other and perform intelligent behaviors based upon each other's states. In addition to creating my own sociable objects, I’ll also endeavor to network and socialize objects created by other people.

The Sociable Objects project has four major components. There is a physical component of designing and building the objects themselves. There is a technical component involved in designing protocols, APIs and networking methodologies that support interactions. Third is a theoretical part that will compare the procedural and data-oriented nature of existing network devices with action- and object-oriented sociable systems. The last component is social networking that informs, influences and convinces other makers to integrate sociable communications with their own creations. The end product will be a diverse menagerie of seemingly unrelated articles that can all react and interact with each other. The project aims to uncover whether a clock, a pet feeder, communications device, toy, artwork and wearable all have something to offer each other that enhances their utility to people.