Finally, the gadget you can KICK: Scientists unveil smart cable you can twist, bend and even tie to control your lights and laptop

Home »Finally, the gadget you can KICK: Scientists unveil smart cable you can twist, bend and even tie to control your lights and laptop

Finally, the gadget you can KICK: Scientists unveil smart cable you can twist, bend and even tie to control your lights and laptop

Posted by sciencetech-blog on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 Label:

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We usually associate power cords with unsightly, tangled cables that need to be hidden away.

But a group of US researchers believes everyday cables can be revolutionised using cheap sensors to perform complex tasks.

Their research could lead to radios that turn on by bending the cable, or lamps that switch off when its wires are kicked.

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A prototype of a hard drive cable. A pull on the cord sends a request to for safe ejection of the device

The technology is being developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as part of the 'Cord UIs' project.

'Everyone hates cables,' Philipp Schoessler of MIT's Tangible Media Group told FastCoDesign.

'Every device has one, and yet we see them as a nuisance. We wanted to see if we could give cords additional meaning.'

Using a water hose for inspiration, the research team developed a five prototypes of 'super cables' to demonstrate their abilities.

Using a water hose for inspiration, the research team developed a five prototypes of 'super cables' to demonstrate their abilities

The first of the prototypes was a lamp with the dimmer knob replaced by a knot on the cord (top). In another prototype, a clip clamping on the Macbook charger wire was able to control a computer's power function (bottom left). Another cable (bottom right) allowed the user to pinch headphone to control the play function

CHARGE PHONES IN HALF THE TIME

There seems to be a wave of chargers that promise to speed up the time it takes to fully charge a phone or tablet.

The latest one, SONICable, claims to halve the amount of time it takes to get a battery from zero to 100 per cent, it is available to pre-order for both iPhone and Android handsets.

When it's plugged into a device, but switched off, it acts like a standard USB cable and syncs content from one device to another.

But, when it is switched on, the syncing functions are disabled so the cable concentrates all of its energy into charging the connected device.

The Indiegogo campaign features a graphic that shows the SONICable charging a device twice as fast as a traditional charger.

SONICable comes with a Lightning connector, for the iPhone 5 and later models, the fourth generation iPad and above, and the iPad mini range.

It also has a microUSB option that will work for HTC, Samsung and other compatible devices, including eReaders.

After the initial run of cables are shipped, they will retail for $36 (£24). They are expected to be available sometime next month.

Each of the cords was controlled by either knotting, pinching, sensing pressure, bending or stretching.

The first of the prototypes was a study lamp with the dimmer knob replaced by a knot on the cord.

As the knot is tightened, embedded sensors and a micro-controller dims the light.

In another prototype, a clip clamping on the Macbook charger wire was able to control a computer's power function, including sending it to sleep.

It was able to do this because the charger cable, infused with pressure-sensitive sensors, sent a pulse that was detected by the computer.

They embedded sensors that detect whether a knot has been tied in a cord, along with where and how tight it is to control a gadget, such as a lamp.

The team also created headphones use special external woven fibres that detect touch and pressure.

Pinching the cord triggers the pause functionality of the iPhone's 3.5mm jack.

Existing sensors were also used to help detect if a cable is being stretched too far.

A final prototype involved a hard drive cable. A pull on the cord sends requests to the computer for safe ejection of the device.

The scientists say most of the capabilities being explored in Cord UIs would be cheap and easy for companies to incorporate into existing devices.

'Most of the presented interactions lend strongly from the metaphor of regarding the cord as a hose and the power and data as liquid flowing in that hose,' they wrote in their paper.

'Cords offer endless possibilities of manual manipulation.'

The team also created headphones use special external woven fibres that detect touch and pressure. The scientists say most of the capabilities being explored in Cord UIs would be cheap and easy for companies to incorporate into existing devices

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