Ever noticed the magical hand gestures that Chris Angel and David Blaine use? Appling their knowledge and art to the good old kitchen faucet will make a real sorry show, unless you use the “Spatial Interaction” touchless kitchen tap! Touch-less as it gets, air-skim your hands in a gesture as to draw out water and pesto…the flow begins. Magic in your hands control everything, temperature, flow, speed, stream, but unfortunately this trick is restricted to the kitchen.
What we are seeing here is a prototype that was built with an enclosure milled out of a single block of Corian. Besides emphasizing on the touch-free (or less if you prefer) aspect, the design also speaks of hygiene. The faucet is controlled by *meaningful gestures and the shape of the tap supports this aspect.
*Meaningful gestures mean that the action required to control a function of a product need to be coupled to that function. In other words, if I want water to come out of the tap I perform a gesture along the side of the tap towards me, as if I am dragging the water out or saying ‘come to me’. If I want the water to stop running I perform the same gesture away from me, as if I am pushing the water back into the tap.
Designer: Jasper Dekker
Spatial Interaction from Jasper Dekker on Vimeo.
