We just got back some reviews for a research paper we submitted. The general topic was computer/human interfaces.
In particular, we were describing a good way to interact using devices that don’t quite yet exist. Examples of such devices include really good augmented reality glasses, and really good camera-based tracking of hand and finger movements.
In both cases, crude devices do already exist, but they are not yet really good. And for some things, you need something really good.
For example, you can’t really play the piano in virtual reality based on the kinds of camera-based hand tracking you can get today. You can sort of play the piano, but the results will be terrible.
In five years or so that will no longer be true. A combination of parallel advances in hardware and software will see to that.
In the case of our paper submission, some of the reviewers seemed confused by what we were telling them. This might be because the entire notion of “designing for hardware that does not yet exist” can be tricky.
When you talk about things like that, you need to explain very carefully what you are trying to do. Otherwise people have a tendency to just look at you in either confusion or disbelief.
Still, it’s important for us to keep trying to explain what we are doing and why. Designing for the future is hard, but it’s worth it.