Open Sesame! Gesture-Controlled Motorized Laptop Lid

This motorized laptop, a student design project by Tobias Toft, is pure fun with no pretension. The laptop lid raises and lowers on a motor following a number of novel interactions from the user, none of which are the typical lifting or lowering motion we’re used to using.

By tapping, swiping, snapping or knocking, the laptop gets the message that it should open or close its lid. The interaction methods used in these actions allow users to connect with their machines in a fun but not overly silly way.

Although the motorized laptop doesn’t seem to have a great deal of real-world usefulness, it does take care of one particularly annoying aspect of using a laptop. It uses its webcam and microphone to sense the user’s position and then automatically adjusts the screen to the optimum viewing angle.

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See more in Computers or under Gadgets. September, 2012.