MIT App Gives Dumb Objects Smart Logic

Augmented reality is all fun and good, but it does get a bit old after awhile—how much can one scan posters, or book pages, or whatnot and have little things pop up? Sure, there are other, more novel ways to interact with the real world via a digital device (more than just dropping simulated missiles on people you're pointing your phone at), but few are quite as innovative as a new app from MIT called Reality Editor.

The app, which took three years of research to develop (reports Fast Company), gives you a new way to interact with (and program) the various objects around your home. If a smart object is set up to be recognized by the app—which currently happens using small codes you attach to the object, but would eventually just require you to point your phone or tablet at the device itself—then you'll be able to draw virtual lines between your objects to establish relationships between them.

"For example, that light switch in your bedroom you always need to stand up in order to turn off—just point the Reality Editor at an object next to your bed and draw a line to the light. You have just customized your home to serve your convenience. From now on you will use your spatial coordination and muscle memory to easily operate the object next to your bed as a tool for controlling the light. If you want a timer linked to the light, just borrow the functionality of an object with a timer, such as a TV, by drawing a line from it to the light," reads Reality Editor's description.

Unlike most smart home setups, devices connected by the Reality Editor wouldn't need any kind of cloud connection in order to process these various links. The relationships—which could even include dumb objects—would all exist in a decentralized, private network.

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"If I switch a light switch on at home that light switch communicates directly with the light. There is no need to send this action all around the world and then back into my home. Data connections should always take the most possible direct rout, reflecting a user's privacy interests," said Valentin Heun, a member of the MIT Media Lab's Fluid Influences group, in an interview with The Creators Project.