Edible User Interfaces

Dan Maynes-Aminzade (one of the guys behind You're in control/Urine control) is working on Edible User Interfaces. In particular the BeanCounter and the TasteScreen.

The BeanCounter is a low-resolution gustatory display made of six rods filled with jellybeans of different flavours.
The center and bottom of each rod are sealed with electronically controlled valves. By controlling the valve positioning, the computer can dispense jellybeans at varying flow rates.

Each column of the BeanCounter is associated with a different running process, so that the user can monitor memory usage in up to six concurrent processes. Calls that allocate memory drop jellybeans from the upper chamber to the lower one. Each time a call is made to the free routine, the bottom valve is opened, and jellybeans fall into the bowls below. The volume of jellybeans dispensed corresponds to the amount of memory associated with the operation.

The TasteScreen system consists of an LCD monitor with a USB on the top. The internal chamber of the USB device contains twenty small plastic flavor cartridges filled with various flavoring agents. The TasteScreen device can drip controlled quantities of flavoring into a deployment chamber, where they are mixed and dispensed. When dispensed, the flavoring chemicals drip down to coat the monitor with a thin liquid residue.

A user can sample the dispensed flavor by touching his tongue to the computer screen. Certain combinations of flavoring agents recreate a flavor appropriate to the user’s task.

Via Rick.