ALAVs 2.0 (Autonomous Light Air Vessels) are networked objects that communicate the concept of connectivity among people, objects, and the environment. Through the use of mobile technologies people can influence the behavior of the ALAVs by starting conversations and building closer relationships with them. ALAVs 2.0 reflects upon the current state of connectivity in our everyday lives. The potential of ALAVs 2.0 lies in its ability to captivate a wide audience and communicate the idea of people cohabiting a shared space with networked objects.
From this terms diploma projects, Incubus by Roman Vogl is my personal favourite. Its an insanely well crafted apparatus that deforms a fragile organic object suspended on strings inside a metal cubus based on the movement of the users arm and fingers in the attached data glove.
Last years Essence, the annual exhibition of the most important works by students from all departments of our university, had another work of Roman Vogl, the 3D Particle Display (pdf).
The device is made from 247 acrylic cubes that contain tiny styrofoam globules. Through a custom software controlled pneumatic system, compressed air can be blown into each cube in order to display a three dimensional object.