Soft machines

Machines and computer systems differ in many characteristics that have important consequences for the user. Machines are special-purpose, have forms suggestive of their functions, are operated with controls in obvious one-to-one correspondence with their actions, and the consequences of the actions on visible objects are immediately and readily apparent. By contrast, computer systems are general-purpose, have inscrutable form, are operated symbolically via a keyboard with no obvious correspondence between keys and actions, and typically operate on invisible objects with consequences that are not immediately or readily apparent. The characteristics possessed by machines, but typically absent in computer systems, aid learning, use and transfer among machines. But “hard,” physical machines have limitations: they are inflexible, and their complexity can overwhelm us. We have built in our laboratory “soft machine” interfaces for computer systems to capitalize on the good characteristics of machines and overcome their limitations. A soft machine is implemented using the synergistic combination of real-time computer graphics to display “soft controls,” and a touch screen to make soft controls operable like conventional hard controls.