Winners of Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Awards announced

“The top three entries demonstrate once more how ubimedia can be integrated into everyday life. The contest has earned a reputation as a breeding ground for new trends and it shows that ubimedia is already a viable commercial business”, says Professor Artur Lugmayr, the inventor and general chair of the competition.

The 2012 winners are:

1. Botanicus Interacticus, Disney Research, Pittsburgh, EUR 3,000

Ever thought interactive devices could be simply grown in the future? If not, maybe the interactive plant interface, Botanicus Interacticus, will make you reconsider. Using multi-frequency electrical pulses, this technology is capable of sensing the location and intensity of touching on any kind of plant (size permitting). This establishes a surprisingly powerful interface between the organic and the digital world and allows for a literally natural integration of media into the environment. This ground-breaking approach broadens the scope of ubimedia in an exciting way.

2. Music, Where Art Thou?, User System Interaction Programme, Eindhoven University of Technology, EUR 2,000

Lost in a strange place in an unfamiliar city? This ambient audio navigation service is an innovative ready-to-market solution that relieves you from exposing your expensive phone and enables you to move about like a native. You will enjoy having your eyes free for looking around or interacting with friends, while a clever manipulation of stereo channels leads the way using your favourite music. Mobile devices make services available virtually anywhere but still tend to distract us from our surroundings. The jury values that the solution solves this dilemma in a simple and elegant way.

3. Joggobot, Exertion Games Lab, RMIT University Melbourne, EUR 1, 000

There are numerous new popular running applications for mobile devices, but even the best of them cannot replace the motivation caused by the physical presence of a running mate. The flying running companion Joggobot comes surprisingly close to a social running experience. This project shows the potential of ubimedia when it actually manifests in the playful behavior of physical objects instead of being rendered onto small screens.

Ubimedia comprises technology embedded in its surroundings that enhances our ability to sense and communicate with our environment. The Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Awards competition (NUMA2012) addresses digital media makers with different backgrounds. It gives them the opportunity to present their visions on the future of ubiquitous media to the unique audience of the annual MindTrek conference in Tampere in October. Videos of the entries are available at www.numa.fi.

Further information:
Professor Artur Lugmayr, inventor and general chair of the competition, Tampere University of Technology, +358 40 849 0773, ">artur.lugmayr@tut.fi