Granular Material Display: Information Presentation System using Two Layers of Granular Material and Speakers

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a method of presenting information by manipulating granular material that are placed on two layers. In recent years, substantial displays, which are displays that present information by manipulating some form of material have been gaining traction in the research community. As these displays utilize materials found in nature, they are capable of blending in with the surrounding environment. To create a novel substantial display, we propose a substantial display that utilizes granular material and speakers. In the proposed system, two types of granular material with different colors and sizes are placed on two layers. By emitting sound waves from a speaker installed under the lower layer, the granular material on the lower layer rises to the upper layer and creates a pattern as the color of the granular material on each layer is different. To determine the optimal parameters, we examined four different granular material and varied the sound wave frequency. Finally, we implemented a system that allows users to emit sound waves at any arbitrary position on the canvas with two layers of granular material.