Prototyping for Envisioning the Future

Abstract

As an industrial designer I have worked in collaboration with various researchers and scientists since the beginning of this century. I have made many prototypes showing the possibility of their leading edge technologies, and exhibited them in these years. As the archives of academic documents and papers have became open, and the internet gave public access to the recordings of various experiments being conducted throughout the world, technology in laboratories are now constantly exposed to the public. In this context, prototypes are becoming more important as the medium that bridges between advanced technology and society. Now a prototype is not merely an experimental machine. It is a device created to present user experience in advance, to share the benefits of the technology with many others. The role of a prototype is not limited to just sharing of values within the development team, but goes beyond that: it is a medium used to voice the significance of research and development to society; an inspiration to stimulate future markets; and also a tool to secure development budgets. A prototype is the physical embodiment of speculative story that connects people to technology that has yet to be brought to society. I would like to introduce some of the prototypes we developed and share the future vision they invoke.