During Milan Design Week 2022 to be held from June 5-12, mui Lab, Inc., the Kyoto-based calm technology startup, will showcase its IoT system that turns furniture and other ordinary items into interfaces, using everyday human action as a prompt for digital sequence. For example, opening a curtain in the morning will prompt the “mui Board” (mui’s wooden interface device) on the wall to display a pleasant message to get your day off to the right start, the lights will slowly turn on when you wipe down your dining table, and lively atmospheric music will start playing when you put a vase on the table as breakfast begins.
Because these “traditional” everyday objects allow natural movements of the human body – unlike conventional smart screen devices, which are used as remote controllers to operate smart home devices, that force people to crouch over them to tap and swipe – the system can create a strain-free digital environment that better serves users’ total well-being, while also keeping technology out of their consciousness.
