MAKE: Blog: RFID and unique physical form

RFID and unique physical form

A grad student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Lisa Smith, has designed these rapid prototyped unique RFID dongles. She calls her process the "cuteness generator." The Touch blog writes:

One of the key aspects of the project for me is the translation of the unique identity of RFID into a unique physical form. Each object in the project has a visual appearance and shape that is generated uniquely for each user. This reflects the unique identity contained in the RFID chip. This is an interesting approach to the visual and physical affordances of RFID technology.

Lisa writes:

The forms are generated with a small piece of front end software, with partial control from the user (for example, there is a cuteness<->grossness slider, and they can specify the number of eyes, but the form is also linked to their age and other friends/family in the system, etc). It pulls from sticker/graffiti culture, urban toy culture, and also heraldry (allows for the visual expression of human relationships and room for a visual subculture to emerge in the system).

I'm currently in a rapid prototyping class, and I gotta say that I'm totally jealous of this project - [via] Link.

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