frog Design's electronic facemask re-skins reality

frog Design's concept facemask would let you escape reality by augmenting or replacing what you see, smell, and hear with sensory inputs of your own choosing.

In a troubling future, these augmented reality devices would offer a new dimension - a virtual layer that could be used to “re-skin” the troubling outside world. A boundary between the wearer and the world around him, the device would become a sort of visual drug, used to make the world appear a better place – even if just for a moment.

The device itself acts as a mask between the user and the outside world, expressing the internality of the human-device interaction. It offers a physical distinction between those moving in the real world and those who are “plugged in” to their private dimensions, the world as they wish to see it.

The visual design casts the mask as a lifestyle product of the future, as it plays with a glaring, exaggerated coolness of the wearer. It gives an almost robotic appearance, and suggests a diversion from what we define today as “normal” physical human interaction.

Within the mask, smells, sounds, even air quality would be imitated to create a full sensory experience. The facial expressions of those wearing the device would be detected and projected onto personal avatars visible to others also living behind the shield of the mask.

Link

• [Fnarf]

  Yeah, these aren’t going to steam up, are they. Or be uncomfortable. And I’m sure they have loads of research on these “visual drug” benefits, right? Because seeing something different for a “moment” makes you feel — how, exactly?

  Who’s to say these won’t be much preferred by people with the opposite intention — torture (corpse smell, dismemberment porn, 130 dB saw waves).

• [Crunchbird]

  How is this device supposed to screen and/or deliver audio, when it doesn’t come close to covering or even reaching the ears?

  And when someone spends ten minutes coming up with a cool illustration of a basic concept that has been explored and discussed by science fiction authors, game designers, and VR theorists at length for years, does that really constitute conceptual design? Adding a little face-mask attachment to a set of AR goggles doesn’t really seem worthy of much attention or praise . . .

• [Christopher]

  I just want one of those masks for Hallowe’en

• [Stephen Ockham]

  Similar concept already applied in K.D. Jeter’s “Noir”, a cyberpunk-noir novel where the protagonist has implants to augment reality by re-parsing things to look black and white, and more ‘old timey’, such that futuristic cars and appliances to him appeared as their 1930s equivilants.

  Good book too.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noir_%28novel%29

• [housecaldwell]

  Reminds me of Zaphod Beeblebrox’s Peril Sensitive Sunglasses (which turned opaque when danger was near).

• [CammoBlammo]

  I look forward to our utopian future in which all sensory perception is mediated by a mask, and in which all our hair has fallen out.

• [Jerril]

  I still think the heads-up nametags are an awesome idea. Even better – offer a “old conversations log” link over each person, so I can find out what the hell I was talking to them about last time, to help me figure out what the hell they’re talking about.

  Tracking my possessions – which I tend to absent-mindedly put down wherever I am – or just finding something in my field of view by highlighting it for me.

  “I know I put my keys down on my desk, where the hell are they?” *keys glow bright green and sprout a big bobbing green arrow* “AHA!”

  This sounds lazy and frivolous, but to someone like me, with enough brain damage that I can’t always perform object closure to recognize things, or to someone aging enough that they’re getting a little scattered, this kind of thing could be a life saver.

• [Mark Temporis]

  I want a plugin that turns the world into an RTS like CounterStrike or Half-Life II, or even DOOM.

  Unfortunately, this would probably have applications in desensitizing soldiers to killin’.

• [Anonymous]

  This is such retarded fluff I’m amazed a company like Frog put their name on it.

• [License Farm]

  Ve are show-room dummies…

  I hope they’re planning to have ones in various hues to accomodate non-Caucasians, or the exterior effect is going to be diminished. You’d also better be clean-shaven, at least around the mouth, which I am not, so bugger.

• [pentiumoo2]

  The description totally reminds me of a short film by Mark Osborne called More.

  http://www.gethappy.com/watchmore.html

  The video can be interpreted in many different ways but you’ll get the main point.

• [Anonymous]

  And once that mask is un-cool, we will augment what we see by taking it off and looking at things with our eyes again.

• [hellhead]

  Unfortunately, I would program this to make everyone look like super models, then I’d want to sleep with everyone. The only real way this would change the way I think is everyone would just look really hot.

• [Strange Quark Star]

  Imma chargin’ mah Lazer!!

• [Antinous]

  If Voldemort were a Mexican wrestler…

• [Anonymous]

  I think someone’s been reading the Haze preview a bit too much…

• [stratosfyr]

  Kinda makes you look like Mr. Terrific. Or, Mr. Totoro-face.

  In the future, everyone will be a superhero.

• [consideredopinion]

  Hmm, without rotoscoping my world, is that sort of scramblesuit really worth it? I guess I’ll have to ask the Rorschach and the other Watchmen what they think.

• [Anonymous]

  I love seeing these outlandish product designs from real designers. They look like a ever so slightly more thought out version of 1st year industrial design students’ “blue sky” ideas: Absolutely ridiculous… Hartmut Esslinger needs to stop wasting time doing stupid shit like this.

• [Powell]

  Alot of people complaining about where the idea came from, or what is innovative and what is not. Shut up, with your negative vibe a**-hattery.

  Frog Designs looks like they have taken a step towards actually making this happen. Pretty damn cool in my book.
  The tag line should be
  “Whats so good about the real world anyway?”

• [mojo_jojo]

  #9 – Brilliant! The ultimate beer goggles!

• [certron]

  I find the design itself interesting, that the overall appearance of the wearer is made foreign / alien, but it has the function of making the outside world look nicer to them. Snazzy high-tech goggles might have had the same effect, as well as being able to tell if the wearer is smiling or not. Wearing this thing, I don’t know if it would even be possible to smile, but if the world is as screwed up as they describe, maybe smiling will become outdated. Where all this processing and filtration technology is going to go, I have no idea. While it might not be as sexy, why not just put the whole contraption in a motorcycle helmet?

  I also just noticed the frog on the carbon-fiber breastplate. With the lens flare, I thought the picture was from Second Life.

• [gATO]

  Stupid. What about “re-skinning” the real world instead?

• [Tenn]

  Sure. And in a world where these are necessary (hell, even our beautiful era), wearing these and not being aware of your surroundings would result in your prompt mugging and death.

• [Anonymous]

  great, until you walk into an ugly lamp post you couldn’t see.

• [magneticwheels]

  We don’t need any more distortions of reality than our individual cultures or beliefs already provide. As far as I’m concerned we all live in the world we want to live in already and have to do a fair bit of editing of reality just to parse any world at all. Some seem to do more editing than others to support their wacked out worldview- Bush/Cheney, any one? More elaborate techno editing seems really dangerous, not just in the getting my ass kicked/arrested way, but also in a narcissism/loneliness way.

• [someone]

  Cool, now the fundie christians will be able to reinforce their delusions.

• [Takuan]

  how could any filter make what I see every day more wonderful?

• [Anonymous]

  Sweet – now all we need is an SEP field generator from The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy and we can walk around completely self contained from anything in the outside world.

• [magneticwheels]

  By adding boobs where none were before.

• [snej]

  Peril-Sensitive Sunglasses!

  Also William Gibson’s “Virtual Light”, Kaluta/May’s brilliant and forgotten early-80s graphic novel “Starstruck”, and too many others to list.

  Frogdesign’s only innovation here appears to be taking a worn SF trope and making it look really, really, really ugly.

  Here’s my free contribution of a better idea: Smart Pantyhoseâ„¢ stretched over the head. Not just for bank robbers anymore! Patches positioned over the eyes and ears augment natural stimuli, while the entire outer surface is layered with flexible OLEDs to completely replace your facial appearance with your favorite avatar. Sretch sensors detect your facial expression and apply it (or not) to the avatar.

  Cool, huh? Frogdesign, you’ll be receiving my bill in the mail.

• [Torley]

  Part of this “reality overlay” reminds me of this impressive Zune Arts animation:

  » http://youtube.com/watch?v=xLekitebRQE

  It will only be a matter of time before someone commits a crime because a technologically-imposed hallucination showed someone something very different from what was really there, and they lashed out it.

  But still, I’m optimistic about the data-usages of this, projecting useful info atop or near actual physical objects to learn more about them. Marketers will no doubt rush into the fray.

• [Anonymous]

  Two more fictional references:

  Tad Williams’ “Otherland” series..

  James Cameron’s “Strange Days”

  :)

• [hibiscusroto]

  from the great minds that brought you “the windows XP start menu”.

• [Jeff]

  Magneticwheels said, “As far as I’m concerned we all live in the world we want to live in already and have to do a fair bit of editing of reality just to parse any world at all.”

  I for one do not live in the world I want to live in. That’s why I write. I think there are just too many people who live in horrible conditions for me to ever believe they want that. No one wants that. They are living that way because they are unlucky. Victims of a harsh, unjust world.

• [Anonymous]

  Notice that the term used here is “augmented reality”. It doesn’t just have to hide reality from you. It could just as easily show you more than you’d ordinarily see. Imagine your own FPS style HUD, showing you crime rate figures on every neighbourhood you enter, the amount of pollution in the air, and the amount of UV radiation. Imagine it projecting the shortest route to your destination, or displaying price comparisons on every item you look at when you go shopping… Hook it up right and it could display your blood alcohol level, too. No-one could ever unknowingly drink and drive again.
  I think it’s a concept with a lot of potential.

• [tronasaurus rex]

  I would find that useful when Im on the bus in summertime surrounded by smelly old people who want to be my friend.

• [zuzu]

  The description totally reminds me of a short film by Mark Osborne called More.

  This was my first thought as well. I’m so glad I caught More back when Sci-Fi was airing their Exposure series. (Filmed in 70mm IMAX with music by New Order.)

  My second thought was this comic from The Parking Lot Is Full.

• [Jerril]

  Um. You can’t really imitate air quality, so it’s not just sensory deception going on here.

  Irritating political commentary aside, I could see this kind of widget being useful for augmented reality (facial recognition software putting nametags on everyone I’ve put in my address book, so I’m never stuck wondering who the heck just said Hi to me)…

  But wearing a mask in public would probably get me arrested as a suspected terrorist. Especially in public transit.

• [jonjab]

  hmmm…Sounds a little like the ARG/augmented reality games from Vernor Vinge’s Rainbow’s End.

• [pork musket]

  Hmm… I think it’s more likely to help you escape reality when you get beaten into unconsciousness by for your “glaring, exaggerated coolness”.