Air Constellations Shows New Ways For Multiple Devices To Work Together

Microsoft Research is showing off a new system highlighting cross-device interaction using multiple spatially aware armatures. The system is known as Air Constellations and consists of device armatures that look like fancy microphone stands with hardware in the base. The video showing off the system shows the ability to move devices with magnetic attachments between armatures easily.

The tech allows users to simply position devices near each other and easily control which device specific pieces of content are shown on. One example is a video chat meeting where multiple devices can be positioned nearby, allowing each device to show a person or document. Currently, one challenge with working using multiple devices is sharing content between them.

Microsoft says the new device concept leverages spatially aware armatures allowing the user to freely adjust, orient, and juxtapose multiple devices in the air. Applications operating on each device react as the separate devices are placed near each other, reoriented, or moved apart. Air Constellations works with between two and five armatures providing seven degrees of freedom within the workspace.

There are multiple uses for the system, including having flexible UI panels and tool pallets across the devices in productivity applications. Microsoft Research says the concept was designed to address the need for workers to combine resources from multiple nearby devices in a collaborative environment with colleagues both in the office and remote.

Air Constellations is part of a larger research project known as SurfaceFleet that researchers say has implications for a "Society of Devices" for work in the future. Certainly, leveraging multiple Surface devices to share different aspects of whatever the user is working on would be extremely useful in the office and at home. However, there is no indication of when Air Constellations might be available commercially.