Interaction design opens new possibilities of interaction between humans and technology. Physical computing is a particular type of interaction design that centers on the interaction between the human body and the computer. All the types of interaction explored in this chapter are driven by physical actions, both the sending of information out into the physical world and the sending of information from the physical world into the digital world. The power of physical interaction is in the connection of a physical action to an abstracted result, be that an auditory or visual result.

Some of the controls explored in this chapter are instantly familiar, such as knobs, buttons, and sliders, and some aren’t so instantly familiar, such as accelerometers and infrared sensors. All the code will be Arduino, and we’ll include diagrams to help you get your components connected to your board.