Fabien, who is at Ubicomp 2007, just sent me this crazy project: TosPom: a ball-shaped camera that takes pictures while playing catch by Izumi Yagi, Mitsuyoshi Kimura, Makiko Nagao and Naohito Okude:

"TosPom is a ball-shaped camera that takes pictures while playing catch. When the photographer throws TosPom to the object, the object’s face will be taken automatically as the object catches it, and the picture will be shown on the display. With TosPom, the act of taking pictures becomes a mutual, interactive activity that involves both the photographer and the object while both parties engage in a fun activity of playing catch. Moreover, the photographer can draw out a more natural and relaxed expression from the object."

Why do I blog this? catch, camera, ball, nice combination of keywords. Beyond that, the sort of data that they can get out of this might be curious to design playful activities. The device is playful but at the same time it records interactions with it and the surroundings. It's interesting also to think about other affordances of the ball... using the rolling capacity of the device to take picture of certain places, etc.