MIT - Sputmic
A microphone you can toss
The student organizers of MIT's annual eBusiness Award asked Continuum to solve the "pass the microphone" problem for a live broadcast event. The result is Sputmic (pronounced "sput-mike," a reference to the early Soviet space satellite), a robust, foam-covered wireless mike that can be tossed across a room to a participant. When the participant catches the Sputmic, a glowing button on the unit's spherical section indicates where to activate the microphone. Depressing the button turns off all glowing arms except for one, adjacent to the button indicating where to speak into the embedded microphone. When the button is released, the Sputmik automatically re-lights all arms for maximum visibility in dark auditoriums. The idea of a wireless, mobile microphone was originally proposed by Ted Selker at the MIT Media Lab. An early Media Lab solution used a "nerf" football stuffed with a wireless microphone. It was our job to refine this concept to work for the eBusiness Award event, held at Kresge Auditorium - a venue with approximately 2000 seats. The final form is playful, yet works flawlessly. We like the way the whimsical design language of the microphone contrasts with the more formal, ritualistic atmosphere of the awards ceremony. 
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