Here’s a photo of the Tuttuki bako:

The Tuttuki bako (or “poking box”) is so strange that when I first heard of it I just had to order one and see it for myself. Technically, you might describe this as a finger-based augmented reality system. But to put it bluntly you stick your finger in the hole in the side of the box and prod a variety of virtual characters – sort of how you might play with ants or something. Here’s me dueling with a stick person (watch out it knows karate):

Here’s another version of the same game (photo below) where the stick person climbs aboard a seesaw. And yes, if you push your finger down hard enough it sends the stick figure flying up into the air).

In all, there’s roughly five different virtual characters you can interact with: stick people, an underwater scene with an octopus, a squishy blob (not sure how else to describe it), a human face you poke in the nose or eye (weird),  and a panda on a pendulum.  I’m not sure why, but battling the stick figure was hands down the most fun for me. It’s strange, but at first I felt a little guilty about shoving around this little stick person around, it even cowers in a corner sometimes. However, with a few retorts back, you soon find yourself happily waging war against your tiny opponent.

Another thing which got me interested in the Tuttuki bako in the first place was curiousity about the mechanics of this device. I suspected that it might have some mechanical moving parts, but that didn’t turn out to be the case at all. The inside of the box where you insert your finger is a more or less square empty space. To try and see what kind of sensors were at work, I tried using all kinds of finger substitutes such as a metal screwdriver, pens etc and all seemed to work more or less ok. Then I cut out a piece of construction paper into a finger shape and tried it instead, but the sensors didn’t detect it at all. I had to fold the paper making it much thicker before it was detected/recognized by the box. Very strange, I wondered what kinds of sensors these could possibly be.

My curiousity got the better of me, and I pretty much knew right from the start that I was going to have to crack this device open to have a better look at it. The first thing I worried about was the four little plugs which appeared to conceal the screw holes that held the entire box together: I was hoping I could pry them out, but preparing to drill them out if I had to.

I was quite pleased to discover that a sharp knife was sufficient to quite easily pry out all four of them. No drill required.

So once the plugs and screws were removed the device opened up quite easily. And as you can see below there’s an array of tiny sensors (9 on the right side and a single sensor on the left) that are used to detect finger positions.

The left side with the single sensor on it was more complex to take apart further since it is tangled up in the battery connections that run through the plastic housing. So I decided it’d be easier to remove the cover on the other side with the nine sensors instead and try to get a better look at what type of sensors these are. Here’s a closeup of the PCB with the sensors on top of it:

Each one of these sensors is labeled with an “IR” number (e.g. IR1 IR2 etc). So I can only assume that these are some kind of infrared detectors. I’ve seen the larger versions of infrared sensors in phidget form (see this earlier post), but never something so small.

Also, I’m still not sure why there are 9 of these on one side and only a single one on the other. I’m still assuming they are all IR – though perhaps the one on the other side is something else entirely?  I did briefly put the batteries back in while I had the device opened and it did seem to be able to detect my finger from the half with the 9 sensors only. However, with the other side missing of the sensor missing my finger didn’t have the same amount of reach that it did before when the box was fully enclosed. Nor could I “trick” it by putting a different finger in front of it while I moved my other finger in front of the arrays. So the role of the left sensor remains a bit of a mystery to me.

Has anyone seen IR sensors like this before or confirm that is indeed what these are? 

If after reading this you find yourself curious enough to order one, you can find them at ThinkGeek.com http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/japanfan/ad59/  (update: sold out, anyone know another source?) which appears to be one of the few places on the planet that will deliver one in North America. It is every bit as strange a you might imagine. I highly recommend buying this inexpensive augmented reality device. An odd device that’s a conversation starter if nothing else.