Nukunukukey is a key-shaped information appliance that provides awareness about one’s home through sound, light and heat.

[Prototype Nukunukukey.]

Sensors installed in a house detect the presence and the location of people and transmit the sensed information to a nukunukukey through the wireless internet infrastructure. The key has a micro controller, an LED and a Peltier device.

[Internal electronic components of a nukunukukey. From left to right: a micro controller, an LED, and a Peltier device.]

The Peltier device produces 3 different levels of heat according to how many people are present in a house. The LED emits light differently according to people’s locations in the house — whether they are in a living room, a kitchen, or a dining room. An apron-shaped device was also conceptualized for sending yes/no questions (such as “Will you have dinner at home?” or “Are you coming back home today?”) to a nukunukukey.

Nukunukukey is designed to increase the sense of family and “make people want to go home.” The creators (Yumi Ohgaki, Itsuki Shibata, Kazuhiro Kuroda, Atsunobu Kobayashi and Naohito Okude) raise the issue of diminishing communications among family members and relate this phenomena to the increased use of mobile phone communications and the Internet. And nukunukukey might be an interesting device that might further transform the way we communicate with our family members.

Related websites:
– Nukunuku Key
– Okude Lab, Keio University