Manéa for your Mind

In the very recent years, one of the best things to show up in newspapers are the Sudoku puzzles that often show up next to crossword puzzles. These numerical crosswords have become the mind-bending addiction that people sit on buses or at their desks trying to figure out as they pass the time. Mental training has definitely been a big thing in the past few years, with Sudoku, but also with the Brain Age and Brain Age-esque games for handheld consoles, especially the Nintendo DS family. These interactive mental training systems have become more than a fad, as they have managed to help us slow down the mental aging process. However, Italian designer Luigi Trabucco designed this mental trainer using a haptic “keyboard” design, making it an innovation in mental training. manea1 The manéa is a handheld and responds to touch, and is a completely interactive design – the images on the display move in response to the way your hand moves, and selections are made based on the user adding pressure to the device. manea2 The manéa works really well as a mental training tool because it enables the user to train and connect hearing, seeing and feeling through the specific programs that are set up on the device. The device not only has an interesting concept and training set up to it, but it also looks really innovative and cool. It is sleek, and the design is aesthetically pleasing to the point that, if you are into that genre of art, you might want to keep it out on the dining table so that it enhances the look of the home, while motivating you to use it more frequently. manea3 The device sits on a rubber foot, and has a speaker on either side. The display is OLED, so it is relatively good in terms of its functionality and presentation, and it comes with a whole set of functionality which is rather long. Either way, this looks good, and seems to make this couple happy. manea4 The manéa is demonstrated in the video below. Interested in more interactive games? Check out the interactive Game of Life,  a Cubed Electronic Game and Jenga Max.