The Pico (Physical Intervention in Computational Optimization) system uses movement of objects on the tabletop (through electromagnetism) to communicate with the user. Input by manipulating and imposing constraints on the objects allows the user to leverage their understanding of physical limits and systems in manipulating the data and design. The system imposes a sort of give and take interaction that allows the user to fully explore the design space with both human intuition and computational optimization.
As outlined in the RBI (Reality Based Interaction framework) the Pico system makes use of human understanding of reality in a non-WIMP interface to create an intuitive user experience. In particular the system makes use of a user's understanding of 'naive physics' to input constraints for computation. By using physical objects with various weights, shapes and sizes the user can impose a minimum or maximum separation or prevent an object from being moved at all. The system allows for computational optimization within the space defined by the user. Users can continuously adjust and physically interact with the system to gain understanding of the limits and design through their natural body awareness and sense of agency.
As described by the TAC (Token and Constraints) framework physical tokens correspond to digital data. By using the constraint rings the user is manipulating a physical object which represents some digital, limiting input. The pucks themselves also represent a digital object, in this example, the cellphone tower. The interface allows direct physical interaction with the input and restraints of the optimization algorithms.