Those who hand out the Ig Nobel prizes, awarded for the most outlandish scientific research, would do well to check up on CHI.

At the 2015 Computer-Human Interaction Conference (CHI) in Seoul this week, there was no shortage of bizarre projects and concepts, all undertaken to innovate the way we use computers and information technology. Since it was held down the road from the Gangnam district of “Gangnam Style” fame, there may have been something in the air.

From Germany’s Hasso Plattner Institute, there was Level-Ups, a pair of boots attached to mechanical stilts. At the swipe of a smartphone screen, metal trusses in the stilts extend with a scissor mechanism, instantly giving the wearer about 13cm more height.

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