A small group of researchers and designers at the Technical University in Delft

• observed that with the transition from mechanical interaction to electronic interaction, interaction possibilities should increase with the freedom from mechanical constraints. Yet almost all new products reduce interaction to pushing a labeled button.
• viewed this trend as a failure to account for people as sensual beings; a failure to focus on perceptual motor skills as a source of interaction inspiration, due to an over-reliance on cognition as a singular theoretical stance in interaction design, and a failure to consider aesthetics as a critical component of interaction.
• created a new approach to interaction research with the goal of designing systems that would more fully engage people’s bodies to richly express themselves and people’s full range of senses as channels for input and feedback from interactive systems, a new research space they dubbed Rich Interaction