Carnivorous Domestic Entertainment Robots (http://www.materialbeliefs.com/prototypes/cder.php) are objects that look like furniture or home decor, but have sensors and mechanisms to prey on household pests, which they use to power themselves. Their designs are inspired by predatory plants and animals in the natural world. What I like about this project is that they mimic the behaviours of living things. I suppose it isn't technically physical computing, as the object operate independent of humans, but it's way cool anyway.
Knife.Hand.Chop.Bot (http://5voltcore.com/typolight/typolight257/index.php/output/articles/knifehandchopbot.html) is a device that detects the user's hand and hits the space between the fingers with a knife, slowly at first, then faster. If the user becomes nervous and sweats, the conductivity interferes with the machine and makes it more likely to miss. The user is only safe as long as s/he has faith in the machine. An interesting element of this project is that it is controlled not by the user's deliberate actions, but by the user's emotions. I think it would be interesting if the effect were reversed - if the more nervous you were, the safer the machine would be, and the more you trusted it, the more likely it would be to betray your trust.
"Audio Shaker" (http://www.nurons.net/audioshaker/about.htm) is a device that records sounds near it and "traps" them inside. When the user shakes, pours, or otherwise manipulates the shaker, it manipulates the recorded sounds in a way that makes the sound seem to behave like water. The sounds slosh back and forth, become louder or softer according to the movement, can be separated into pieces by pouring bits out at a time, etc. I think it would be fascinating to get to use this device, exploring the nuances of one sense (movement) via another (sound).
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