I don't know if anyone still plays the world’s tiniest violin to mock complaining friends, but I have to assume someone on Earth is keeping the joke alive. And maybe it’ll even make a comeback because now a person can "play" it and have real music be produced. Design I/O created a device that uses Google’s Project Soli technology to respond to the tiniest violin gestures. The radar-based chip’s shell is small but also still too big to carry around daily. You’d really have to commit to being that tiny violin friend. You know the one.

Google reemphasized Soli's focus on creating radar-enabled consumer devices at I/O this year. The future could end up being a world filled with gesture-controlled devices, but since its introduction in 2015, we haven't seen many practical applications. Maybe the tiniest violin will be the impetus. (We hope!)

Project Soli - World's Tiniest Violin from Design I/O on Vimeo.