The Tangible Bits platforms make complex use of physical objects and surfaces monitored by a range of sensors, augmented by a variety of graphical and ambient displays, and linked by a diverse combination of networked computers.
Proxy-Distributed (proxdist) computation provides a computational framework for Tangible Bits, allowing passive physical objects to manifest actively-mediated behaviors. More broadly, proxdist computation provides support for tangible user interfaces which fluidly integrate diverse, distributed passive and active elements.
(Source: http://tangible.media.mit.edu/projects/pdc/)