He published his thesis 2010, which aligns with when Ethan arrived at his office, and if you watch the video at that link, you can see the automated window control system at 1:47.
(Also the video is kind of hilarious and awesome in its own right).
Awesome internet-search foo! I gotta talk with Ethan, I mean, it's cool the window opens automatically. He could have put his wood knob on the open (clockwise) and close (counterclockwise) buttons and achieved preserving the past, and making things easy to use for the present. All good.