PNEU-SKIN: A Haptic Social Interface with Inflatable Fabrics
Yujie Wang and Marcela Godoy.
In Projections - Proceedings of the 26th International Conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia, CAADRIA 2021, 1, 713-722. DOI:10.52842/conf.caadria.2021.1.713.
Paper link: https://nyuscholars.nyu.edu/en/publications/pneu-skin-a-haptic-social-interface-with-inflatable-fabrics
Presented at Digital Fabrication & Innovative Material Systems session.
Poster at We Robot 2020 Conference on law and policy, Ethical Engineering of Robotics and AI. University of Ottawa Centre for Law, Technology and Society.
Poster link: https://techlaw.uottawa.ca/werobot/posters.
Keywords
Pneumatic Wearables, Interpersonal Communication, Embodied Computation, Critical Making, Sensory Feedback
Abstract
Wearable electronics endow us with a great capacity to see clothing as an extension of our body and an interface to interact with our physical and social environment. The fashion industry is experimenting with new tectonics, and materiality, however, few projects have explored wearables in the public and social domains and how they can dynamically respond to a wide range of interpersonal distances in social interaction. PNEU-SKIN is a pneumatic wearable that uses critical making as a research strategy to explore interactive and soft interfaces to create soft boundaries between private and public space. This paper proposes an embodied computation agenda and describes the design and prototyping process of a multi-sensory smart skin in response to varying social distances in interpersonal communication. By looking at adaptive behaviors in nature and the way that certain animal species respond to external stimuli by increasing their size and providing multi-sensory responses, PNEU-SKIN looks into how our clothing could become an adaptable skin to redefine interpersonal communication experience within everyday social interactions.
CAADRIA 2021 Conference Presentation | Digital Fabrication and Innovative Material Systems session
Inflatable Module
When activated with flowing air, inflatable fabric modules inflate and deflate in turn, and modules of different shapes and structures demonstrate different characteristics and behaviors. Iterations are made with selected pneumatic performance to achieve desired sensory responses.
The dynamic transformation of the garment can be achieved by controlling inflatable fabrics. The material layer, sensing layer, and the human body are finally integrated into a holistic system.
