Project

PushiOn() 2016

PushiOn() is a tangible interface that has been made for my submission at CruftFest 2016, which is part of the IDMT module at Queen Mary University, London. The brief was to repurpose a recycled object as a digital media interface. PushiOn() aims to combine different sensory modalities to stimulate haptic, visual and auditory feedback. It uses silver stretch conductive fabric, static foam, conductive thread and crocodile clips connected to an Arduino that sends data via the Serial port to Processing and with the Minim library the samples are loaded and played. It consists of a layer of static foam sandwiched between 2 layers of conductive fabric of the same size of the pillow which is on top of the pressure sensor. Five pieces of conductive fabric are sewed together onto a 30X30cm piece of cotton placed is at the bottom and sewed onto the bottom side of the pillow’s leather cover. The five pieces combined cover an area of 27X27cm. Above the first layer with the five active areas sits the static foam, on top of which there’s another big layer (28X28cm) of the conductive fabric also sewed onto a squared piece of cotton. Lastly, the cushion is placed over the pressure sensor to enhance the tactile feedback when the users push over the active areas. Brushed on top of the cover there’s some liquid crystal ink which activates when the temperature is above 24 degrees. Within 5 degrees range the pigments change through a spectrum of colours that varies from red, to green and finally blue. For the purpose of this prototype five different samples have been taken from a vinyl record I have (“Bedtime stories” by Amon Tobin). The sounds get triggered by the pressure applied on the cushion and play on loop if constantly pressed. The amplitude increases with the force applied to the pillow and some filters are also used. This video features the track “Bedtime stories”(Isam) by Amon Tobin. No copyright infringement is intended.