ARDUINO TOY PROJECT: RESEARCH

We took a trip to a toy store to find out what kind of interactive toys are on the market.

Key words: plastic, bright colours, annoying sounds and very gender specific toys.

TACTILE MEMORY

On the assignment of creating a tactile theatre, we created a tactile memory game. It mimics the traditional memory game setup, but the visual sense is replaced by the tactile sense. We wanted to test people's tactile memory. Is it as good as the visual one?

We built a box with 30 compartments and filled it with 15 different materials; leaves, styrofoam, sand, two different qualities of sandpaper, water, bottle caps, sawdust, banana peels, berries, bubble wrap, paper, metal shavings, sponges and gravel. The compartment lids had openings with a fabric lock to make it hard to see the contents.

The challenge was finding tactile pairs and identifying the materials.

User tests provided useful feedback. Some of our test persons were uncomfortable touching things they could not see, and tactile memory varied a great deal between testers. The testers generally found it harder to remember placement in the tactile memory game than in regular memory - they knew they had felt the same material before, they just didn't know where. They recognized pairs, but had a harder time identifying the material. The game became more engaging when people were competing against each other, and when they did, they never mentioned what they felt. A big difference from when people were trying the game by them selves and being very vocal and describing what they felt in every single compartment.

This project was first and foremost an experimental project - we wanted to test people's tactile memory. But the result also has commercial potential - it could be a game both for blind children and seeing children, or for blind and seeing children to play together. Also, loose containers would make it easy to change the contents so it could be a new game every time.

FIRST WEEK ANALYSIS

THE SENSES AND INSTALLATIONS - SENSORY DEPRIVATION

1: DESCRIPTION OF THE INSTALLATION/EXPERIENCE/MEDIUM VERBALLY AND VISUALLY

The producers and designers of this installation was Marit, Henrik and myself. The concept of sensory deprivation or perceptual isolation is a deliberate reduction or removal of stimuli from one or more of the senses. In this case it meant putting on a homemade suit designed to deprive us of our senses. Sensory deprivation can be used as a meditative tool, but if prolonged or done by force it is classified as torture.

The context was our classroom, AHO's conference centre, which is not particularly suited for this kind of activity. Our motivation for trying sensory deprivation was to feel the effects of sensory deprivation as part of our introductory week of tangible interactions.

2: ANALYSIS OF CHARACTER - ATTRIBUTES AND ROLE

The user's role in sensory deprivation is physical passitivity paired with mental focus. His or her attributes was a very basic sensory deprivation suit consisting of earmuffs, a blindfold, "gas mask" and a cardboard box stuffed with a scarf for numbing the hands.

The collaborators functioned as facilitators; helping with putting on the suit, picking a location and being responsible for monitoring the user.

There was no real audience but people were peeking in sporadically and co-monitoring.

3: ANALYSIS OF THE INTERACTION

Our sensory deprivation suit didn't have any input devices or sensors, and no senses should ideally be activated. Neither should the user be physically active in any way during the process.

The user is instructed to be calm, and with all senses out of function the user is motivated to relax and focus inwardly, maybe even meditate. As fas as meditation goes there may be some sort of learning curve in learning to really shut off the senses and fully relax.

Our suit did to some degree communicate how it should be interacted with, but as some of the elements were very homemade they didn't communicate how to be worn or the point of the suit, and so it would need instructions.

The point of sensory deprivation is relaxing and meditiating, but over a long time, or if forced, it turns into torture, with extreme anxiety, hallucinations and depression as a possible result.

4: DEVELOPMENTS OVER TIME

A pleasant meditative experience and the time out from real life might motivate people to come back and get them hooked. The narrative structure of the process is outwardly the same for everyone - flat and uneventful. But inwardly the narrative structure might be very different, depending on the user, and as so the phases of the experience might vary drastically.

5: PERSONAL EXPERIENCE JOURNEY

As our suit was homemade, my senses were only semi blocked; I kind of knew where I was, heard some noises through the earmuffs, I felt vibration in the floor from people walking and moving chairs and I felt the smell of woodshop from the "gas mask". However, the cardboard box worked really well and I almost didn’t feel my fingers. And the blindfold made it pitch black and removed my visual sense completely.

When lying on the floor I initially found it hard to relax, but after a while I managed to relax quite well. Later I started to feel dizzy and I also felt non-existent tapping on my blindfold. The dizziness eventually turned into a sharp and acute headache followed by a second of sleep that I came out of with the sudden feeling of falling. By then I was feeling hot and slightly claustrophobic as well as bored, and I removed my sensory deprivation suit.

I really see how this would be torture with real equipment and over a longer period of time, but I also see how it could be relaxing and comfortable. I might want to try a flotation tank because I think that would be more efficient.

6: ANALYSE THE WHOLENESS AND CONSISTENCY OF EXPESSION RELATED TO THE EXPERIENCE

My experience was maybe the light version of sensory deprivation, and I think I would have felt a whole lot different with a professional sensory deprivation suit.

7: SUGGEST IMPROVEMENTS

A different setting that is tailor made for sensory deprivation and not lying on a hard wooden floor at school would drastically improve the experience. I also think using water to remove the sense of gravity and heat would make the whole experience more authentic. As would better sound isolation.