A Multisensory Design Installation for Autism Kids
An academic experience design project done at University of Michigan
Time
Sept 2017- Dec 2018
Tools
Processing, Grasshopper, CNC Machine
Team
Design team
Instructor: Sean Ahlquist
My Role
Experience Designer
Research Assistant
The project is awarded the 2018 R+D Honorable Mention. Check out here
Project Goal
Social Sensory Surface for a multi-sensory experience
The project intends to design Social Sensory Surface, a programmable textile interface for people, especially children with autism and other sensory processing disorder. This interactive surface intends to blur the line between fabric and architecture and connects two realms of expertise by emphasizing multi-sensory experiences, especially tactic, visual, and physical interactions.
Solution
Human Interaction with the Prototype
Touching experience and interaction with textile
Kids experience the lighting and imagery projection
How we Build it
The surface is CNC fabricated from an elastic yarn and then assembled onto a steel structure for an undulated form to provide a three-dimensional experience. A visually-intensive programmed interactive system is then projected to the surface for a more dynamic and multi-sensory experience. While touching, pressing, or physically connecting to the surface, the patterns on the surface process the degree of pressure information and respond back to the actions respectively.
Structure and fabricate testing in Lab
Takeaways
1. Collaboration is key, especially in a large multi-disciplinary team.
Disclaimer: my role includes early design concept, program graphic projection, design prototype, and fabricating the textile.
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