SPECULATIve DESIGN
project
Duration
10 weeks
Speculative Design
Future Design
Fiction
concept note
Imagining a future where we are all living in isolation. Even if we are sharing a house we are distanced from each other. Everyone prefers their private lives and personal space more than real world interactions. We all socialise but only in the Virtual world or Meta world.
Tactile interaction with each other is very limited to a point where it has become a luxury to experience inter personal touch. We have started to crave for real world interpersonal touch.
Like all the other problems we have decided to find a solution for this problem as well in technology. We created 'HOLD'.
It works on tactile interactions. It can track your hand surface temperature, contours, pressure variations, movement patterns and feeds it all into an IOT device which is 'HOLD'
It is a way to literally not loose touch of a loved one. It will assist you in remembering your memorable touches that are dear to you using an extension of the touch in a device. It will record your touch interaction with others which you can play back in the future and experience them.
Its touch with a meaning specific to you.
Picking a topic for research
I decided to look at TOUCH as a topic because from the initial point in the project I was leaned towards the humans and their relationship with each other in the future as well as with the other machines which would be living amongst us.
Other Interest areas
Performance
Humans in hibernation
Productivity
Performance Enhancers
Think of what captures my attention
Carrying energy charge to charge things
Human cognition
Good touch and a bad touch
Conscious and sub conscious mind
Mental Peace - tapping into inner self
Inter thought communication with other individuals
Future of society
Why do humans have to be the centre of everything
Peace between cultures, Societies, individuals
Ways to connect better with life around us
Charging each other through touch (hold)
Digital Markings (tattoos) how we can carry identification marks on ourselves
why touch matters?
Touch is something we associate with emotional closeness, and we associate the absence of it with emotional distance. They are our primary language of compassion, and a primary means for spreading compassion. Touch is truly fundamental to human communication, bonding, and health. It is language that is essential to what it means to be human.
sorting the benefits into different categories
Care
Social
reflective
development
relation between touch and pressure
Current trends of moving away from touch
Different touch deprived societies
my speculation space
Building on the current trends of us moving away from touch in the society, and with situation amplifying even more due to the pandemic. I am imagining a future scenario where as a society we are deprived of touch, and it has now become a luxury to experience inter personal touch.
In this context I want to speculate in the field of Memories and Touch
what if we could store / record touch of a loved one and experience it in the future like a tangible memory?
pesctleem analysis
To analyse and understand the macro environment factors around memory and their role in different contexts and scenarios
Micro Speculation - context
touch and technology
Our bodies are covered in nerve endings that respond to touch. A few different types of receptors respond to force and movement. One is the Pacinian corpuscles that lie deep within the skin. They are especially good at picking up vibrations caused by touching different textures.
Any stimulation meant to mimic a texture must be strong enough to trigger the skin’s touch receptors.
One team found that rolling-type waves called Rayleigh (RAY-lee) waves go deep enough to reach Pacinian receptors.
Some might do this using ultrasonic waves or other techniques. And that might someday lead to virtual hugs and other tactile experiences in virtual reality.
The Emerge Wave-1 device uses ultrasonic waves to create the sensation of physical touch in the metaverse
Wireless touch patches - One option is a flexible patch that attaches to the skin. It’s upper layers hold a stretchy circuit board and tiny vibrating actuators to the patch.
Almost like a table of living clay, the inFORM is a surface that three-dimensionally changes shape, allowing users to not only interact with digital content in meatspace, but even hold hands with a person hundreds of miles away. And that’s only the beginning.
Material-
New synthetic material is a form of Elastomer, a stretchable polymer. It changes its fluorescence & texture together in response to a change in voltage applied to it.
Scenario
You meet someone for the first time. You spend time together, you fall in love
One day the person leaves, and you are left by yourself. you miss them
Then you remember about 'HOLD' our smart product
Now you can experience the touch of your loved one and relive the memories
You can interact with the product, hold it, experience it and fulfil your need for touch
product visualisation
Link to full project documentation
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