Haptic Device

What is the connection between mind and body — between interoception and flow? What does the future of haptics hold? These were the open-ended questions of a research brief in which I was asked to develop concepts bringing together neuroscience, psychology, and design.

Embodied concepts have to be tested on the body.

Holding firmly that embodied concepts have to be tested on the body, I built a series of fully functional prototypes, ran extensive user testing, and developed a novel haptic device, controlled by both a mobile phone and an Apple Watch, thus leveraging contextual and embodied data. I paired deep research with embodied probes and drew rich feedback from users. Forms were sculpted directly on the body, organic shapes that only later became CAD models and 3D prints. I evaluated a large field of actuators and designed drivers to produce nuanced effects.

The process was modular and agile — conceptually, and in every design decision. Across more than fifty user-testing sessions I gathered a dataset rich enough to inform a machine-learning model. In seven months the team delivered research and real data, along with robust hardware and software.