Soft Robotics & Haptic Language
Graduate Study | 2023
Design Driven Material Innovation - Research & Design | Soft Robotics - Health & Wellbeing
My larger goal (what's eating me?)
The recent years have seen monumental advancements in the fields of technology, like robotics and AI. As our technological prowess (seemingly) opens the doors to limitless (& ubiquitous) applications, it becomes increasingly important to look inward and examine how we're built. The future, as I see it, points towards a dynamic, interactive and immersive built environment. As we strive to breathe life into it, it begs the question, How can and should our built environment 'behave', & why?
What I have done in its pursuit
As an Industrial Design Engineer, I am compelled by the idea of designing & building 'artefacts of research' to answer some of these questions. I am currently intrigued by the fields of soft robotics and haptic interaction design. My curiosity is navigated by my recent engagement with the fields during my master thesis project at the TUDelft. The outcome of this study was Morphing Matter (MM).
What is Morphing Matter?
MM is a soft robotic shape morphing material developed to improve the human condition in the sedentary context. Our systemic lifestyles have created a global problem, significant enough to have a name: The Sitting Disease. The solution space presents posture as one of the key phenomena operating in the sedentary context. For this project, MM was developed and applied to a common chair (as a representation of our position systems).
The aim of this undertaking was to explore the potential
in designing & building a dynamic user-object relationship through a contour based haptic interface. It cast light on the possibilities to affect long-term (sedentary) behaviour change for better health outcomes.
What I learnt from it
Theoretically speaking, behaviour change could be achieved through the active behaviour/expression of the environment or the objects/technologies of which it is composed. Some factors that make Morphing Matter promising as a tool/artefact of research are:
The object itself, is the interface. Which means that there is no separation between the interaction interface and its active/effective embodiment. MM borrows the rigidity of the furniture's frame to create interactions with its environment through the contact surface. Equipped with the ability to be dynamic, the object is no longer just a seat; it blurs the boundaries between the different roles it plays or the identities it can acquire as part of a larger positioning system. More than an object, it is an entity with autonomy and expression! (For example, when applied to chair, where we display sedentary behaviours, it may be able to sense posture and simply nudge the user in the right direction by providing tailored support through the contact interface.) A plurality is not just acquired at the contextual level, but also at the object, functional, component and material levels, where tangible and digital materials/processes overlap to make a whole.
What I want to do with it
It is fascinating how the chair is an artefact that has seen redesign over the centuries, but the activity of sitting (& how we sit) largely remains the same. This could be because the object's redesign has been spearheaded by our evolving aesthetic and the development of new technologies (as well as the systemic and environmental factors of modern society). Though this is important and has its place in the redesign context, I can't shake the feeling that we're missing something: an examination or re-examination of 'how we sit' and discourse on 'how we should sit' to accompany how we currently design our positioning systems. Just to scratch the surface, let's consider how the human posture, being one of the most sophisticated and economical anti-gravity mechanisms designed by nature, is essentially dynamic. So then why on earth are our positioning systems so static? This is however, not to say no one's thinking about this. We have a considerably large scientific community studying sedentary behaviours & inactivity as well as a growing community studying Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Soft Robotics and Haptic Shared Control. However, the lack of tools to build robust & compelling arguments for change through 'design for sedentary behaviours' has gaps of what could be called accessibility issues in the context. Morphing Matter aimed to address a few of these by furnishing dynamic and measurable contour-based haptic affordances (for user-object integration and collaboration).
By further developing the MM technology as an artefact of research, I aim to contribute to an understanding of the psycho-mechanics of (and for) a contour-based haptic language through a robotic/active seat surface. Furthermore, to create discourse and reflect on how this understanding can contribute to the phrasing of richer, more relevant dialogues that could be tailored to, for example, affect better health behaviours in the sedentary context.
The clip on the left shows the first time I tested Morphing Matter in the Materials Lab at the TUDelft.