Synesthetic Clothing Presentation

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Synesthetic Clothing

Felecia Davis, Anne Reilly, Ian Wojtowicz

March 18, 2010


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Problem Space

WHO estimates that 161M people are visually impairedglobally

124M have low vision 37M blind

Mobility particularly in new environments is a majorchallenge for the visually impaired

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Processing a New Environment

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We all have difficulty navigating a new city.. But without asense of sight, the difficulty can become an overwhelming

overflow of informationwhat information is useful without a

sense of sight?


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How can we help order this

information overflow?


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Traditional Solutions

White Cane Helps users guide themselves by identifying edges, texture

and level changes, and obstacles in ground ahead

Provides a standard tool to assess spaces and distances Alerts others that the users are visually impaired

Seeing Eye Dog Helps users navigate themselves by indicating curbs, steps,

and other obstacles

But owners must guide their dogs, as they cannot understandcomplex directions

Orientation and mobility specialist Teaches blind people how to travel safely, confidently, &

independently

Repetition5


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Synesthesia

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The transposition of one sense into another, e.g.: seeingsound.

Heavy percussion and bass sounds are dark browncolored circles ona black background. The circles are comparable to the ones you see in

water when you drop a stone in it, except that each drumbeat producesonly one expanding ring. The heavier the sound, the bigger the circle and

the thicker the edge of the circle. Lighter percussion creates smaller and

brighter circles. If a drummer uses a brush, I see countless little white or

light blue circles. If a tone sustains for a long time, then a kind of

transparent smudge or smear remains in the color of the circle (which

itself as disappeared by then).

Synthesizer sounds appear in tight horizontal bars, flat but in depth. The lines produced by guitar sounds are jagged and blue in color. The

higher the pitch, the lighter the color, tending towards white.


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Artificial Synesthesia

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AKA: data visualization

Example: Clavilux 2000


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Our Concept Feeling Sight

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Is it productive to use synesthesia to help blind

people see through tactile stimulation?

Further augment their sense of touch Create hidden affordances in everyday items


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Clothing that Sees

Augment clothing to translate visual images into tactile

stimulations:

Benefits Provides an immediate sense of the overall environment

A cane has limited reach; requires user to carefully walk around tofamiliarize himself

Caters to a blind persons heightened sense of touch

A user can recall the tactile stimulations felt in certain locationsincreasing familiarization

Clothing is a convenient medium to increase tactile stimulation

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Sensing Clothing System


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Input System: Near Space and Far Space

Our input system reads space,

like this near space far space

drawing. The dark areas arefarthest away, and the lightest

closest.

From :

http://r24085.ovh.net/research.html


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Synesthetic Sensors_Output

Mapping Location in Space onto Body_ How to

Map Near and Far? Edges?


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Sensing System

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Our Sensing System takes input from

the environment using lasers on a shirtor article of clothing to mark out the

place of objects in the environmentand transmits that 3 d information to

some piezos or vibrators in that samearticle of clothing.

The first step we tried was gettingsome piezo buzzers to work on the

shirt.


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Output System

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Input Systems, Laser Sensor: This laser sensor, mounted on front of the Blind Driver Challenge vehicle, operates similar to sonar. It sends

out a laser beam that will bounce back to the device as it hits an obstacle. The sensor then figures out the

distance to the obstacle by measuring the time of flight of the laser beam. As the laser sweeps theenvironment, the computer constructs a map of all obstacles around the vehicle.

Images from Virginia Tech July 2009, www.vt.edu_ Spotlighton Innovation


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Critical Precedents

The Blind Driver Project_Virginia Tech One of the first steps was to add a Hokuyo UTM-30LX single-plane laser range finder, which

acts much like a radar. The sensor sends range and distance data on objects in front of the carto a CompactRIO real-time controller from National Instruments. The controller contains anFPGA that processes targets, translating the range-finders data into information the drive canuse to stay on the road and avoid obstacles (cones).

The tricky part, of course, was conveying the sensor information to blind drivers. Theapproach they chose was to take advantage of the drivers other senses, hearing and touch.For example, drivers wear a vest with several motors sewn into it. Each motor vibrates at avariety of intensity levels. To stay within the speed limit, one of the motors vibrates to indicatebraking is needed, and the degree to which it vibrates correlates with the amount of brakingneeded. If the controller interprets all the input data as saying theres an unavoidable obstacle

up ahead, another motor in the vest vibrates, cueing the driver to stop immediately. MachineDesign.com Nov. 3, 2009.


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Input Systems, Stereo Video:

From http://disparity.wikidot.com/


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Input Systems, Time-of-Flight Camera:

http://www.rasterfabrik.de/camcube_demo/boxing.html


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Other Research:

The Thumping Thread vest, winning entry of

University of Michigans Feel the Music

competition, is a excellent wearable electronic

concept addressing the limitation deaf and

hearing-impaired people face when it comes

to their musical experiences or the lack of it.

Feeling the beat will allow deaf or hearing-

impaired people to get into the rhythm, feelwhy people around them are so

enthusiastically twisting and shaking their

bodies.

The vest has vibrating motors about the size

of dimes lined up at the center of the back

and controlled via a LilyPad processor. The

motors buzz at different frequencies, to let theuser feel different components, the beat of the

music. The system is powered by batteries

placed in pockets of the vest.

From talktomyshirt.com July 2009


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Other Research:

But one more feature makes thisdemonstrator unique: the integration ofa terminal that is referred to as a GPS

eye which is used for determining andtransmitting the position of the wearer of

such a Jacket, based on GPS

technology.In this way, it is not only possible to

determine the location of the jacketswearer, it is also possible for GPSoverIP

to enable real-time determination of the

persons location within a building.

From talktomyshirt.com March 2006


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Other Research: New Technologies Electronic Travel

Aids

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Electronic Travel Aid Devices Send out signals to sense the environment, processes info, and delivers relevant

information to the user about his/her environment

Current Examples GPS enabled Canes Brainport transfers images from a camera to electronic impulses on the tongue Virtual Environment Software allows user to familiarize himself w/ a new neighborhood

virtually beforehand

Many of these technologies are not tailored to blind people, whose other senses areextremely heightened.


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Next Steps & Research Questions

Cartesian grids do not map well to tactility. Nerve endings areunevenly distributed around the body.

How can we distribute sensation conveniently around the bodyso that the users can accurately feel their proximity to their

surroundings in three dimensions?

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Synesthetic Clothing Presentation