SensaSea.
Abstract: SensaSea System is a responsive multisensory environment, particularly a room-sized interactive installation that incorporates wearable devices, interactive visual floor projections, auditory, and tactile modalities. SensaSea is designed as a physical environment for embodied interaction (Dourish, 2001) and free play suitable for multiple players; the system uses social proximity as the primary mechanism. Our objective is to promote active peer interaction and social connectedness among elementary school children through sensory-guided approaches which include digitized and projected interactive sea creatures. The multi-modal system also features an interactive soundscape and innovative real-time haptic feedback. We conducted 9 groups user studies (n=26 children in total). Our usability and feasibility tests have revealed that the system results in positive emotions and elicits multiple pro-social behaviors.
Project Lead. Collaborated with Ripon Kumar Saha, Assegid Kidane, Lauren Hayes, Sha Xin Wei
Space setup.
Equipments: the system utilizes a Sony A6000 camera with a 7.5mm Fisheye lens mounted on the overhead ceiling to capture a wide filed of top-down.
Lighting conditions: participants are equipped with lights in red, blue and green colors. The stage lighting is kept at low brightness.
Space setup: 10mx10m large space supporting freely run, as well as featuring visual content projected onto the walls and floor, creating a v SensaSea System Structure visually engaging environment.
Software and Algorithms: we developed a computer vision method that uses a color detection algorithm to track positions in real-time.
Haptic vest.
A custom haptic board designed for use with the Bela Mini board. This haptic board allows for the connection of up to 16 vibration motors using jumper cables, which can then be attached to the conductive fabric on a garment.
Aquatic Creatures.
The visual media features three virtual aquatic creatures—a seahorse, a clownfish, and a turtle. These creatures exhibit various ’greeting’ behaviors, such as swimming, head-nodding, and jumping up and down, each with a certain accessory. All these visual animations were created using Unity. The assets are then converted to MaxMSP for further logic mapping and processing. These behaviors are designed to respond to three levels of social proximity: intimate, social, and public zones.
Real-time rapid one-by-one clockwise transition vs four motors as a group transition.
The actuator distributes at the front and back region.
