Programmed Bodies - Sensors detection of the spontaneous movement in the sports field

PROGRAMMed Bodies Sensors detection of the spontaneous movement in the sports field CLARA1CHAUME

2016

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Design research thesis - English abstract Presented by Clara Chaume Directed by Aurélien Tabard and Guillaume Giroud Diplôme Supérieur des Arts Appliqués ~ Master interactive design Pôle Supérieur de Design de Villefontaine 2016

prEface

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peechless, I am looking at the dancer who is executing the last movements of the ballet. I can't accept that the body is only matter and organs. The performer seems to be entranced by his movements, and his physical sensations seem to take the complete control. His body is occuping his mind, as well as his mind occupies his body.

My corporeal practices have always been various, expressive, physical, contemplative.

So, I have always been in search of a kind of balance, between self-control to reach my performances out, and attention to my body, for my well-being.

Consequently, my thesis subject came to me naturally : an investigation about the place of the body in the digital field.

«

»

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1 Boisseau P recueillis par R. Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker : Le Monde.fr [Internet]. 31 juill 2009 [cité 5 août 2015];

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Body is our home, our humanity, it is at the same time the part the most individual and the most universal of us.

Thanks to the body, I'm connected to the world, and I can interpret the world.

Table of contents Preface

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Table of contents

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Introduction

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6

chapter 1 Movement 13

15

body and consciousness

Intention Incarnation 16

Human movements

Sponaneous movement Singularity and normalisation

chapter 2 sensors 21

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Sensors

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Gestural interfaces

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Natural interfaces are not natural

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chapter 3 sports 33

35 sports

Between well-being and performance Sports is about attention Spontaneousness intelligibility

38 Detection

by sensors and sports movement

Goal : Modeling the movement Body objectivation and standardisation

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conclusion

introduction

First, we will deal with the spontaneous movement and why it is constituent of our human being status. Then, it will be about the digital detection by sensors and its way to modeled the body and its movements. The last part is a study case about movement detection in the sports field, and the benefits and disadvantages of a digital support for the physical training.

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The movement is consituent of our human being status We have to move to survive, and we are also moved by some intentions. Each person have a proper way to move. The digital field tends towards using the movement, because it seems to be the most intuitive and natural way to interact, that's why some gestural interfaces which works with sensors detection are developped. But this systems employ some codified gestures librairies which do not enable a detection of each movement subtelties and singularities. This approach leads to an objectification of our own body.

The digital detection is more and more present in the sports field, with an increasing usage of sportive apps, smart textiles or other smart sports accessories. But how the sensors detection, which objectifies and standadardizes the body, could guides such a practice, for which sensations and body singularity are some of the main pieces ?

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Chapter 1 Movement

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Spontaneous movement is full of subtility and ambiguity. We need to define and illustrate it to understand its essential role is the body consciousness.

Body and consciousness 15

Intention Because of its etymology, the word intention comes from the latin intentio, which means « thought application ».

So, the intention comes from a conscious goal, a choice, a wish.

In phenomonology, Husserl defines the intention as « the power of minds to be about, to represent or to stand for, things, properties and states of affairs», intention is a distinctive feature which means that consciouness is always conscious of something.

Incarnation To exist, consciousness requires a target, the sensation of the target, and consequently a body to feel it.

human movements

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Spontaneous movement

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ome movements aren't the consequence of a thought, the spontaneous movements. There are not intentional, and haven't any conscious aim. Their relation with the body is very intimate, spontaneous movements are a direct relation between the body and its environment. They prove that we belong to the world.

There are differences between a spontaneous movement, a gesture and a reflex. We have to define each notion to understand exactly what is a spontaneous movement, thanks to Erwin Strauss definitions.

A reflex is purely physiological. It's about the biological body, it is a reaction from a stimuli and it's only a result because of a cause.

The gesture is about consciousness. It's about making something, thinking of what I have to do, it is coming from a thought, an intention.

Finally, the spontaneous movement is more complexe, because it comes from an intimate relation between my interiority and my exteriority. →

environment

sensation

mu sti

cultural inputs

Spontaneous movement

reflex biological body

gesture consciousness of the body

pre-intentional body porosity

physiological

n tio en int

li

natural inputs

porosity incarnation

psychic

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It always have a aim and it can be conscious, but it is not the effect of a conscious intention. The spontaenous movement comes from the pre-intentional body, an intimate interlacing between two conceptions of my body : the first one is my body opened to the world, which analyses itself the world surrounding me and react depending on my senses ; the second one is my modeled body which have incorporated some cultural inputs, as education, rituals and conventions, during all its live. This kind of movement proves that I am opened to the environment, because it is intimately related to the environment. It's a dialog between my body and what is around it. Spontaneous movement is about sensitivity, and not about consciousness.

The limits between gesture, reflex and sponteanous movement are porous and ambigous because human movement is subtle and can't just be filed into classes. An only movement can be constituted of different factors : physiologic, conscious or sensitive.

Singularity and normalisation

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That's why, nowaday, the digital environment models the body and applies a pressure about the right way to move.

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he spontaneous movement is a proof of two things.

On the one hand, the spontaneous movement is proper of each person, because it is modeled by the life experience.

On the other hand, it proves that the human movement comes from a real intimate and natural relation between me, my body and the environment. So, this environment can have some influences on my body and my movement, and the spontaneous movement can be modeled. Body has always been standardised by some restrictions, because human have always been in search of a selfcontrol, to satisfy various factors as efficiency, decency, social norms, etc.

This control requires an impossible quasi-consciousness of the movements. It is not possible for the consciousness to be everywhere in the body and the body moves itself without conscious aim.

However, by learning and progressing in some specific environments, the body is modeled and shaped to match with the norm. Vigarello in Le corps redressĂŠ proclaims that the body has always been repressed by the devices of each age, because these devices are not able to detect and interpret each subtelty of the human movement.

These movements have to be modeled to fit with the conventions.

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Chapter 2 sensors

The body has always been repressed by devices of each age, and now, it's about digital devices of the computing fied. Because the movement to communicate is in our nature, the holistic goal of interfaces is to use natural movements, to develop natural and intuitive interfaces. That's why gesture interfaces are developped. But will digital devices, one day, be able to detect each subtelty of human movement? For now, the body is repressed by the codes imposed by the computer. What is the risk of this body standardisation by the computer?

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Sensors

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ge after age, some technological mediations had been added between senses and environment.

Nowaday, in the digital field, there are more and more sensors which are used to detect the movement.

Sensors detection is the most recent kind of movement detection, it has also the less sensitive approach of the spontaneous movement which is intimately linked to the sense and to a subjective perception : a sensor is a detection system which collects some data by an analysis of the environment. It is trying to make believe to a movement, when it only gives a group of datas, an objective view about the movement. This view hides the real essence of the spontaneous movement which is

about senses.

Moreover, detection by sensors is ambigous. In French, the term « captation » is used to name sensors detection, and means « capture ». This term implies, because of its Latin etymology « captare » which means « try to catch », both the notion of captation and captivation. Captation is about detecting and collecting datas whereas captivation is about seduction. The French term « captation » is in fact very ambigous because it describes an objective and physical detection and also a kind of seduction and of staging. As a consequence, « Sensor » does not focus only on a sensitive aspect, because it's about an objective detection too. →

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Detection by sensors is a pastiche which tries to make believe in a real movement. It is not honest, but maybe it is trying to be. However, thanks to this sensors, which are more and more efficient, gesture interfaces are developped, and the aim is to design more intuitive and natural interactions.

Plastic illustration of a comparison between the movement detected by a camera (top) and the movement detected by a sensor (bottom).

« « Le corps est notre

I believe we will lookhumanité, back on 2010 maison, notre ce queas the yearnous we expanded avons à labeyond fois dethe plusmouse indivi-and keyboard andplus started incorporating more duel, de universel aussi. C’est naturaltoujours forms ofà travers interaction suchjeas lui que metouch, speech,relie gestures, handwriting, au monde et que jeand lis levision what computer scientists monde. call the «NUI» or natural user interface.

» »

Steve Ballmer, Straus EW. Du sens Microsoft des sens CEO quoted by Norman D. Natural User Interfaces Are Not Natural.

2010.

La Kinect Interactions. de Microsoftjune prend la forme d’une caméra capable de discerner des parties

gestural interfaces

B

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ecause the movement seems to be the most intuitive way to interact, the digital communication employs more and more the gesture in its codes. �

First, there was the pair mouse and keyboard, then, the touch screens, and now, some gestures interfaces are developped, the body is more and more involved in the interaction and sensors are more and more efficient to detect it.

Before, only hands and fingers were the preferred body parts to interact and could be detected, nowadays, there are more and more body parts involved in the communication with computers, even the whole body. ↓ I wonder if the body will be more recognized thanks to this evolution of movement detection, and it's doubleedged : the body involvement takes away the risk of body omission, but it brings more control of it and its movements.

« Le corps est notre maison, notre humanité, ce que nous avons à la fois de plus individuel, de plus universel aussi. C’est toujours à travers lui que je me relie au monde et que je lis le monde.

»

The Microsoft Kinect is a device which enables users to control and interact with their computer without any joystick or game controller, through an interface using gesture and spoken commands.

Straus EW. Du sens des sens La Kinect de Microsoft prend la forme d’une caméra capable de discerner des parties

natural interfaces are not natural

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We can conclude this part about sensors detection on two points. On the one hand, in the digital field, standards seems more important than optimization. In fact, the body is adjusted on the technology and must incorporated some conventions, some not so natural movements.

On the other hand, there is an objectivation and a standardisation of the body. The risk is to forget the sensitive relation we have with our own body, and to lost our body singularities.

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eveloping some natural interfaces thanks to the movement is for now an holistic goal, in reality this kind of interfaces are not enough natural and require a learning. The gestures required are not so intuitive, they must match with some conventions. In fact, it is not very intuitive to scroll, swipe or zoom in on a smartphone without having learned the touch screen gestures conventions before. Moreover, there is no tolerance for movement excess, so, doing an efficient and accurate gesture requires some concentration. Some spontaneous movements are not in the standards, they can be considered as interferences and are most of the time repressed.

Detection systems are more and more integrated in our daily life, taking familiar forms such as wardrobe or home automation installations, tending toward omnipresence. ↓ As a result, the body is getting more and more modeled by the digital devices.

Project Jacquard is a current project, started next year, led by Google ATAP and Levis Strauss. It is an interactive textile which can detect each touch and deformation and send it to other devices. It as simple as a yarn, as familiar as a simple cloth, but it is also totally invisible and integrated computing.

Some smart watches as the Fitbit are designed to be worn 24 hours a day, even when we are asleep.

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Chapter 3 sportS

In this last chapter, I'm going to apply my sooner conclusions on the sports field because sports practising is all about that sensitive relation with the body and this corporal singularity. I also chose the sports field because, nowaday, there is more and more smart accessories to help the sports practice, and there is a real issue about it.

Obviously, the sports field is in an intimate relation with the movement. At first sight, we can believe sports aims to control everything about the body, but it is not that simple. Spontaneouness is a motor of sports training and performance requires a good understanding of the body and its spontaneous mecanisms, it's why detection by sensors can play an important role in the training.

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Sports

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ports, in our time, can have a double role. On the one hand, it's a good health factor : there is less and less belief in life after death nowadays, so, we are in a more scientific relation with our body and we need to conserve it for a longer time, in order to extend life. On the other hand, sports practicing is a boosting of each person individuality and allows to master and model it.

Between well-being and performance Sports can be approached with three goals : well-being, performance, or both.

Sports practicing for the well-being requires a special attention to the body and its sensations because it is about good health, whereas sports practicing for the performance is a search of self accomplishment and progress, a research of the optimal gesture. How to combine a body attention and the optimal gesture search ?

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Sports is about attention Sports is about attention, an attention of each movement, gestures and reflexes, about consciousness of what happens in the body and its environment. This attention is ambigous. It is not only about an active and conscious attention, but it is also about a reflexion about the body singularities.

Spontaneousness intelligibility

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Sports practicing and training is a two-ways process between a gesture and a spontaneous movement, a cycle in two steps.

In a first step, the spontaneous movement is transformed into a gesture : the movement, in order to become more accurate, more efficient, and executed in a better way, must be conscious and intelligible, and consequently, must be a gesture. In a second step, this gesture is repeated, again and again, until the body integrates it, and it becomes unconscious and spontaneous again. And this process is repeated about another movement, etc. It is a permanent cycle between gesture and movement.

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Detection by sensors and sports movement

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or now, smart sports accessories detect mainly reflexes and physiological datas. But movement sensors are integrated little by little, in order to decompose the movement and make it intelligible.

Goal : Modeling the movement Sensors detection in the sports field aims to make the spontaneous part of the movement understandable, to start more easily the two-way process we described earlier. The problem is that sensor detection expresses the movement by objective datas. Digital intelligence is able to calculate and simulate the optimal gesture for each circumstance. The optimal gesture seems to be the computer gesture and the human movement is modeled on unattainable ideals, without any tolerance and adaptation according to each singular corporeality.

The SmartMat is a yoga mat which detects your posture and your alignement and gives you some a feedback and some advices to correct it.

The Babolat Play is a tennis racquet which analyses different aspects of the game such as where you hit the ball on your racquet, how fast you have served, what is your racquet trajectory, etc.

Body objectivation and standardisation

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Whereas the ideal in the interaction field is an intuitive, human and sensitive way to communicate with the computer, which allows each person to express his singular corporeality, it seems to be, really, the opposite : computer seems to shape the human body according to this selfimage. It leads to body objectivation and standardisation.

An objective approach of the body is lik e a repression of a part of each one. Sensors are a mediation between me, my body and my environment, which let me believe in a movement but show only datas and standardised interpretations of my body.

The body is the main focus in the sports field, so there is no risk to abandon it. But it is utilised as a consumption good that is able to increase the value of my person.

« Le corps est notre maison, notre humanité, ce que nous avons à la fois de plus individuel, de plus universel aussi. C’est toujours à travers lui que je me relie au monde et que je lis le monde.

»

Straus EW. Du sens des sens La Kinect de Microsoft prend la forme d’une caméra capable de discerner des parties

conclusion

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s a designer, I would like to reconcile the two fields of movement detection and sports by designing training programs which use the sense and the body singularity as the heart of the sports practising.

I'm going to focus on three approachs : enable a personal interpretation of the datas collected by sensors to correlate it with some singular sensations, lead the user attention on his body and his movements, offer a way to costumize of the training program.

Fonts: Museo and Frutiger Printed in February 2016

by Europrim, Grenoble, Clara Chaume www.clarachaume.net @ClaraChaume

Introduction chap Certains mouvements sont constitutifs de notre statut d'être humain. Ce chapitre visera à comprendre quels sont leur origine, leur moteur et leur objectif. Nous verrons aussi que ces mouvements, et par extension le corps, peuvent être modelés et normalisés par des disciplines corporelles issus de différents facteurs influents.

Sous-chapitre

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Titre de paragraphe

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he movement is consituent of our human being status We have to move to survive, and we are also moved by some intentions. Each person have a proper way to move. The digital field tends towards using the movement, because it seems to be the most intuitive and natural way to interact, that's why some gestural interfaces which works with sensors detection are developped. But this systems employ some codified gestures librairies which do not enable a detection of each movement subtelties and singularities. This approach leads to an objectification of our own body.

The digital detection is more and more present in the sports field, with an increasing usage of sportive apps, smart textiles or other smart sports accessories. But how the sensors detection, which objectifies and standadardizes the body, could guides such a practice, for which sensations and body singularity are some of the main pieces ?

Design thesis - English Abstract DSAA~Master interactive design 2016