CONCEPT Affec tive Geometr y is a projec t about touch, play, and obser vation. I fr y is a small mechanical creature that lives in close proximit y to the body. By communicating and reac ting through vibrations, I fr y mirrors human physical states and tells time. The intimate and invisible interac tions draw attention of conscious and unconscious behavior to an ex ternal physical representation of the body – I fr y. Time becomes a private and physical language. Differentiating moments, mak ing time/body affec tive, giving them charac ter, the projec t presents an alternative way of time awareness and body expression.
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is touch of an expressive and lively creature who mimics body rhythmes and gives time.
TECHNOLOGY Affec tive Geometr y is felt through three vibration INTERAC TIONS motors in contac t with sk in. This exac t number of I fr y is inspired by pleasure humans experience motors presents an interesting range of vibration, BEHAVIOUR when touching and being touched. I t is physical time yet occupies a small sur face. The motors are proI fr y ’s responses and ex ternal physical representation of the body with grammed with difference in: acceleration strength or mirroring is diwhich one can be physically playful and expec t physical reof the vibration, time length of the vibration and vided into three sponse. I fr y is secret to ever ybody besides the wearer unless renumber of vibrations. S ee Pic ture 4. Conduc tive states. S ee Pic ture 4. Quiet, excited, vealed. The creature makes time or body time personnel as it colors thread in appearance of eyelashes, measures sk in and supersonic. Quiet state, is when the body it by fragments of intended and unintended interac tions bet ween I fr y conduc tance. I t is facing sk in and is positioned at exhibits little motion, acceleration and sk in conduc tance. When the and it ’s wearer. I fr y references time passing so we can orient ourselves the center of the objec t for greater contac t. body is quiet, I fr y is quiet. I n this state I fr y is just vibrating in probut be negligent to the preciseness of universal time. I fr y is a companI nside the charac ter is an accelerometer. The cirgrammed inter vals of time. I n this protot ype the time duration beDESIGN ion of our emotions and expressiveness. cuitr y for sk in conduc tance is on top of the mit ween ever y vibration is t wo minuets, though it can be 5, 10, 15 and Emotion through touch and tac tilit y are the areas of incrocontroller (Arduino board). Sk in conduc tance ec t. Ever y t wo minutes, there is one long, sof tly accelerating vibravestigation. Affec tive Geometr y is formed at an idea of REFERENCES and acceleration data flows into a Processing protion. The chosen abstrac t notion of time gives orientation with disregentle, pleasant and cute sensations. I fr y is a small [1] Lightman, A. 1994. Einstein’s Dreams. New York : R andom House gram on the microcontroller (Arduino board) powgard to precise time. objec t transformable into a wearable ex tension by [2] Zerubavel, E. 1982. The Standardization of Time: A S ociohistorical ered by batteries. S ee Pic ture 1 and 3. I n this proI fr y is in excited state, when it measures high sk in conduc tance. Few hidden elastic in the layers of craf t foam. The design of perspec tive, The American Journal of S ociology, 88, 1, 1-23. tot ype, the microcontroller, sk in conduc tance cirsof tly accelerating vibrations are felt. When there is high sk in conducthe charac ter utilizes sof t materials so it is comfor table [3] Freud, S. 2003 edition. Uncanny Penguin Classics cuitr y, and batteries, are separate from the creatance and high acceleration, I fr y becomes supersonic. I t makes many and coz y to body and encourages touch toward itself. [4] Lippincott, K . 2000. The Stor y of Time. London: M errell Holber ton ture. With fur ther development it will be possible shor t, fast accelerating vibrations. As sk in conduc tance or acceleration The creature’s size, 2.5x2.5 inches, is adaptable to to make I fr y a self contained objec t with all techdecrease, the creature will return to being quiet. I fr y is more expressive [5] Picard, R. Affec tive Computing, MIT Press. 1997 living any where on the body as long as it has contac t nology hidden inside. as the body gets more aroused. with sk in and the vibrations are felt. S ee Pic ture 2.
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California College of the Ar ts and MIT M edia Laborator y SIGGRAPH 2008
co ntac t: slauney@cca.edu, jack ylee@media.mit.edu
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http://shaganebarsegian.googlepages.com/affec tivegeometr y