5. Vitals
A rendering of the final Vitals wearable2021
In collaboration with Yiying Wu, Peipei Lin, and Abhijeet Ghavalkar
Speculative Design; Wearable Technology; Natural Language Processing
Socialization is at the heart of human nature, and each day, we interact with others through conversation, leisure, and work. Every word we exchange carries emotion, and that emotion affects those around us in invisible ways. Vitals renders the unseen visible, using color to visualize both positive and negative conversation, acting as an early warning sign for long-term exposure. When exposed to too much negativity, “tumors” begin to form on a heart at the center of the wearable, apermanent reflection of the emotional spaces you inhabit. The wearable uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to calculate a sentiment score for the conversations the wearer has, which triggers a heating element that acts as a catalyst for thermochromic pigments and ink that puffs under heat.
The video we made to demonstrate Vitals
In this project, we were tasked with creating a novel wear- able with integrated technology. We explored a variety of concepts, from living garments to shape-shifting clothing. We chose to explore a more artistic representation of a wearable in our final concept, centered around the idea of making the “unseen” visible.
Sketches of wearable concepts, from living to adaptive clothingA series of interviews around toxic environments and conversations highlighted the long stretches of time trauma is carried and the lack of awareness many perpetrators had in the pain they directly caused. With this information, we began experimenting with unconventional ways to display and demystify emotional data.
A stranger we interviewed on their experiences around toxic situations and conversationsWe chose to integrate thermochromic pigments into two separate materials: one stable, one unstable. Activated by heat, these materials represent positive and negative social interactions. Sentiment analysis determines when a con- versation is negative or positive. A positive leaning conver- sation triggers “veins” on the wearable to become blue. A negative conversation turns the veins pink. Too much exposure to negative conversation causes the unstable material on the heart to puff and form irreversible “tumors”, a metaphor for the lasting impacts our words can have on others.
Exploring capacitive ink “tattoo” directly on the body as a touch-free and organic means of interacting with an environment
Causing a puff-paint based material to degenerate using hair dryer
Exploring sensitivity of thermochromic pigments; red to yellow
Material beginning to puff and smoke
Color beginning to change on the material
Testing increasing levels of current on wires coated in thermochromic puff paint material
System architecture for the minimum viable prototype
3D print before being wired, painted, and coated in clay
Threading nichrome wire through a 3D printed “wing” for the wearable; each wing has one positive and one negative “vein”; the wire heats thermally reactive materials and the “wing” insulates the body
Coating wire with thermochromic clay (black when inactive)
Wearable after positive and negative “veins” have been activated, with irreversible damage caused to the heart from over exposure to negativity
Volunteer Mercedes Saldana testing the wearable; early stage heart degradation