PNEU-SKIN - A Haptic Social Interface with Inflatable Fabrics
Yujie Wang, Marcela Godoy · Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia · 2021
Wearable electronics endow us a great capacity to see clothing as an extension of our body and an interface to interact with our physical and social environment. The fashion industry is experimenting with new tectonics and materiality, however, few projects have explored wearables in the public and social domains and how it can dynamically respond to a wide range of interpersonal distances in social interaction. PNEU-SKIN is a pneumatic wearable that uses critical making as a research strategy to explore interactive and soft interfaces to create soft boundaries between private and public space. This paper proposes an embodied computation agenda and describes the design and prototyping process of a multi-sensory smart skin in response to varying social distance in interpersonal communication. By looking at adaptive behaviors in nature and the way that certain animal species respond to external stimuli by increasing their size and providing multi-sensory responses, PNEU-SKIN looks into how our clothing could become an adaptable skin to redefine interpersonal communication experience within everyday social interaction.