SomaFlatables: Supporting Embodied Cognition through Pneumatic Bladders
Aryan Saini, Haotian Huang, Rakesh Patibanda, Nathalie Overdevest, Elise Van Den Hoven, and Florian Floyd Mueller. 2022. SomaFlatables: Supporting Embodied Cognition through Pneumatic Bladders. In Adjunct Proceedings of the 35th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST ’22 Adjunct). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 19, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1145/3526114.3558705
Abstract
Applying the theory of Embodied Cognition through design allows us to create computational interactions that engage our bodies by modifying our body schema. However, in HCI, most of these interactive experiences have been stationed around creating sensing-based systems that leverage our body’s position and movement to offer an experience, such as games using Nintendo Wii and Xbox Kinect. In this work, we created two pneumatic inflatables-based prototypes that actuate our body to support embodied cognition in two scenarios by altering the user’s body schema. We call these ”SomaFlatables” and demonstrate the design and implementation of these inflatables based prototypes that can move and even extend our bodies, allowing for novel bodily experiences. Furthermore, we discuss the future work and limitations of the current implementation.
