reassurance
A little guy who needs your support.
‘reassurance’ is a simulation of the support and pressure we put on each other – a slight amount of pressure provides reassurance and comfort, communicates affection, makes an individual feel seen and seen and appreciated. It can light up the heart and calm down a troubled nervous system. But too much pressure can be smothering. Touch becomes invasive and unwelcome when applied in ways we don’t prefer or lingers for too long.
Constructed from cardboard and controlled from an arduino, pressure must be applied evenly to the creatures shoulders for it to react – lights gently fade in and out based on different levels of pressure, going from bright white light when the creature receives the touch it craves, to frustrated red when it is feeling overwhelmed.
Context
Giertz, Simone “Proud Parent Machine.” 2020. Installation. .
Created a month into a global pandemic when much of the world was isolating and touch starved, Simone Gierz created a machine that can provide consistent and reliable approval (for a price.) For 25c, a mechanical arm will stretch out, pat the user on the back, and say “Proud of you, son!” The tactile
Stone, Kara. “Medication, Meditation.” 2014. Interactive video game.
Medication Meditation explores the mundainity of upkeeping ones physical and mental health through a series of pixelated minigames simulating taking medication and repetitively performing wellness exercises, including the somatic experiences of breathing and counting heart beats.
Unknown Artist, “Haptic Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes vest”, n.d. (~2014)
The initial inspiration for this project came from a half remembered project another team was working on at a game jam I attended. They adapted the game Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes as a wearable controller. In the original game, two players work together to dismantle a bomb. One player has access to the manual, the other to the bomb itself, and they must communicate effectively, neither seeing the whole picture. The jam project adapted this idea, but the person “reading” the manual is wearing the bomb on the back of their vest – they are required to be assisted by another person as they can not reach their own back to dismantle the bomb. The sense of helplessness and suspense is heightened when the bomb is embodied in this way.
Circuit Diagram
In the place of the four LEDs are four strings of fairy lights in the boys chest, two of which have been tinted red. The A1 and A2 pins lead to DIY foam sensors placed in the boys shoulders.
Code Narrative
The Arduino takes data from two sensors, and compares them to make sure they are within a certain offset from each other – that the player is touching both sensors with the same pressure. This value is normalized into one value. Four sets of lights are fed a value that is set depending on thresholds from the normalize pressure value, so the chest gently glows when the right pressure is applied. The first two lights are white. The second two lights are red – the first acts as a warning that the player is pressing dangerously hard, and the second indicates that trust has been broken. All sets of light fade gently when the pressure is removed.