Sensable
Sensable is a piece of smart jewelry which enables humans to explore and sense biotic and abiotic elements in the neighborhood. Sensable houses a plant, which is fostered by the wearer promoting green infrastructure and taking frequent walks to meet its light needs. The device acts as an interface between humans and non-humans, leading to an increase in empathy for the environment we are a part of. Sensable guides one to the nearest green area where one can experience ecology by encountering various sound sculptures and becoming a part of it.
Advisors
Team
Individual
Sustainable development goals
Tags
Processing
Arduino
IoT
Installation
Concept
Smart jewelry that helps you sense the biosphere more closely. It houses a plant, which needs to be fostered, cared for and watered by you.
When it needs light, it will vibrate to nudge you to take your new friend out for a light walk. It will then lead you to the nearest green spaced wherein it will make you meet it's other non-human friends like the leaf-cutter ants, moisture in the soil etc.
When it needs light, it will vibrate to nudge you to take your new friend out for a light walk. It will then lead you to the nearest green spaced wherein it will make you meet it's other non-human friends like the leaf-cutter ants, moisture in the soil etc.
Inspiration & Research
I believe that human ego is the source of all evil and suffering in this world we exist in. Which is the root cause for ignorance as we tend to be driven by wants rather than needs.
We tend to think of nature as something that is outside of us, as a broad entanglement of things that silently undergoes our actions and observation. But what if we see ourselves as part of an environment that senses us as much as it is sensed by us? Scientists increasingly find proof of communication networks, relations between plants, animals and humans that only few of us are aware of. Plants communicate the attack of caterpillars to other plants that will immediately produce chemical toxins. Trees communicate with each other through their roots. Even humans seem to communicate in a sensory environment in which plants and animals simultaneously take part.
Do you often wonder what plants and animals are thinking about the current state of our planet? If they could vote in a democratic election, what would they want to see change? What is important to them to stay the same? In considering your own perspective, what service do you feel is necessary to plants and animals to protect their home on Earth and create a healthy life for their species now and long-term beyond our generation?
Which led to me gravitating towards the following topic:
We tend to think of nature as something that is outside of us, as a broad entanglement of things that silently undergoes our actions and observation. But what if we see ourselves as part of an environment that senses us as much as it is sensed by us? Scientists increasingly find proof of communication networks, relations between plants, animals and humans that only few of us are aware of. Plants communicate the attack of caterpillars to other plants that will immediately produce chemical toxins. Trees communicate with each other through their roots. Even humans seem to communicate in a sensory environment in which plants and animals simultaneously take part.
Do you often wonder what plants and animals are thinking about the current state of our planet? If they could vote in a democratic election, what would they want to see change? What is important to them to stay the same? In considering your own perspective, what service do you feel is necessary to plants and animals to protect their home on Earth and create a healthy life for their species now and long-term beyond our generation?
Which led to me gravitating towards the following topic:
Non-Anthropocentric Governance and Decision Making to reduce inequalities
I wanted to know
How do people see themselves in relation to the environment, nature, life around them?
Since humans make up only 2.5% of biomass, I went on to try and understand what current outlook towards these non-humans is.
I was stunned and inspired by these specimens I found online during my desk research
They were in a way amplifying the non-humans into something that could be perceived by humans
Even though we take up so less of the biomass, our actions impact the whole biome
Urbanization is one of the primary drivers of biodiversity loss around the world, according to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), with urban areas having doubled since 1992. By the middle of the century, the UN projects that 68% of humanity will live in towns and cities, placing further pressure on ecosystems and rapidly vanishing habitats
I wanted to understand whose all decisions need to be taken to move to a better future. I started of by marking a 1m x 1m land in the garden to understand all the stakeholders of that small piece. I was amazed and overwhelmed by the outcome, there were plants at different stages of their lives, some were food, some weren't. More than the plant and animals, the rain, gardener and the wind too affected what came into that piece of land as nutrient.
During the research phase I tried to observe and absorb as much as I could
- Expert interviews with Andrew Quitmeyer(Digital Naturalist), Rebecca Mora(Biomimicry specialist) and Irene Garcia(Department of Innovation, Curridabat Mayor's office)
- Intercept interviews with people in and around the neighborhood
- Research papers on Eco-centrism and Human Eco-societal relationships
- Podcasts from RadioLab on natural emergence
- Walk around the neighborhood and Curridabat area
The City of Curridabat has a initiative called as 'Ciudad Dulce'(Sweet City), where in they've given citizenship to plants and animals. Not just that, they've created bio-corridors across the city to enable movement of biodiversity. The hut like structure int he above photo is a Bee Hotel. I was inspired by Ciudad Dulce and wanted my project to align with their goals, hence even aesthetically you will see hexagons everywhere - cuidad dulce branding.
Some photos from my walk around Curridabat, I amazed to find so much biodiversity in sprawling urban area. By the middle of the century, the UN projects that 68% of humanity will live in towns and cities, placing further pressure on ecosystems and rapidly vanishing habitats
Elliott, Alejandro and myself at the Curridabat Municipality office
A wooden stage at the centre of a park at Curridabat, some people I spoke to said it looked like a natural amphitheater
In the same park, I noticed a trail of ants, coming from the soil over the human pathway and back into the soil. A mature leaf-cutter ant nests houses around 8 million ants, this made me wonder, who gave priority to us 3 humans in the park at the moment over those ants
Ants trying to cross over the human path from soil
I put a paper on their trail to see, if they will cross over it. I wondered if I would be able to control their direction of exploration
After 32 minutes, the ants were able to reclaim their trail by spraying a new line of pheromones. I could now move this paper and add another one.
I came back to see if I would be able to count the number of leaves harvested by them using ESP32 cam
some pigeons I encountered during my walks, they would fly away when I neared them and come back to sit in the same place as I went away
Some trees with name tags
I decided I would have to narrow down on my stakeholders to work with for the scope of this project as nature has many. Based on my research and field visits, I went on to select trees, soil, leaf-cutter ants, pigeons and humans as my 5 key stakeholders.
which brings me to my How Might We
how might we bring non-humans and humans on the same conversation plane such that all stakeholders and futurity benefit from emergent behaviour
I figured a 3 step approach would work best in this scenario for humans to know non-humans
Identify
Empathize
Co-create
Insights & Ideation
Government and people both have aspiration to increase green infrastructure
Sounds of nature are calming and help in de-stressing, especially after a long day
Empathizing with mistreated beings is the first step of an organized community
People feel the need to do their part for nature and give back, when they realize it’s importance
Nature’s will can only be witnessed and has strength in numbers
Urbanism is the primary driver of biodiversity loss across the world
I went into ideation with my peers providing them a matrix of stakeholders to match and brainstorm for. I shared with them my insights and some of my field work findings
each participant was dealt a set of cards showing a stakeholder's likes, dislikes and effects to/by humans
Some of the major themes which came out during brainstorming. I personally like the idea of a pet very much, how a pet is almost considered like family
Parque del Prado, a park in Curridabat where I did some intercept interviews
A sketch of the park while in it, one can see the direction the wind blows. It is by observing we learn so much
Map of the human pathway in the park, the dashed line is the ant trail and the hexagon is the stage
Initial concept I came up with, "Citizen Growth" - where the park is a city and all the inhabitants it's citizens contributing to the society additively
I then started wondering what if every human had a plant pet, which they would take everywhere with them
This pet would tell them when it's time to go out, give them all nature updates etc.
When it needs light, it will ask the human to take it outside for a walk, where it can play with it's other friends and help the human explore the green areas
It could also carry waste and spread it near ant nests as the waste from ant nest is a good biodegrading catalyst
Prototype
3d printed a quadraped to imitate a plant pet, this would carry a plant
trying to move
almost there...
there you go, it's walking now
Bodystorming voice commands with the pet
Although I liked this robot, what I really liked was this relationship emerging between the plant and me, which would take me out to discover green areas. I decided to drop the robot, as it was clunky, difficult to be carried around and started looking at different stages in a life of a plant
How might humans be more aware of their environment through fostering a plant such that they take mindful decisions?
with the reframed How Might We, it was going to be a plant which would help a human go out and sense more
since it was now smaller, what all possible spaces could it grow in
I then chanced upon Air plants during my research and found that these plants do not need any soil to grow and pull their nutrients from the air
A quick search online, led me to many ways people air plants at home and also how resilient are they
some plant inspired jewelry I found for my mood-board
more mood-board previews, the one with two balls on the white dress got a lot of attention when I asked around
Nitin trying out the empathy wearable. It vibrates when near a green area. For testing I had put geo-fences in my house and one in a friend's house, it would vibrate when I would walk to my friend's place. Contains 2 vibration motors, they were too close for one to distinguish which one is vibrating. Therefore I decided to split the wearable into 2, wherein one would get a clear direction
Scraped green areas as polygonal geo-fences from overpass turbo API to be fed into p5
Trying out epaulettes vs stick on necklaces - decided to with stick on necklaces
Stitched some fabric on cardboard to understand the feel
More exploration with jewelry materials. Was trying to grow plants in the center so made a hole, but later on decided to drop it as plants need more freedom to grow
Started making an icosahedron to house the plants
made with 20 triangles, it looks like a hexagon from any perspective
sanding off each side of the triangles to stick them
difference between sanded and un-sanded triangles
Sticking them together - using a mix of adhesive materials
Sanding of the final shape
Here it is!
polished vs unpolished
Woodworking a box for the jewelry, had to feel like they were from the same family of products
Visualization of leaves harvested by leaf-cutter ants
Time in seconds relative to no. leaves harvested by leaf-cutter ants
converting the frequency of leaves harvested to a physical motion - sound
I was very inspired by how the natural movements of leaves and branches are and wanted to imitate that based on the leaves harvested by the ants
servos moving in accordance with the ant activity
Connecting leaves collected from the garden
sounds good! but the servos are too noisy
time to box the servos
better! less noisier
collecting more leaves from the neighborhood, these are the leaves which are usually eaten by the ants
fixing the new leaves
freshly collected leaves in action
mirrored over display, it garnered a lot of attention at the studio
Trying to hit a bowl of water with a solenoid motor based on the moisture in the ground. The visualization was very poor and wouldn't attract attention
Collected some stems to try another idea I had, where in leaf would brush against some stems
Leaves on stems - the leaves would dry and break over time
Moved to using wood only and hitting it with wood
Liked how it took the form of a chime
Finally, wanted to add some water in the installation as it was pertaining to moisture. Dug some shallow pots in the ground and hung a stone from each chime on the surface of the water
Directions for how to become more sensable - soft instructions
Had to update with a graphic - as no one who held it knew where/how to wear it
sensable is connected to other installations through firebase, sharing GPS location over p5
Learnings
- This will bring change in long term. More sensable people would equate to more mindful decision making, elect better leader
- People want more options in fashion - based on occasion
- Strong relationships lead to emergence of unprecedented behavioral changes
- Very difficult to non-anthroposize and yet create something invasive while making installations
- Nature has a lot to teach us
Next steps
- Walkability data shared with government to indicate well-being of citizens
- Viability of growing flowers, herbs and vegetables
- Natural disaster alerts since people are connected to the earth like never before