Tangible Media | Sensible Plants
For course Digital Media: Ambiance, taught be Allen Sayegh at the Harvard GSD (2019)
Sensible Plants, a project by Lins Derry and Phoebe Lin, explores human-plant interaction by transforming plants into tangible interfaces.
Infrared sensor PCB
Precursor Design
Designed two printed circuit boards, one for the infrared LED embedded on the plant and the other for the infrared phototransistor and vibration motor worn by the subject. Programmed the motor to gently vibrate as subject connected with nature.
(Eagle, Arduino, SRP milling machine)
Capacitive sensor connected to rose
Final Design
Designed a printed circuit board featuring a capacitive sensor for sensing touch on the plant’s surface, then coded a particle system in Processing which was projection-mapped onto the plant as the output
(Eagle, Arduino, SRP milling, Processing, Video Projection)
Me testing full loop interaction
How the Installation Works
Upon inserting a capacitive sensor into the plant’s soil, when the subject touches the plant, the plant and subject’s combined electromagnetic fields affect the sensor’s capacitance. We then translate the different touch pressures and locations as detected by the sensor into the parameters affecting the size, color, and velocity of the particles being projected onto the plant.