Blurring the line between digital and physical craft
The Digital Hand is an exploration of human-computer interaction and digital manufacturing, focusing on how physicality and digital processes intersect - bridging the gap between technology and human touch.
Status
Released
CLIENT
Prototype
Services
Research, Industrial Design, Interaction
A design-based research project exploring the areas of craft production, technology and industrial design.
The Digital Hand consists of 3 interaction defined objects; Skeleton Table, Dot Blanket, and Wave Dish. I defined the project goals around the fourth industrial revolution, and what the implications were for industrial design.
I saw parallels with traditional craft and digital fabrication, but what was lost was a sense of imperfection that is imbued by the hand of the maker. This project was looking to solve the lost human touch in digital fabrication.
Using an Xbox Kinect as a means to translate physical movement into data, I developed 3 different interactions that correlate to physical objects. Each object addresses a different digital fabrication tool, and the scale of the interaction is meant to be representative of the scale of the final product.
SKELETON TABLE
The perimeter of the table top is defined by the lines drawn from a users head, hands and feet. The table leg structure is derived from the joint positions and the limbs of the user’s body.
DOT BLANKET
The user is divided into active pixels and their size is determined by the distance in space to the Kinect. The closer a point is, the smaller the pixel will appear, the further away, the larger it will be.
WAVE DISH
The program draws a translucent black circle on every finger point for every frame of recording. The resulting image is then translated into a 3D topography and 3D printed.
The Digital Hand was named a finalist in Fast Company’s Innovation by Design awards in 2016. It has been featured in articles on Fast Company, Design Milk, and Designlines.
