tacTILE

designing object communication

through haptic feedback

Sentient Architectures: at Home

Rodolphe el-Khoury with Nashid Nabian
Digitally Enhanced Building Units (1-a)
tacTILE

Tactile is a responsive floor tile that uses haptic

technology to communicate on a personal level and
promote fluid movement of users within the home
The notion of home is essentially a personalization
of space. Humans instinctively pursue places of
recognition where daily routines provide a kind of
refuge from the seemingly chaotic world. TacTILE
builds upon this desire for familiarity and custom-
ization by imagining floor tiles that are alive and
programmable. Through integration of simple elec-
tronics and networked intelligence into everyday
building units, tacTILE enable a new language for
operability.
 brick

arduino

“The fact that objects can now sense, think, act and sentient |ˈsen ch (ē)ənt|
communicate with the help of embedded technology adjective
points to an architecture that is more closely aligned able to perceive or feel things
with the networked dynamics of living systems --
a sentient architecture.”
Rodolphe el-Khoury
how does a home communicate
and when should we listen?
communication with shape communication with sound
 in a space where objects come alive and are transformable, there aris-

es the need for a new language of operability. considering the various

levels of engagement we have with space at home, tacTILE begins to

question these relationships we have with everyday objects and ex-

plores how embedded technology can offer them a voice for response.

communication with touch

 Sensor Shoes

The first investigation into responsive environments

considered the stair and its role as a building com-
ponent with a fixed presence. How could this unit
building unit person unit communicate to the subject its presence and us-
age? I began by thinking about on-person electron-
ics that respond to environmental stimuli. Sensor
Shoes were developed as a prototype that could
detect a stair step through a proximity sensor and
then trigger a vibrational motor to notify the wearer.
With this invention, the reliance on visual senses is
diminished and we instead rely on the environment
to speak and communicate with us.
dormant state

the unit detects

staircase and offers
subtle indication to
lift your foot

stair detection / light and vibration

 tacTILE Prototyping

Taking a closer look at the physical structure of

homes and their potential to embody an artificial
intelligence, the second prototype imagines a floor
surface which is programmable and responsive
to a variety of stimuli. The floor tile responds to a
persons presence with a small vibration acting as
a subtle deterrent which could emerge in a variety
of scenarios. Certain areas of the home are often
‘off-limits’ either to guests or small children and the
floor tiles in front of a door could begin to vibrate as
someone approaches. In this situation, the owner
could pre-program their floor to specify which areas
Testing Vibration within Material to exclude. Another scenario considers the case dormant state
where a person has lingered in a place for too long.
In a crowded apartment with multiple roommates,
the bathroom floor could respond to a person who
has extended their time limit in front of the mirror.
Or perhaps a person is re-painting their living room
and an air quality sensor registers a dangerously
high level of toxins. The floor could begin to vibrate
to let the person know they should step our of the
room temporarily. Another situation arises when
you consider visually impaired occupants. Floor vi-
brations could occur in areas that are too close to
walls or in front of a staircase. These tiles are cus-
tomizable so the home owner could choose what
kind of stimuli they want their home to respond to.
programmable surface

Foot detection / Vibration

Scenario 1 - Shared Space Scenario 3 - House Party

Scenario 2 - Midnight Snack Scenario 1 - Painting Walls

a home of ‘clickable’ objects

The home is an endless source for stimulation. We

experience the home with all five of our senses
and this contributes to the comfort and affection we
have for personal space. TacTILE is a first step in
demonstrating the potential for activated building
units which operate within the logical framework
of human comfort. From large surfaces (like walls
and floors) to handheld objects (like sink faucets
and door knobs), the levels of engagement we have
with our home can easily be transformed by the in-
tegration of haptic feedback.
the making of tacTILE

arduino board
9V battery
pressure sensor
(4) vibration motors
breadboard
electric wire
wood
canvas
foam core
electric tape
glue
//Connect Pressure Sensor to Analog pin 0
//Connect Vibration Motors to Digital Pin 13

void setup(){
Serial.begin(9600);
}
void loop(){
int in=analogRead(0);
Serial.println(in);
if(in<20) digitalWrite (13,LOW);
if(in>20) digitalWrite (13,HIGH);
delay(1000);
}
jennifer dunnam