Intelligent Mobility (MA)
Avirukh Roy
It is situated at the intersection of design of mobility, spaces and experiences and it questions archetypal views of what constitutes transportation design. I aim to explore it not from the perspective of the product itself, but how they can be shaped by our understanding of our own struggles- from finding new, sustainable ways to move and interact and also combat hidden issues of mental health such as (but not limited to) stress and loneliness.
Alone in the City- Introduction.
Alone in the City takes aim at the growing epidemic of loneliness in urban areas and how that can be tackled through designed spaces in public transportation. A research and experiment led process, the final proposal was to engage strangers in collaborative experiences and games on platforms and in trains using motion sensors and acoustic trap displays. The actual development of the games is an ongoing project in collaboration with the Interact Lab, University of Sussex, who are helping with the realisation of 3D holograms with acoustic trap display.
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DigitalIn Collaboration with:
London is lonely. — 55% of Londoners report feeling lonely, the highest among 18 global cities. Many people move to London for studies and/or work. Out of those who have lived in the city for 6 years or less, most lack a well developed network of friends. At the same time, we are seeing rising numbers in cases of loneliness in urban areas. The UK became the first country to appoint a Minister of Loneliness to tackle this problem.
Where are the people? — There are about 5 million journeys made on the London Underground everyday, which is more than the population of Ireland. These graphs show that the age groups 20-29 contribute to the highest ridership on the network, which coincides with the age groups who reported feeling the loneliest: 16-24, according to the BBC Loneliness Experiment, and 18-22 according to Cigna, a USA based health services company.
The club of happiness. — Our perception of time is warped due to inactivity while we travel in public transportation, which leads to frustration. 60% of the respondents to my survey reported negative feelings while travelling on the Underground. Role strain is caused in people if they cannot break out of their obligatory social roles. Simultaneously, living in communities where we have access to people outside our family, such as neighbours, boosts trust and happiness. My question then was, how would it be if the train were a moving club, its members the passengers at that very instant and ever shifting in space and time?
What will they think? — "You see all the same people making the same journeys everyday and you nod and smile at them but you never make the conversation."- Elizabeth Oliver, survey respondent. 91% of UK's adult population thinks that small connections matter and that they can save someone's life. Furthermore, cities where people have more trust in neighbours also report having higher life satisfaction.
Handing cards. — This was an experiment to check London's negative politeness culture, whether strangers could be persuaded into dialogue with each other and to prove that a project such as this is viable. More information in video at the end.
Triangulation and boundary objects. — Triangulation is a characteristic of a public space that can bring people together, usually through some external stimulus. They link different groups to collaborate on a common task. The dancer and the guitar players here act as the boundary objects as they draw the attention of people who are strangers to each other towards a specific point in viewing the performance, often singing and clapping along and breaking into conversation- the main objective of this project.
Examination of triangulation. — This video is a study into the effect of triangulation in a public space by examining three examples, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's 'Body Movies', Chris O'Shea's 'Hand From Above' and #Platform88, a collaboration between Transport for London (TfL) and Yamaha.
Space and Objects. — This was an experiment to gauge how comfortable people felt in the vicinity of other people and also how likely they were to interact with each other corresponding to a space, then a smaller space and finally with objects in the space (to evaluate the effect of boundary objects). More information in video at the end.
An underground movement. — This was an experimental community building exercise based on shared values (and curiosity generation) of those who wore/spotted this badge spread around the university The QR code acted as a link to a survey to gauge engagement, which itself could later have been modified to act as a forum for the community. The badge was made using the semaphore codes for the letters M and H which stood for mental health (as the project focusses on loneliness), and the code was encircled in a not-perfect, hand-drawn circle symbolising the completeness of life despite its imperfections. This was not taken ahead as it failed to create a momentum in the experiment.
Grown objects. — This was an idea with thoughts on creating a biophilic, participatory central points of focus in the train carriages and provide living structures- sculptures that would react to people's conversations. It was intended to nurture plants through voice activated light and fog system in contained sculptural pods, evoking an emotional response from the passengers. This was not taken ahead because of its slow, and therefore non-intuitive cues.
Experiment with motion-capture games. — This was the experiment that led the project onto its final concept. Two strangers were asked to collaborate on a simple motion capture game and they left as friends. More information in the video below.
Research video. — This video describes the experiments that were undertaken as part of this project.
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DigitalIn Collaboration with:
Gamers on the go. — Based on the experiments from before, I decided to work with motion capture games using animations made using an acoustic trap display. These interactions would take place on platforms while passengers wait and in trains as well. This becomes an ideal means of engaging in dialogic processes as it is visually stimulating, provides a shared moment of joy and instant connection between people. The games(in development) can be simple, familiar games which provides a sense of comfort and finally, being engaged in games while travelling will keep the passengers from feeling frustrated as opposed to a passive journey.
Working principle. — The motion capture devices capture data from people’s movements on the platform and in the trains, which facilitates interactive experiences that are aimed at generating curiosity in the people and engaging them in games while waiting on the platform or while travelling on the trains. The volumetric display is responsible for visual, tactile and audio presentation using acoustic trapping, and is fed by the data captured from the motion sensors. These holograms are real 3D images which are formed by the movement of beads that are suspended using arrays of small ultrasound speakers. The movement of the sound waves moves the beads. Apart from their optical properties, they are also able to generate sounds due to the vibration, which makes them suitable as a versatile display and public announcement system. Thus, this system can be used to display important service announcements, advertisements while also allowing people to engage in play with their co-passengers.
Animated lives. — Two passengers engaged in play on the platform.
Animated lives. — Passengers engaged in games while travelling on a train in London Underground.
Working principle. — This video shows how the motion capture, acoustic trap display and surface mapped projection technologies come together to create this experience.
Gameplay and character development is an ongoing project with Andreas Fender, Interact Lab, University of Sussex.
Alone in the City. — A girl making her way back from Central London in the wee hours makes a new friend through new and unexpected experiences while travelling on the London Underground.
Alone in the City takes aim at the growing epidemic of loneliness in urban areas and how that can be tackled through designed spaces in public transportation. A research and experiment led process, the final proposal was to engage strangers in collaborative experiences and games on platforms and in trains using motion sensors and acoustic trap displays. The actual development of the games is an ongoing project in collaboration with the Interact Lab, University of Sussex, who are helping with the realisation of 3D holograms with acoustic trap display.