Venous Materials Instrumentum Fluidicum Interactivum

Press Kit

Unique Properties

The Venous Materials project envisions a new way to design dynamic tangible interactions using fluidic structures. It is a new type of dynamic interactive material that is inspired by veins systems in nature: in plants, leaves, and throughout the human body. These Materials respond to user's pressure and motion with dynamic displayed patterns. Venous Materials can animate dynamic graphics, create responsive objects, and to visualize body movement and balance.

Dimensions & Packaging

The different Venous Materials prototypes are mainly 5cmX5cm, while some of them can get up to 15cmX15cm.

Tags

Interaction Design, Material research, Dynamic Graphics, Microfluidics, Computational Aided Design, Sensors and Displays, Venous Structures

Production Technology

Venous Materials technology developed through research on current Microfluidics,that is specifically designed for human interaction and UX design. A specilized computational tool was developed for the design process and to simulate and visualize of the color change and display of the flow within the material, according to the user input. Production process involves laser engraving and manual lab processes. Materials used are PDMS silicone and ecoline ink.

Design Challenge

While current computer chips and electronics usually require rigid and bulky components that challenges the integration with varied objects or fabrics, Venous Materials is soft and self-contained mechanism that utilizes the motion of daily activities as its energy source. Design of micro-fluid dynamics is not intuitive task, our approach and computational tool allows the design, simulation, and prototyping of fluidic interactive sensors that can be embedded in, or attached to, any object.

Research

This work present design and fabrication methods for interactive fluidic mechanisms that respond to deformation by mechanical inputs from the user. The Venous design tool provides designers with a simple way to create and validate designs of fluidic structures. It allows users to design the geometry, and simulate the flow with intended mechanical force dynamically. This leads to Interactive applications of Venous Materials, to augment human movement and everyday objects.

Inspiration

This project is inspired by venous structures that are ubiquitous throughout nature and in the human body. By changing colors, veins can inform us of internal and external physical conditions. For example, veins in leaves transmit pigments that drive color change, which informs us of the internal condition of the leaf and which season it is. When we press firmly on a button, the tip of our finger changes its color, this subtle color change can be used to indicate the applied pressure.

Project Duration

The project started June 2019 and finished April 2020 in Cambridge, MA, at the MIT Media Lab, Tangible Media group

Operation Flow

The displayed flow pattern and color change of the fluidic channels within Venous Materials inform the users of the motion and physical force that is applied on the material. The users can interact with Venous Materials by deforming or applying pressure on the material, which drives the fluid flow within the internal channels to visualize the dynamic responsive display. Therefore, Venous Materials simultaneously functions as a sensor and display of tangible information.

Patents

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Tangible Media Group / MIT Media Lab

Image Credits

All Photo/video credit to Tangible Media Group, MIT Media Lab