Tangible Media Group

Vibration is an inherent material property that carries valuable information when users interact with surfaces and objects. Vibroacoustic sensing is not a new technique and has prior work established in both research and industry. VibroAware aims to close the gap between research and industry by being a system that is easy to deploy, surface independent, contains a cluster of nodes that work in a system while providing meaningful information to users and keeping the cost low.

This project is the second phase of a previous finished project. In the first phase, we tested VibroAware on paper and we were successful in transforming ordinary paper into an interactive surface.

In the new phase of the project we aim to go big by going small. VibroAware 2.0 aims to go beyond human capabilities to detect macro and micro vibrations. For example, to detect small particles falling on surfaces using their vibration signatures. This will allow us to use VibroAware in variety of applications, such as packaging context, factories, infrastructure or in areas inaccessible to humans.

Currently, we are testing VibroAware using two different approaches; MEMs and Piezo. We designed and built prototypes for both approaches, and they are currently in the testing phase. Our long-term vision for VibroAware is to create a fully-integrated system-on-chip for Vibroacoustic sensing.