BRANDON YEUP HUR SHORT CV

2009 - current Research Assistance / Teaching Staff

Industrial Design
School of Architecture + Design
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University

2010 Interaction Designer / Technical Advisor

A Lure Project
Visionary Images

2008 Interaction Designer for Performance

Hellen Sky and Collaborators
Company Miji

Design Assistant
Marc Pascal Design (M2 Products), Melbourne

2005 - 2008 Bachelor of Design (Industrial Design)

with First Class Honours
Royal Melbourne Institute ofTechnology Melbourne, Victoria

Industrial Design Exchange Program - 2007

Technische Universiteit Eindhoven Eindhoven, Netherlands

2005 - 2006 Computer Engineer

Foster’s Group, Deloitte,
Australian Air Express, AustralianTaxation Office

2004 Psychology Internship

Robyn Bradbury, Clinical Psychology Practice

2002 - 2003 Research Assistant

Department of Psychology,
University of Melbourne

1998 - 2002 Grad Diploma of Computer Engineering

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

Bachelor of Science (Psychology)

University of Melbourne
INTERESTS

◦ Tangible Interaction Design with Social and Emotional aspects

◦ Tactile Interface in Design
◦ Social Cultural Phenomenon
◦ Emotional Communication through Design
◦ Research through Design
◦ Open Source Design

PROFESSIONAL
AFFILIATIONS
◦ Design Seoul (Seoul Design Olympiad) - Foreign Correspondence
2008 - 2009

◦ Golden Key International Honour Society Member

2007-Current

AWARDS
◦ Best Project Development
Industrial Design RMIT
2008
PROJECTS
Musical Stairs
2010
Musical Stairs Project is a design proposal
and a feasibility study for a client, Melbourne
City Council.
Urban Kinesic (Invisible Urban Stage)
2009
A communication device for emotional com-
munication between people. Rather than us-
ing language as a mean of communication,
this device uses human body movements.
Tangible Wiki
2009, 2010
The project examines physical interfaces for
collaboration on documents and collections.
Darker Edge of Night
2008, 2009
Darker Edge of Night is the outcome to date
of a series of collaborating research labs ex-
ploring relationships between sound, video,
text, movement, design and interactivity.
TOUCH - A-Lure
2010
TOUCH is an interactive video piece about
freedom and entrapment installed within a
shipping container. A-Lure is a collection of
interactive arts/games played around the
streets and alleys of inner city Melbourne.
Reliquary
2009
Reliquary draws upon the connections be-
tween Australian Indigenous and Korean
spirituality to create a unique contemporary
dance theatre piece using puppetry, media
projection and aesthetic sound design.
S&M TupperWare Sound Stack It!
2007 2007

Circuit bendt sound created through circuit Part of Playground of the Future project,
bent Speak and Math toy. The mixture be- Stack It! is a playground for children to en-
tween electronical ‘accident‘ and recorded courage and invite them to be active.
music.
TEACHING

◦ Design Through Movement Workshop, Misperforming Symposium,

Auckland, New Zealand, 2009 November

◦ 4th Year Design Studio (Tutor with Frank Feltham), RMIT Industrial Design,
Melbourne, Australia, 2009 Semester 2, 2010 Semester 2

◦ Physical Programming (with Scott Michel), RMIT Industrial Design,

Melbourne, Australia, 2009 Semester 1, 2010 Semester 2

PUBLICATIONS

◦ Urban Kinesic

◦ Hur, Yeup, Feltham, Frank G. 2009. Urban Kinesic: a gestural interface for the
expression of emotions through bodily movements. In Proceedings of 21st An-
nual Conference of the Australian Computer-Human Interaction Special Inter-
est Group (CHISIG) of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia
(HFESA) (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, November 23 - 27, 2010). OZCHI 2009.
ACM, New York, NY, 417-420.

TALKS

◦ Design through Research - Misperforming Symposium, on November 28th, 2009.

A talk about Design through Research in the theme of Misperformance or Perfor-
mance at the Misperforming Symposium,
Auckland, New Zealand.

◦ Urban Kinesic - OZCHI 2009, on November 27th, 2009.

A presentation on Urban kinesic Project at the OZCHI proceedings,
Melbourne, Australia.
Musical Stairs
2010

Project Description Videos

Musical Stairs is a design proposal and a feasibility study for a client, Melbourne City ◦ Prototype Testing
Council. The City Council asked us (RMIT Industrial Design - Interaction Lab) to design
a ‘Piano Staircase - The Fun Theory project’ like installation design, where general pub-
lic could realize the enjoyment of taking stairs in the public space. Various mapping of
sounds and other methods of feedbacks were proposed and demonstrated. Further, Project Team
project team proposed a modular construction where each of the modules can be as-
sembled, replaced and maintained with an ease. ◦ Frank Feltham
Brandon Yeup Hur
Sound Mapping Morgan McWaters
Various sound mapping has been suggested in accordance with Topology of the site.

Haptic Feedback
One of the feedback suggested was Haptic Feedback, where the User would experience
the vibration of the unit as well as Auditory Feedback. The frequency of the vibration
would correspond to Note frequency of the Auditory Feedback.

Modular Design
Each unit is connected to a near by unit, resulting a stair level unit and overall Musical
Stairs. Each unit contains a Pressure Sensor and a Connector. These are then connected
to an Arduino and a MiDi shield to drive a MiDi instrument.
Tangible Wiki
2009, 2010

Project Description Videos

The project examines physical interfaces for collaboration on documents and collec- ◦ Scenarios of Use
tions. While shared information spaces allow teams to coordinate and collaborate,
they are absent at face-to-face meetings. The proposition is that shared information ◦ ‘Well’ Render
spaces should be physically present at face-to-face meetings. The approach is to de-
velop and test physical interfaces that enable embodied interaction with a Wiki in sup-
port of new activities at face-to-face meetings.
To this end, we present the ‘Well’ and the ‘Wunderkammer’, a meeting table and an Project Team
office storage shelf that each make the Wiki physically present. Both devices provide
palpable engagement with Wiki topics and their relationships. ◦ Frank Feltham
Andrew Burrow
Well Brandon Yeup Hur
The Well is a meeting table element of the Tangible Wiki project, that displays vi- Morgan McWaters
sual representations of Wiki network structure. The Well also works as a manipulation
point, where each of the Wiki page is viewed, edited and relinked through Tangible
interaction via physical tool, the ‘Puck‘.

Wunderkammer
The Wunderkammer is a storage element of the Tangible Wiki project, where it utilizes
Wiki network to log storage items’ availability. Indication of items’ status is displayed
through LED lights that are embeded into each shelve.
TOUCH - A-Lure
2010

Project Description Videos

TOUCH is an interactive video piece about freedom and entrapment installed within a ◦ Touch Movie
shipping container. One face of the shipping container has a sensor-activated screen
with an image of a man seemingly housed within the container. A-LURE players are in-
vited to “put your hand out” to engage with the work. As the viewer touches the screen
it ‘activates’ a 5-minute back-projection loop, where the mans story unfolds. Collaboration Team

Over the duration of the installation, the artwork develops according to input from the ◦ Visionary Image
general public and A-LURE game players. The audiences are invited to further support A-Lure Project Team
the man’s situation by sending their vote via SMS of “free” or “trap” so that at the close
of the exhibition the young man will hopefully “freed”.

Interaction Elements Press

TOUCH utilizes two kinds of Interaction Elements; Direct “touch“ interaction and Mobile
device “voting” interaction. The video is triggered to play by User’s touch of the projected ◦ A-Lure Project Website
surface where proximity sensor is embedded. This touch interaction creates an illusion
that the person in the video is trapped on the other side of the screen. Thus, encoursing ◦ The Age Newspaper
Users to empathize with the character and “free“ him from the other side.
Urban Kinesic (Invisible Urban Stage)
2009

Project Description Videos

This design project Urban Kinesic is a hand held device that enables the expression ◦ User Testing
of emotion through gestural dance movement. Expressive body movement is another with Travel Art Dance Company
interaction and communication channel in our analogue world. Overall design feature
of Urban Kinesic is a curious electronic device with a silicon skin that resembles a living
organism. It communicates via Bluetooth with a network and uses multi-modal channels Supervision
such as haptics, vibration and heat transfer to indicate its functional states. In use, Urban
Kinesic is tracked using an accelerometer to initiate sound modulations that accompany ◦ Frank Feltham
an expressive dance movement.

Haptic Feedback Publications

The device has a several haptic feedback of device’s states. First, fluctuation of the mid-
section of the device’s body resembles a breathing action of a living organism which ◦ Hur et al. 2009. Urban Kinesic:
indicates the connectivity. Second, heating plate at the back side of the device gives out a gestural interface for the ex-
heat to indicate the device’s power on state. Third, vibrating motor reinforces the sound pression of emotions through
feedback of emotional state of the user. bodily movements.
◦ ACM Library Version
Navigation
Twisting of the device in forward and backward direction triggers different instrumental
tracks in the sound feedback.
Darker Edge of Night
2008, 2009

Project Description Videos

The Darker Edge of Night is an interdisciplinary collaboration in theatre, dance, sound, ◦ Meat Market, Melbourne
image, writing and interaction media technologies. Australian and international collabora- 2008
tion team worked with Hellen Sky to develop new concepts and designs for interactive ◦ PICA, Perth
hybrid performance. The vision was to challenge traditions of theatrical scenography and 2009
dramaturgy by exploring the potential of technological influences and human/computer
systems for telling stories. We experimented with spoken word and movement, sound Collaboration Team
and moving image, spatial design and virtual worlds, real time interactivity and dance.
◦ Hellen Sky, Margaret Cameron,
In performance, the project actually and metaphorically attempts to inhabit the complex- Paul Bourke, Susie Fraser, Rebecca
ity of being ‘live’ in ‘real time’. Hellen Sky wore sensors which translate data from her Hilton, Leigh Warren, Garth Paine,
David Franzke, Dianne Reid, Tetsua
brain waves, muscle flexion, breath and voice into real time evolving sound worlds. Live
Tabasha, Michael Pearce, Tim Bate-
camera feeds transform the body within virtual and real architectural spaces. The scores
son and Brandon Hur
and storytelling developed during this first stage of research are multi-sensory and highly
poetic.

The Darker Edge of Night project was presented in 2008, stage one research and perfor-
mances at the Australian Performing Arts Market in Adelaide and at the World Dance Alli-
ance Global Summit in Brisbane, at CYNET ART 08 in Germany and the Brunel University
in the United Kingdom. In August 2009, presented The Darker Edge of Night – A Slice of
Light, a performance lecture at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts.
Reliquary
2009

Project Description Videos

Reliquary draws upon the connections between Australian Indigenous and Korean spiri- ◦ Projection 01
tuality to create a unique contemporary dance theatre piece using puppetry, media pro-
jection and aesthetic sound design. ◦ Projection 02

The project collaborators consists of Korean dancer/choreographer Soo Yeun You, In-
digenous Australian choreographer Gina Rings, artist and puppeteer Hamish Fletcher, Collaboration Team
sound designer Philippe Pasquier, and industrial designer Brandon Hur. The team has
infused the work with heightened visual and aural elements through an unusual mixing of ◦ Soo Yeun You, Gina Ring, Hamish
media projection, puppetry and sound art. Fletcher, Philippe Pasquier and
Brandon Hur
Reliquary borrows from Indigenous and Asian dance to develop a contemporary dance
piece rich in spirituality and tradition. The project embodies cultural and racial exchange,
understanding, and the hope of finding heritage and identity in an increasingly ho-
mogenised world.

Interactable Projection
Through physical element on the stage (Stage floor, Puppet and Set), aspects of images
in the projections were controlled.
S&M TupperWare Sound
2007

Project Description Videos

Speak & Math TupperWare Sound project is a circuit bending project where an educa- ◦ S&M TupperWare Sound
tional toy, Speak and Math was circuit bent to creat unusual sounds. Circuit bending Testing
culture is sprung out from DIY electronics culture by people who seeks unusual sounds
from ordinary objects. The sound and composition of sound is often associated with ◦ S&M TupperWare Sound
experimental music or noise music. In this project, the circuit from the toy was modified Jam Session
and placed in a Tupperware container.
Sounds
Mixture
Speak and Math toy is an ordinary toy where a lot of people relate thier childhood mem- ◦ S&M TupperWare Sound
ory to. In combination with ordinary tupperware container, the object becomes ordinary Rockit Mix
unusual object. The sound that was created through this object also has this nature. Mix-
ture or collision between unsual sounds with familiar music creates a feeling of traveling User Manual
musical timeline on a thin boundary between usual and unusual.
◦ S&M TupperWare Sound
User Manual
Stack It!
2007

Project Description Videos

Stack it! focuses on creating solutions in the form of a playground space that enables ◦ User Testing
children to have a healthier balance in their playtime. The approach of this project is to TU/eindhoven
develop a fun multi-user environment that motivates children to be active in balance be-
tween physical and mental. Further, the focus lies also in cultural integration and educa-
tion.In order to encourage children to get involved in physical movement through a prod- Press
uct, it has to stimulate the children in various aspects. Firstly, movement itself has to be
stimulating. This aspect was encouraged through a gaming nature of playground activity. ◦ PlayGround of the Future
Second, social interaction has to be stimulated to re-enforce the movement. Physical IDzine, TU/eindhoven
movement itself can be interpreted as an interaction with outside world, in which social
interaction with others is regarded as a significant part in it. The game itself encourages
the children to work as a team to achieve a common goal. Third, interactions can have
educational value that will re-enforce the social interaction. Cultural Interaction is one of
that interaction. The colours and sounds that implemented into the product provides a
oppotunity to increase the cultural awareness of different cultures.

The objective of the game is to stack correct objects with the base. The indication of right
combination is displayed with cultural color combinations of lights on the sides of objects
and the cultural sounds played through base station. These feedbacks are resolved tech-
nically with micro controller, RFID and LEDs.
 Brandon Yeup Hur

contact detail:

+61.413.954.998
yeup.hur@rmit.edu.au
Urban Kinesic: a gestural interface for the expression of
emotions through bodily movements
Yeup Hur
Industrial Design Program, RMIT University
GPO Box, 2476V Melbourne, Victoria,
Australia 3001
yeup.hur@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
This research through design project presents Urban Kinesic
(UrK), a hand held device that enables the expression of
emotion through gestural dance movement. Expressive body
movement is another interaction and communication channel in
our analogue world. We know this from how a gesture can
support speech in a face-to-face conversation. To this end the
authors firstly observed how expressive movement is used in
expressive dance. Findings from these observations informed
the design of the UrK, which is a curious electronic device with
a silicon skin. It communicates via Bluetooth with a network
and uses multi-modal channels such as haptics, vibration and
heat transfer to indicate its functional states. In use, the UrK is
tracked using an accelerometer to initiate sound modulations
that accompany an expressive dance movement. This paper
gives an account of the design, development and initial user
findings of the UrK with a dance troupe, which reveals some
interesting initial insights into the expressive nature of the
activity it enables, due to its design.
Author Keywords
Tangible User Interaction Design, Context and Location
Awareness, Multi-sensory Feedback System, Social
Expression and Engagement.
ACM Classification Keywords
H5.m. Information interfaces and presentation: Tangible
User Interfaces, Haptic I/O, Auditory (Non Speech) and
Haptic Feedback, Prototyping, Urban Informatics.
INTRODUCTION
In the field of interaction design, consideration for how a
human body moves in accordance with an artefact is
lacking. Often, emphases are on the technological
requirements and the aesthetic form of an interaction
artefact. While a design with an emphasis on the artefact
itself would result in an interaction with a focus on the
artefact’s presence, a design with an emphasis on the
body would result in an interaction with a clearly
determined use of the artefact (Klooster et al., 2005).
Thus, a deeper relationship between the body and the
interaction artefact needs to be acknowledged. Further,
we believe the relationship requires more design
exploration, if we are to consider the movement of the
body and its subsequent temporal engagements with
artefacts for expressive purposes.
OZCHI 2009, November 23-27, 2009, Melbourne, Australia.
Copyright the author(s) and CHISIG
Additional copies are available at the ACM Digital Library
(http://portal.acm.org/dl.cfm) or ordered from the CHISIG secretary
(secretary@chisig.org)
OZCHI 2009 Proceedings ISBN: 978-1-60558-854-4
417
Frank G. Feltham
Industrial Design Program, RMIT University
GPO Box, 2476V Melbourne, Victoria,
Australia 3001
frank.feltham@rmit.edu.au
In recent years there have been several studies that have
emphasized the importance of the relationship between
the body, movement and the use of objects to create
richer interaction. For example, Aesthetic of Movement
(Moen, 2005), Multimodality (Bongers et al., 2007) and
Direct Interaction (Djajadiningrat et al., 2004).
Collectively this work argues that perception of use is
improved when devices are designed to afford richer
physical interaction. Another important aspect to this
work is the notion of expressive and ludic interaction
(Gaver et al., 2004), which considers interfaces beyond
the task oriented Graphical User Interface to engagements
that are physical and call upon your will to explore and
express. This was a vital consideration in the design of
the Urban Kinesic (UrK) as it seeks to enable high levels
of musical and emotional expression.
This paper charts the design and initial user testing of the
UrK, firstly by outlining the important theoretical and
methodological considerations underpinning the design
project. This is followed by the reporting of ethnographic
findings on expressive dance and a description of the
design of the UrK. We conclude with a reflection on the
initial user experience of the UrK.
INFLUENCES ON DESIGN
Kinaesthetic Interaction
Kinaesthesia is the aesthetic experience of a movement
where a person perceives the sensations from the body
and interprets these sensations into certain impressions
(Moen, 2005). It is different from tactile experience
where information is perceived by nerve cells on the skin.
In this distinction, one of the important aspects of the
kinaesthesia is its bilateral nature, described as “double
sensation” (Merleau-Ponty, 1945). This bilateral
sensation is explained as an ability to touch and be
touched within the same action. The importance of this
bilateral nature of the kinaesthetic experience could be
explained as the feedback system of our body where the
perceptual information is processed through the body. In
order to control our body movement, the information
about where the different body parts are in relation to
each other is required for us to coordinate the movement.
Another important aspect of kinaesthesia that can provide
an insight into movement is kinaesthetic memory. Blom
and Chaplin (1988) describe kinaesthetic memory as
muscle memory that “recalls other times of movement”
and “allows memory, images and meaning to be encoded
in our muscles”. This memory is often utilized by dancers
and athletes to learn a movement and visually translate
them into a physical movement.
The importance of these two aspects within bodily
movement becomes apparent when we consider these
movements as extensions of bodily senses in order to
perceive and communicate. We use our body to extend
our perception of the world through experiencing the
sensation and expressing the perceived sensation. A
kinaesthetic bilateral sensation enables us to perceive and
express at the same time while kinaesthetic memory
enables us to associate a certain meaning to a movement
in a mnemonic way. Thus, the notion of expressive
qualities within a movement and a kinaesthetic
experience is closely related to each other.
The kinaesthetic quality of movement contributes to an
understanding of the multimodal channels in which the
human body can interact, further to this, we believe that
considering the expressive nature of bilateral sensations
and meaningfulness of kinaesthetic memory enable richer
interaction to be designed between the body and an
artefact.
Choreography of Interaction
The Choreography of Interaction (Klooster et al., 2005) is
a method that focuses on creating movements to inspire
new physical interaction possibilities. With this approach,
interaction scenarios are designed around movement, with
artefacts or devices playing a supporting role. Klooster et
al. (2005) suggests that designers do not only need to gain
knowledge about the range of movements the body can
achieve but they also need to experience the movement
themselves to determine the appropriateness for new
interaction possibilities.
The Choreography of Interaction is described through
three movement qualities; physical involvement, dynamic
quality, expressed meaning, where Physical involvement
considers who and what are interacting. Dynamic quality
is concerned with the way the people are involved and the
way the meaning is expressed through movement. The
Expressed meaning is a result of the user’s physical
involvement in the interaction with a reason. Overall,
these three qualities interplay to determine movements
and the ability of the body to perceive and express.
Further, these qualities provide an opportunity for the
users and designers to think and perceive kinaesthetically
with their body. Through these insights into the
movements, the designer can gain a better understanding
of the who, what, how and why of the interaction.
DESIGNING THE URBAN KINESIC
To design for multimodal and expressive interaction
through movement, and to gain an understanding of the
body’s role in expressive and emotional communicative
contexts, we used the Choreography of Interaction
approach. We did this with a dance troupe in Melbourne.
The dancers consisted of four male dancers (including the
author) and four female dancers.
Observing Movements to Inform Design
First, one of the authors observed (in video format) and
directly danced with the dance troupe in order to gain an
insight into the aspects of movement for the interaction.
In this exploration, the elements of the body movement
were the reference points, where elements such as areas,
directions, extensions and tempo (Laban, 1988) were
418
studied in relation to six primary emotional states (Parrot,
2001). Applying Klooster’s (2005) approach, the focuses
of the observations were; influential physical factors
within this observation, dynamic qualities of dancers’
movement in given emotional themes and the relationship
between the physical factors, dynamic qualities of
movements and expressed meanings (emotional
expressions).
Movements in Relation to Six Emotions
To determine a range of movements that demonstrated
expressive potential, we firstly instructed the dancers to
express appropriate movements to the emotional themes
of love, joy, surprise, anger, sadness and fear (Parrot,
2001) with accompanying music. Each individual took
approximately 2-3 minutes turn on the stage whilst the
other observed and interpreted these movements as
communication. These movements were carried out
without any objects or mediation tools. In the second
activity, the expressive movements were restricted to a
certain body part. Again with a theme and appropriate
music, dancers were instructed to move only an isolated
body part at a time (arms, legs, torso and head). As
before, each individual dancer took approximately 2-3
minutes turn on the stage. This was to identify the
specific qualities of movements that each of the body
parts embeds. A quick observation from the second
activity informed that movements with isolated body
parts are lacking expressive qualities in comparison to the
whole body movements from the first activity. Further,
the conventional notion of active dancer and passive
observer is not sufficient for the interaction intended for
expressive communication. Thus, there is a need for a
physical mediation tool that would re-enforce expressive
quality of the dancers and involvement of the observers.
These insights were then incorporated into the next
activity.
As the third activity, a Wii controller was used as a
mediating device to translate the movements into simple
sound tones. These tones sonically represented physical
movement, such as extension, time/tempo and flow.
Using the Wii controller enabled us to test the physical
possibilities of a hand held artefact in dance and to
document these movements as sounds made. The
movements were expressed without the music
accompaniment firstly, and then were accompanied with
appropriate music. Each dancer took approximately 2-3
minutes turn on the stage.
Analysis of Movement Data
Using the Choreography of Interaction qualities as a
basis, the analysis of the findings revealed the dynamic
quality and its relation to expression as the most
influential on the design direction. This is partly due to
the physical involvement and expressed meanings being
partly prescribed throughout the activities.
Figure 1. shows the dynamic qualities of each movement
in accordance with the emotional themes. Three of these
emotional themes (joy, surprise and anger) required more
intensive movements (in terms of space, tempo and force)
in comparison to rest of the emotional themes.

Figure 1. Dynamic quality analysis in design movement.
In this process of exploration, several interesting
observations were made outside of the dynamic qualities
findings. The Wii controller in use revealed that the
observers understood the dancers movements and their
emotional qualities through the simple sound tones
generated and its representation of dynamic qualities.
However, they felt that the tonal quality of the sound was
insufficient to fully express the emotional content. The
auditory and visual feedback of dancing did not provide
an opportunity for the observers to be actively engaged.
Although the Wii controller provided sound as an
additional channel to express and perceive, it lacked the
physicality for the observers to feel the emotional
expressions through their body, which is an important
communication channel in multimodal design (Bongers et
al., 2007). Thus we determined that physical feedback
was needed to further inform both the dancers and the
observers of the expressions. This increased the
communication channels from movement and sound to
movement, sound and kinaesthetic transfer.
As a device the Wii controller restricted the expression of
movements. The dancers felt that the controller was
awkward to place in their hand while they were dancing,
which made them feel like they would drop the controller.
Further investigation into this revealed that the size, shape
and buttons influenced a certain way for dancers to hold
the controller, which in turn influenced their movements,
especially when they were passing each other the
controller and when they were using both hands to hold
it. Thus the device required a total reconsideration of the
button style interface of the Wii to enable expressive and
kinaesthetic perceptual activity. Sonically it needed a
greater variety of sound and modulation choices.
Design Concept
Drawing upon the findings, two main aspects needed to
be considered for the design concept. These are a
reconsideration of the nature of interaction inputs and
outputs and the overall physical form and material of the
object. We know from the findings that the whole body
movement is characterized by spatiality, course of time
and force of play. These we determined as specific action
inputs for the device to receive and interpret into
auditory, vibration and haptic outputs.
In the resulting UrK design auditory feedback represents
body movement as emotional states. For example, when a
user moves with great extension at a faster tempo and
jagged flow, the artefact will generate louder and busy
419
sounds with uneven notes, which indicates an emotional
state close to anger.
For the dancers to kinaesthetically perceive what they are
expressing through their own bodies, haptic feedback is
used. The UrK detects a Bluetooth signal and in turn the
middle surface of the UrK fluctuates, creating pressure on
user’s skin. The device also heats up to indicate this
Bluetooth connection. During its use, the rate of
fluctuation changes depending on other users’ movement
qualities, which would indicate their emotional
expression. Further to this vibration is used, where the
rate of vibration re-enforces the expression of emotional
distress or calm.
To overcome the button pressing engagement seen with
the Wii controller, we devised the twisting action of the
UrK with two hands (refer to Figure 2.), as a way of
navigating through the variety of sounds for greater
choices and expressive potentials. This design decision is
a significant departure from button usage within
interaction design as it uses an expressive body
movement. The haptic feedback seeks to represent the
artefact as a living organism. It comes to life, starts to
breath (fluctuation) and gives out heat, when it is
activated. This organic musculoskeletal nature that we
designed for a richer interaction follows Djajadiningrat et
al. (2004) position on movement as a key interaction
channel or a modality. The hand held nature of the device
is a positive mediation for the movement. As observed
with the Wii controller, an object gives a purpose to an
action,
Figure 2. Urban Kinesic prototype
Building the Urban Kinesic
In order to achieve this living organism like
characteristic, the artefact is constructed with three parts.
First, the internal electronic parts process inputs and
outputs. Second, the inner casing creates a skeletal
structure to protect the internal components and to create
a physical outer aesthetic. Third, the outer casing acts as a
skin of the device, which is made out of a soft skin like
material (silicon). In detail, the object requires
mechanical structures for the fluctuation of the surface
and twisting movement. Fabrication of prototype had to
be fast and uncomplicated. Computer generated 3D
printing was used for prototype’s structural strength and
durability. Silicon casting was used to create the skin.
Most of the electronic components within the prototype
were readily available components such as a Wii
controller circuit board for its accelerometer and its
Bluetooth connection and an Arduino microcontroller to
drive other components such as a servo-motor (for
fluctuation), a rotary switch (for twisting action), heat
generating resistors, a vibration motor and LED lights. In
order to create a Bluetooth hot spot, a computer with
Bluetooth connection and a software Osculator was used
enabling the connection between the UrK and a computer.
As a sound generating software, Ableton Live was used
in conjunction with Max/MSP to navigate through
different instrumental tracks. Within Ableton Live, a
number of instrumental MIDI tracks were created and
these were driven by accelerometer data from the Wii
controller circuit. The signal from rotary switch would
trigger Max/MSP to randomly switch the active
instrumental track. The accelerometer data from other
users’ device are fed to a servo-motor, a vibration motor
and LED lights, in order to articulate the expressions.
Figure 3. Prototyping and user-testing Urban Kinesic
USER TESTING
The prototype of UrK was returned to the dancers. Two
different environments were chosen to test UrK, an
indoor studio and a lane-way. Dancers were instructed
how to use the artefact.
Initially, dancers showed curiosity towards UrK,
especially towards the organism like quality (breathing,
warmth and silicon skin), its ability to generate
instrumental sound through twisting and waving actions.
These observations indicated that the UrK invited the
dancers to be playful and the device could be passed
around and shared. The dancers also suggested that the
breathing feedback gave them a warm emotional
response. As they felt it was like a living organism in
their hand, they responded more gently (refer to Figure
3.), and were urged to move gently with it. However, the
artefact required a certain intensity of movement, in order
to trigger sounds, encouraging the dancers to move more
vigorously and freely. The dancers suggested that the
random instrumental tracks the UrK generated when
twisted to have both a positive and a negative aspects.
The unexpectedness in this action created a curiosity to
make dancers to explore the sounds by navigating further.
At the same time, it gave an uncertainty on how to react,
in terms of emotion and movements. In terms of the
wider public acceptance of the UrK, and its unique
interaction through movement, they suggested the UrK
could build up a community of users, since its use in
public intrigues observer nearby. This phenomenon of
people expressing their emotions through movements
could be accepted as an act of social convention. Overall,
multi-modality of UrK enabled the richer interaction
through kinaesthetic experience.
420
CONCLUSION
The intention with UrK was to explore a potential of full
body movements as a viable expressive interaction
modality, and the potential for the Choreography of
Interaction as an alternative design approach. Moreover,
using the capacity of the human body to move in all of its
dynamic and expressive potential as inspiration and
practice in future interaction design. This approach can
also provide greater knowledge on how users utilize their
body to move and interact with artefacts. The UrK has
shown a particular expressive activity through its design
and the kinaesthetic perceptual channels it uses. The UrK
extends the notion of interaction artefact as an
information-processing tool into a motor perceptual tool
that mediates a user’s desire to express her/his emotional
quality.
Further, there is a potential for UrK to create a new social
phenomena drawing upon people’s interest to create a
urban and online communities. Thus, UrK’s expression of
emotional qualities through full body movement and
sound opens up possibilities to a wider variety of
contexts.
REFERENCES
Blom, L.A. and Chaplin, L.T. The Moment of Movement.
University of Pittsburgh Press (1988).
Bongers, A. J. and Van Der Veer. G. C. Towards a Multi-
Modal Interaction Space: categorization and
applications. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 11,
(2007), 609-619.
Djajadiningrat, Wensveen, S., Frens, J. & Overbeeke, K.
Tangible products: redressing the balance between
appearance and action. Personal and Ubiquitous
Computing, 8 (2004), 294 - 309.
Gaver, W., W, Bowers, J., Boucher, A., Gellerson, H.,
Pennington, S., Schmidt, A., Steed, A., Villars, N. &
Walker, B. The Drift Table: Designing for Ludic
Engagment, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference
on Human factors in computing systems, ACM Press,
(2004), 885 - 900.
Klooster, S., Overbeeke, K. Designing products as an
integral part of Choreography of Interaction: The
product’s form as an integral part of movement. In:
Design and Semantics of Form and Movement,
proceedings of the 1st European workshop on Design
and Semantics of Form and Movement. (2005), 23-35.
Laban, R. Modern Educational Dance. Northcote House
(1988).
Merleau-Ponty, M. The Phenomenology of Perception.
Routledge (1945/2002).
Moen, J. KinAesthetic Movement Interaction. A Dance-
Based Approach to Human Movement. Submitted to
Personal and Ubiquitous Computing Special Issue on
Movement-Based Interaction. (2005).
Parrott, W. Emotions in Social Psychology, Psychology
Press, (2001).
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User Manual
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‫ ڡ‬Tone Generator
‫ ڇ‬Tone Generator Switch
‫ ڈ‬Tone Generator Volume
Switch on of this function generates a Noise (a Tone). This has effect of
reducing the volume of the sound that comes out but has interesting effect to
it. Depending on the original sound, the tone also changes.
Turning on the Light ‫ڮ‬, also triggers same effect. (refer to ‫)ڮ‬

‫ ڢ‬Random Loop
‫ ڇ‬Random Loop Switch
‫ ڈ‬Random Loop Adjustment
Random Loop generates a repeatitive sound that is
generated ramdomly. The switch and adjustment
both have to be turned on (adjustment dial to the
max will trigger the loop, most effectively). In com-
bination with Loop Randomiser ‫ک‬, it will generate
interesting loop sound.

‫ ڣ‬Glitch Maker
‫ ڇ‬Glitch Maker Switch
‫ ڈ‬Glitch Maker Touch Point
Glitch Maker will generate short and repeatitive glitch sound. The Touch
Point can be used to add interesting texture to the glitch.

‫ ڤ‬Glitch Maker’ Switch

Switch this on in the middle of a speech will generate interesting glitch
sound that can be controlled with the Pitch Control ‫ ڧ‬. This also works in
combination with other functions.

User Manual
‫ ڥ‬Volume Control
Controls the volume. Most useful when it is connected direct to the speakers.

‫ ڦ‬RCA Connector
RCA connector for its use in conjunction with a mixer and a turntable.
This point of connection can be used to connect directly to Speakers.

‫ ڧ‬Pitch Control
‫ ڇ‬Pitch Control Dial a.
‫ ڈ‬Pitch Control Dial b.
‫ ډ‬Pitch Control Dial c.
Each three dials have different adjustment effect
on the Pitch of the sound. Depending on the sound,
the dial b. has most effective control over lower
end of the pitch, while the dial a. has most effective
control over higher end of the pitch. These three
can be used to create different tones using Loop
Functions ‫ڢ‬IVL‫ڪ‬

‫ ڨ‬Micro Pitch Control

‫ ڇ‬Micro Pitch Control Touch Point mid.
‫ ڈ‬Micro Pitch Control Touch Point low.
Using Micro Pitch Control with Loop Function ‫ ڢ‬IVL ‫ ڪ‬, small amount of
change in pitch can be applied. In conjuction with the Glitch Maker Touch
Point ‫ ڈڣ‬, the pitch can be controlled high, mid, low. The mid point acts as a
contact point for high. and low.

User Manual
‫ ک‬Loop Randomiser
‫ ڇ‬Loop Randomiser Switch
‫ ڈ‬Loop Randomiser Dial a.
‫ ډ‬Loop Randomiser Dial b.
Using in conjuction with Loop Function ‫ڢ‬, interesting random sounds can be
generated. Adjustment to dial a. and b. creates unexpected effect on the loop.
In use with some sounds with out loop effect, it can also create a random
sound such as saying “groups!”.

‫ڪ‬Loop Catcher
‫ ڇ‬Loop Catcher Switch
‫ ڈ‬Loop Catcher Dial a.
‫ ډ‬Loop Catcher Dial b.
‫ ڊ‬Loop Catcher Push Button

Most Interesting effect in this circuit bent

Speak&Math. It can catch a short phrase of a
sound and loop it. The adjustment to Dials can
have different effect on catching a phrase. Little
adjustment to Dial b. while looping of a caught
phrase, will result in slow release of the catching.
Most effectively, Push button will release the loop
and when botton is release will catch the phrase at
the moement again.

‫ ګ‬Power Release
In case of the sound caught in a unwanted glitch, the button can reset the
device. This also can be used in an interesting way to instantly call the initial
phrase of sound (”Solve it, Level one.”). And it can be used to manually loop
the phase.

User Manual
‫ ڬ‬Power Connection Point
Due to the nature of Battery Location and TupperWare construction, these
points are needed to power the circuit.

‫ ڭ‬Glitch Maker”
This Glith Maker is most interesting glitch generater in this device. This will
trigger a glitch that resembles reverse talking. The tone of the glitch is slow
and nice for use of the loop. However, in combination with Loop Function ‫ڢ‬
WZ‫ڪ‬will not result in loop at all. However, turning on this function in the
middle of a long phrase of sound can result in a interesting sound.

‫ ڮ‬Lighting
The lighting is there initially as an indication of
power. However, installation of the light resulted
in a trigger of tone generation. Turning on the light
will generate a tone that is same as the Tone Gen-
erator ‫ڡ‬.

User Manual