Project Details
[Return to Previous Page]Together, Tacit
Company: PSU College of Arts and Architecture
Major(s):
Primary: ESC
Secondary: EE
Optional: BME, CMPEN, IE, MATSE, ME
Non-Disclosure Agreement: NO
Intellectual Property: NO
Together, Tacit: Tacit knowing is knowledge that each of us possesses based on emotion, experiences, intuition, and observations. It is often described as a skill set that is learned through the act of doing. In May 2018, I participated in a tour at the Palmer Museum with the Sight Loss Support Group of Central PA, stood beside low vision and blind individuals, and watched as their hands moved over two sculptures I exhibited in the Plastic Entanglements: Ecology, Aesthetics, Materials exhibition. Both works were figurative in nature. As I listened to a blind person translate my work through a sense of touch, it was clear that she was assembling forms, but I lacked the tools to access her visualization. Through my participation with these museum visitors, I became very interested in developing a project where the visually impaired and sighted could work together to build sculptures inspired by how both groups “see.” “Together, Tacit” proposes an inclusive experience between low vision, blind, and sighted individuals to exchange one another’s tacit knowledge, through the act of creative collaboration. One workflow employs the use of a haptic, virtual reality glove, which has a vibrational feedback system that simulates a sense of sculpting in virtual space. Movements by visually impaired participants get translated as three-dimensional marks. These virtual shapes get 3D printed and become tangible models which, in turn, are used by sighted and visually impaired team members as springboards to collaboratively fabricate new forms. Collaborators begin to negotiate, communicate, and experience through the art making process to create a form that neither group, the sighted or visually impaired, could have built without the other. In this way, “Together, Tacit” aims to create a shared language that knits a meeting place between what we see, and how we know, through acts of experiencing, together. SP22 DEVICE DEVELOPMENT In Spring 22, Learning Factory Capstone team members designed a haptic, virtual reality glove that uses tactile feedback, rather than visual sensory input, in advisement with three volunteers from the Sight Loss Support Group of Central PA. Unity, a cross- platform gaming engine, was used to create the VR program with an Oculus Quest. Currently, the program provides the choice of a sphere or a cube for the user to begin with. From there, the user can access different sculpting functions (on/off, the sensation of carving reductively and adding material). Haptic feedback guides the *VIP in terms of proximity to the VR sculpture, tools being used, and the shape of their mark. As one “air sculpts”, a sighted person wears an oculus to observe, guide the VIP, and discuss the vision for the art piece. As this back and forth occurs, both groups are creating meaningful conversation where people connect without visual control. The SP22 team created a menu that allows one to switch between the Oculus controllers and haptic glove, a reset button, calibration options, and a way to save and export to a mesh for 3D printing. SP23 OBJECTIVES: The objective for Sp23 is to further develop the tactile feedback and usability of a haptic, virtual reality device designed for low vision/ blind individuals. Expectations: • Participate in a hands-on clay modeling demo led by Professor Collura, to become familiar with how additive and reductive sculpting in clay feels. • With virtual reality, many different sculpting tools can be added, making the sculpting experience truly limitless. The Spring 23 team would be expected to develop five- six varied haptic sensations/tools that simulate varied, reductive/ additive sculpting sensations for the VIP (such as how scooping, pulling, pushing, pinching in clay feels). The team would be expected to correlate these actions with visuals that the sighted person sees in the VR program. • Meet with volunteers from the Sight Loss Support Group of Central PA two times during the semester to receive guidance on usability. • Streamline product design and develop thoughtful packaging so the glove, and related hardware, can easily install in a public setting (think public schools, community centers, libraries, long term care facilities). • Launch newest prototype in April 2023 at “Hue + Light”, a symposium on art, technology, and equity that will be held at 3Dots in State College, PA. *VIP stands for visually impaired person, the preferred acronym used by the Sight Loss Support Group of Central PA Bonnie Collura Professor of Art, Sculpture Penn State School of Visual Arts College of Arts & Architecture https://www.bonniecollura.com/together-tacit
