Empathy Vest
2004

The Empathy Vest focused on the use of simple technologies to facilitate an embodied experience of remote space and place. PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) Microprocessors were investigated as a means of controlling the inputs and outputs in the garment.

The primary question that motivated the development of this garment was whether it was possible to have a sense of ‘ being there' without physically being present. The resulting prototype dealt with a series of input signals that were mapped onto the body in a variety of ways. The informational stimulus from the input channels, two touch sensors and one voice relay sensor, was mapped onto the body through the output modes – 4 x light channels and 1 x fan. The project questioned whether through the physical sensing of stimulus from a remote environment (light, wind, sound etc.) the user might, in turn, experience profound psychological change.

From a design perspective the Empathy Vest was a bulky solution utilising a backboard mounted computing system with a polypropylene over jacket. Whilst a useful prototype for establishing certain technological issues, the garment lacks the design refinement of later prototypes, developed in collaboration with a fashion designer.

Images from left: Empathy Vest over jacket with electroluminescent cable; Empathy Vest under board - with fan, PLC and wiring.

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