heart
The Heart is a tangible interface that translates real-time cardiac data into a felt, synchronized heartbeat. Designed as a research instrument, it examines how experiencing one’s own physiological rhythm through a believable, biomimetic form influences interoceptive awareness.
Conventional biometric systems present cardiac data as abstract metrics, requiring cognitive interpretation rather than direct perception. By rendering heartbeat as time-aligned physical rhythm and pressure, the Heart investigates how non-visual, tangible feedback can support perceptual understanding of internal states and reorient attention toward the body.
flagship research – in progress
in collaboration with trent jones (hardware engineer)
v0 proof of concept prototype
Research Method
01
Focus of Study
This project uses a design-led experimental approach to study whether interacting with a tangible, responsive, biomimetic heart can strengthen perceptual awareness of one’s own heartbeat.
The method prioritizes felt experience over abstract interpretation. A real-time heartbeat signal is translated into synchronized, tactile feedback through a lifelike physical form, enabling participants to encounter their cardiac rhythm through touch rather than numerical representation.
Research Question
Does sustained interaction with a tangible, biomimetic heart that beats in real time with a person’s own heart improve perceptual clarity of heartbeat?
Experiment Design
The study is structured around within-participant comparison. Participants first complete baseline measures of heartbeat perception and interoceptive awareness. They then interact with the biomimetic heart under controlled conditions designed to isolate the effects of synchronized, felt heartbeat feedback.
To distinguish the effects of synchrony and believability from novelty or touch alone, the method includes comparison conditions, such as interaction with a non-synchronized or non-responsive version of the object. Condition order is counterbalanced to reduce learning and expectation effects.
Evaluation Method
Heartbeat awareness is assessed using a set of complementary quantitative and qualitative measures:
Heartbeat perception tasks, evaluating the ability to perceive heartbeat without numerical or visual reference
MAIA (Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness), administered pre- and post-interaction
Phenomenological interviews, capturing subjective clarity of heartbeat and attentional shifts
In addition to established instruments, I am exploring custom task-based measures designed for tangible, non-visual interaction.
Role of the artifact
The biomimetic heart functions as both interface and research instrument. Its form, responsiveness, and temporal alignment are integral to the method, allowing embodied, time-aligned feedback to be studied through direct experience rather than cognitive interpretation.
System Architecture
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The system is a closed-loop physical interface that renders a person’s heartbeat as synchronized, tactile feedback through a biomimetic form.
System components:
Physiological input
Real-time heart rate data from an embedded PPG serves as the consistent input across experimental conditions.
Signal mapping
Incoming heartbeat data is processed in real time and mapped directly to rhythmic actuation, preserving beat timing and temporal structure.
Actuation
Internal mechanisms convert the signal into a physical beat, experienced as subtle pressure and rhythmic motion. Output is continuous and perceivable through touch.
Interface form
Feedback is delivered through a life-sized, soft silicone heart designed to be held. The biomimetic form and compliant material support intuitive perception of rhythm and reduce cognitive translation.
Interaction loop
Body → heartbeat signal → physical rhythm → bodily perception
Design Considerations
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The form is a functional component of the research system. It is designed to support clear perception of heartbeat through touch, rather than visual interpretation or symbolic representation.
Design decisions are guided by perceptual, material, and interaction requirements derived directly from the research focus on heartbeat awareness.
Design Criteria:
Embodied familiarity
The form is designed to feel like one’s own heart. Anatomical realism and hand-scaled proportions support immediate bodily recognition, reducing cognitive distance and allowing the object to be experienced as an extension of the body rather than an external device.
Physical invitation
The form must invite being held. Curvature, mass distribution, surface texture, and temperature are tuned to support sustained holding, intuitive interaction, reliable sensor contact, and attentional presence.
Synchronized, lifelike motion
The heart must beat in real time with the user’s own heartbeat. Actuation is designed to be subtle and rhythmic, preserving the qualitative feel of a living heart rather than a mechanical output. Temporal synchronization is essential for perceptual coherence between internal sensation and external feedback.
Illusion of life
The operation of the system must remain invisible. Electronics, wiring, and mechanical components are fully enclosed, and audible or visual cues of machinery are minimized. Preserving this illusion prevents attention from shifting from felt rhythm to the underlying technology.
Perceptual clarity through touch
All formal and material decisions ultimately serve the clarity of the felt heartbeat. Surface compliance, wall thickness, and internal structure are adjusted to ensure rhythmic motion is clearly perceivable without visual confirmation.
Iterative form development
The form evolves through repeated cycles of making, testing, and refinement.
Ongoing exploration focuses on:
Degree of realism versus abstraction
Ergonomic cues that invite correct hand and finger placement for reliable sensing
Material texture and wall thickness
Internal cavity geometry and actuation placement
Design for fabrication (silicone casting and electronics embedding) ensuring that manufacturing constraints do not compromise realism
Why form matters for the research
The research depends on whether users can clearly perceive their own heartbeat through the interface. Form determines whether the signal is legible, believable, and able to hold attention over time.
In this system, form is not an aesthetic layer added after function. It is the medium through which the physiological signal becomes perceptible, and therefore a core component of the research itself.
Prototyping: Form
04
testing common hand orientations on clay prototype to determine optimal sensor placement
iterating & testing ergonomic cues for intuitive finger placement to ensure reliable contact with sensor
sculpting, molding, iteratively casting large-scale silicone heart to encase v0 electronics
sculpting, molding, casting to-scale silicone heart to encase v1 electronics
Prototyping: Function
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iterations on the mechanics to achieve the intended motion, size, and synchronization
Current Status & Next Steps
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Current status
The project is in an active prototyping phase, with extensive iteration on form, fabrication, and mechanical integration.
Work to date focuses on refining material compliance, internal structure, and actuation to support clear, lifelike perception of heartbeat through touch.
A primary technical constraint is scale. Achieving a fully functional system at life-size is critical for perceptual realism and has driven ongoing refinement of the internal hardware architecture. Current efforts focus on closing on a stable, fully enclosed prototype at anatomical scale, preserving the illusion of life while maintaining reliable actuation.
Interaction & experiment design
The next phase centers on designing and testing the interaction itself, informing the design of the live experiment.
This includes defining how the heart is held, how long interaction is sustained, and how attention shifts during use—particularly the transition from attending to the object to sensing one’s own internal rhythm. These interaction parameters shape the experimental conditions under which heartbeat awareness is evaluated.
The evaluation methods I am exploring include:
Heartbeat perception tasks administered before and after interaction
Pre- and post-exposure interoceptive awareness measures (e.g., MAIA)
Qualitative interviews capturing felt clarity, presence, and attentional shifts
Controlled comparison conditions (e.g., non-synchronized or alternative feedback modes)
Next steps
With a stable, life-sized prototype in place, the next phase focuses on interaction studies and evaluation:
Run controlled interaction studies to test how synchronized, tactile heartbeat feedback affects heartbeat awareness
Refine interaction parameters (duration, grip, placement) based on observed attentional shifts
Explore adaptive mappings that personalize feedback while preserving perceptual clarity
Study effects of repeated and sustained interaction over time
Longer-term development extends the system into new contexts:
Wearables and other creative form factors that test design variables over a constant function
Shared or co-present interaction scenarios
These steps extend the project from a single artifact into a broader research platform for studying how felt, synchronized interfaces shape interoceptive awareness.
