Exploring Eyes-free Interaction with Wrist-Worn Deformable Materials

Recent work has explored how on-the-wrist devices can be augmented with displays, sensors, and aesthetics to produce a new genre of wearable, digital jewelry. Most often, these devices are augmented with hardware (e.g., touch-screens, gyroscopes) to receive wearer input. Breakthroughs in sensing materials allow novel inputs such as squeeze, bend, and stretch, which may be more suited to interaction with a discreet wearable. We explore interactions with a flexible bracelet that can be manipulated through bend, stretch, and touch. We discuss the process involved in fabricating materials that convert these actions into measurable parameters. We particularly focus on eyes-free interactions with bracelets that take advantage of the tactile feedback from the act of deformation, and demonstrate some early, low-fidelity prototype concepts.