We
The Design Research Lab is a network of people, organisations, and non-human agents engaged at the intersection of technologies, materials, and social practices. Our aim is to design socially and ecologically sustainable tools, spaces, and knowledge that support people’s participation in a digital society – based on common principles of inclusiveness and respect for the planet. This puts the basic democratic right to take part in the digital sphere into practice. We start our research from individual lifeworlds and the needs of minoritized groups, beyond consumer majorities.
We are an interdisciplinary team of designers, researchers, tech-enthusiasts and critical thinkers from Berlin University of the Arts, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, as well as Einsteincenter Digital Future (ECDF).
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WM2M: Navigation Hat
In the project Wearable M2M, we designed an open source software that allows designers and users to easily change the functionality of their electronic textiles. We used an application scenario on navigation as a test case to come up with requirements for the software. The scenario also served as a proof-of-concept of the interplay of textile hardware and mobile software.
The hat was the first form that we developed for the navigation app. It is a custom made felt hat with a lining on the inside that hosts the electronic parts. A compass on top of the head measures the line of gaze. Eight vibration motors around the head can indicate a direction. A micro controller is used to exchange data with a smartphone via Bluetooth. The sensor values are interpreted in the mobile app, which also sends the signals to activate the vibration motors.