Hand In Hand

Rodrigo Restrepo

This interface is a small, handy controller, that allows extensive use of the fingers and hand, keeping in mind that those are ones of the more developed and skilled parts of the human body.

Different sensors were combined and arranged in a small area of a curved surface. A curved surface was chosen because having in mind that the hand is not naturally flat but instead a little curved. Acoustic drums have been designed with a flat surface simply because of acoustic and physical limitations that don't apply to digital interface design.

The interface makes use of piezos to trigger sounds. FSR are placed underneath in order to combine sensor information and to be able to interact with the same area in a different way. Softpots (ths size of a finger) were placed next and below to the piezos in order to be able to change parameters in a fast way, due to proximity. 6 buttons are used to turn on and off different parameters and to change the routings of the sensors. A 2 axis accelerometer expands the interace capabilities adding more gestural expression.