Final Written Proposal
For my project, I want to use a person’s walking rhythm as a way to identify them. My former experiences inspired me to do this project. When I was young, I could distinguish my mum without taking a look at her just based on her walking tempo. I found that sports have rhythm, such as the three-step layup in basketball, or a swag rhythm for golf. I realized that all people have their own rhythms. I think I really observed something interesting, so I tried to find theories behind my observation. In Blake Madden’s article “The Resonant Human: The Science of How Tempo Affects Us,” explains that human beings can distinguish a range of tempos from around 40 to 300 beats per minute. Another article by Columbia University neurologist John Krakauer named, “Why do we like to dance--And move to the beat?'” suggests that we are sensitive and attuned to the movements of others' bodies, because similar brain regions are activated when certain movements are both made and observed.
After my research I came up with a design question: since different movements have different rhythms, and people are sensitive to each rhythm, can each person’s unique rhythm be a new form of identity for the public? So I did some research for the second time.
'This keyboard can detect who you are by your typing - and it cleans itself too' by Myles Gough indicates that an keyboard can identify users in real-time based on their unique pattern of typing. And 'What you walk really says about you' by Christian Jarrett from BBC explains that the sound of the recording reel had to be camouflaged with a ticking metronome. These two articles give me the answer that rhythm of human body can defined people.
My secondary design question to narrow my focus is how can I use rhythm from the human body to define people? To figure out my question, I narrow them into three domains: rhythm, movements, identity.
So my idea is to track rhythm of people and make a same song play in people their own rhythm. My audience is for general public. People should put sensors on their shoes and then a song may be played in their tempo. I think my project may convey a general message to the public that you are defined by you walk. Especially, I want people to know that they do not have to do certain special things to identify themselves, just walking can be your identity.
I found some precedents on those domains. A project named “The rhythm of walking” by Geertje Debets is an unique DVD compilation, which documents six different walking rhythms. I am appreciated that Geertje finds the speed and rhythm of a pedestrian’s walk is different form each other. Another application named 'PaceDJ' is an application that matches the beat of the song to your tempo for the best blend of musical workout motivation. This app really puts rhythm into use when people are doing exercise. And I think it is a great use. But this application do not make connection with rhythm and personality. MIT made a project named 'Andante' . In Andante, various animated characters walk up and down the piano to help students visualize musical motion. I loves this project I think it is brilliant. Using instrument to show such rhythm is really a great idea, because it displays in a auditory way that people can sense. Another one is a wearable product named 'CarePredict's tempo' can track patterns and notify caregivers and family members when there is a noticeable change in things. Based on precedents above, I decided to focus on rhythm of walking. And I did think rhythm of walking can personal identity based on my experience. But all my precedents do not show me how to make connection between rhythm and personality. Another fact came to my mind when I was thinking about this. Different people may give the public different feelings when they are playing the same song.
Partner: Sydney D. Adams