Master thesis
an attempt to bridge the gap between technology and differently abled people
The Multi-sensory room is a place where differently abled people can retreat. Here, they are in charge. They decide what they want to do, when they want to do it and when they would like to stop. What makes the experience all the more pleasurable for them is that the room is so adjusted that their limitations don’t interfere with either their pleasure or their opportunity to relax.
To provide the snoezelaar with more autonomy and to enrich the Multi-sensory experience, I’m adding an invisible technological layer to the Multi-sensory room. This way a person with limitations can also enjoy the benefits technology has to offer, without having to learn new competences or skills.
In addition to the knowledge acquired doing desk research and talking to experts, I want to apply the insights provided by different media and orthopedagogic theories to observe and interpret the behaviour of snoezelaars in interaction with an early prototype. I will document these findings and use them to assemble a final prototype that illustrates my view that the Multi-sensory room of tomorrow can provide a richer snoezel experience.
Within the new Multi-sensory room the snoezelaar interacts intuitively with a known and trusted environment that possesses the necessary intelligence to interpret behaviour and is able to respond accordingly along with the supervisor.
My aim is to grow as a researcher throughout this process and to contribute in this way to bridging the gap between audiovisual arts and a domain of experiency with a target audience that is often overlooked.
Software used / Skills learned
- prototyping (electronics/soldering)
- arduino
- processing
- knowledge about infrared and distance sensors
- knowledge about UMPC’s and tablet pc
- setting up a multi-computer system which communicates over bluetooth using Processing
- …
