Vibmory - Mapping Episodic Memories to Vibrotactile Patterns

Abstract

Travel in time is possible. We do it every day by recollecting past experiences, called episodic memories. Episodic memories, being a key in defining self-identity, are very sensitive, especially to the effects of aging and dementia. What are the ways to relive our experiences, to make them brighter? While much HCI work has been dedicated to developing memory aids, it has not looked into the direction of physicalizing episodic memory by means of vibration. We present a method to map past experiences to specific vibrotactile patterns. The method includes in-depth interviews, materialization, and co-design sessions. As a result, eight vibrotactile patterns were co-designed to represent four positive and four negative memory episodes. We finalize by reflecting on the process, commonalities in mappings, and future work. We hope our research insights will inspire novel methods and technologies to give tangible forms to memorable experiences.