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inHale
A teletangible device for synchronized breathing
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Created under the supervision of Professor Hiroshi Ishii at the MIT Media Lab
Project Type Role Team
Class Group Project (MAS.834 at MIT)
Designer, Researcher
Dana Gretton, Leandra Tejedor, Daniel Noh, Tatiana Baughman, Audrey Mock
For a full rundown of our research, please read our paper.
To see inHale in action, please watch our demonstrative video.
Defining the Issue
A key aspect of the practice of yoga is the regulation of one's breath in order to obtain a greater sense of mind-body unity. When practiced in groups, people often synchronize breaths with one another to enhance this unity. In the era of covid, when the opportunities for in-person practices are greatly limited, such practices usually take place over Zoom. However, it is impossible to feel, see, and hear others' breaths over zoom.
We spoke with a couple of yoga instructors to better understand this issue.
Precedents
Before beginning to ideate and sketch, we researched related work to see which problems had been solved and what we could build off of.
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These tangibles provided innovative methods of tracking and projecting regulated breathing. However, none of them involved: ​
1. More than one user
2. Synchronous behaviors
3. Telecommunication
The Concept
Based on our understanding of what technology exists and which problems have/have not been solved, we developed our concept of a wearable device that syncs multiples users' breaths.
Pictured below: Conceptual sketch of real-time synchrony and the actuating function of inHale .
The Design
Digital prototype created by Daniel Noh
Components​
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Inner motor*
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Encoder*
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Inner casing
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Spiral railing (double-spiral design minimizes size and enables the direct translation of the motor’s rotational movement to a symmetrical, bilateral linear movement)
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Actuating belt (to attach to user's body)
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*Controlled by a Raspberry Pi and synchronized by a server-based script
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When user A inhales, the device they are wearing senses the expansion of the diaphragm. User B's device will then expand and contract to mimic user A's breaths. The same works vice versa; user B's device will track their breathing and then project it via expansions and contractions of user A's device. Ultimately, users will have equal control over the rate of breathing.
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The contract and expansion of the device is illustrated in the gif below:
The Physical Prototype
We created the prototype using an Eaglepower 90KV Brushless Motor and an AMT10 Incremental Encoder. We used Onshape and Rhino3D to design and PLA 3D-print the remaining components.
Pictured below: two participants wearing inHale.
Moving Forward
inHale is a work in progress; we are still researching and designing. Please check back soon to see our progress!
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Professor Hiroshi Ishii and to our wonderful TAs for their guidance:
Cedric Honnet Olivia Seow Cathy Fang Jack Forman
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