A Wearable Tactile Display With 30 Embedded Vibrotactile Actuators

The Ilinx garment was designed to allow for the creation of tactile illusions in an immersive, multimodal art installation entitled Ilinx. We worked closely with experts in the creation of wearable electronics to create a system which embeds a total of 30 vibrotactile actuators into the garments arms, legs, and torso.
Our central concerns were that the garment provide a robust and versatile platform for the creation of tactile stimuli while also looking and feeling like a designer garment. In order to achieve this we combined our experience in creating embedded electronic systems with techniques drawn from the wearable electronics community, such as the use of conductive thread and the choice of materials appropriate for garment construction.
The garments have been worn by more than 1000 visitors at international art festivals in the Netherlands, Germany, and Japan.


Credits
Ian Hattwick: Technology Direction/Hardware-Software
Ivan Franco, Marcello Giordano, & Deborah Egloff: Hardware-Software Development
Chris Salter + TeZ: Artistic Direction
Valerie Lamontagne: Wearables Direction and Design
Isabelle Campeau & Marie-Eve Lecavalier Lemieux: Wearable Development
Public Presentations
TodaysArt 2014, The Hague, Netherlands;
HAU3 / CTM 2015, Berlin, Germany
TodaysArt. jp, Terrada Soko, Tokyo, Japan
Publications
Hattwick, Ian, Ivan Franco, Marcello Giordano, Deborah Egloff, Marcelo M. Wanderley, Valerie Lamontagne, Ian Arawjo, and Maurizio Martinucci (2015). “Composition Techniques for the Ilinx Vibrotactile Garment.” In: Proceedings of International Computer Music Conference. Denton, Texas, USA, pp. 420-423.
Abstract & Download
Lamontagne, Valerie, Ian Hattwick, Ivan Franco, Marcello Giordano, Deborah Egloff, Maurizio Martinucci, Chris Salter, and Marcelo M. Wanderley (2015). “The Ilinx Garment: Whole-body Tactile Experience in a Multisensorial Art Installation”. In: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Electronic Arts. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Abstract & Download
Giordano, M., I. Hattwick, I. Franco, D. Egloff, E. Frid, V Lamontagne, Tez, C. Salter, and M.M. Wanderley (2015). “Design and Implementation of a Whole-Body Haptic Suit for ‘Ilinx’, a Multisensory Art Installation”. In: Proceedings of the Sound and Music Computing Conference. Kildare, Ireland, pp. 169-175.
Abstract & Download
Acknowledgements
Funded by the Canada Council for the Arts’ GRAND NCE Media Artist and Scientist Collaboration scheme.