Tech Museum San Jose: Body Metrics, Synthetic Biology
Studio: Local Projects
Technical Director, Sundar Raman
The Body Metrics experience was designed to give visitors an understanding of their biometric data as compared to others in their vicinity, with the premise that data is more meaningful when contextualized with others.
The experience used a variety of cutting-edge technology to explore human physiology and emotions interactively. Visitors wore a set of biometric sensors, connected to a mobile device, which collected the data and sent it to a background machine learning system. The visitor’s journey culminated at an interactive touch table where they could visualize their data in summary form, but also contextualize it against others who engaged in the experience over time.
This type of shared experience helped to foster a shared, data-driven journey of discovery into the human body and emotions, through the use of some advanced technologies.
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The experience required taking data from a custom EEG and skin sensor, and motion data from an iPod Touch, and processing it through a Machine Learning pipeline to extract out a “sentiment-quotient”. based on their measured physiological responses.
A large interactive table was used to present visitors with interactive visualizations of how their individual data compared to others who also engaged in the experience. The idea was to provide a platform for shared stories, through this medium of biometric information.
This exhibition made use of many different technologies to help build an immersive narrative, including custom hardware, Machine Learning, a mobile app for real-time data processing, and a shared interactive touch table.
Studio: Local Projects
Creative Director: John D. Ryan
Director of Technology / Systems Architect: Sundar Raman
Creative Technologist: Eric Mika, Sahar Zaks
Creative Engineer: Alex Marse
Project Manager: Keeli Shaw