Northeastern University's Engineering Capstone program (senior design) is a culmination of students' co-ops and classes into one final project. My group's project resulted in the design and fabrication of a vibrotactile vest for a deaf dancer/professor at Northeastern.

Our group had the idea of enhancing the music experience for deaf individuals, but first we needed to learn about how deaf indivduals experienced music. We approached Laurie Achin, a deaf professor at Northeastern and a dancer/choreographer in the Boston area, for help. With her feedback, we iterated through a design that she was able to move freely in, dance with, and enjoy using.

The device we created completed music processing with software and generated vibrations with hardware. The hardware included six exciter modules which are located on key areas of the chest, upper back, and sides, to enhance the user’s experience. A lacrosse pad supported the exciters and held them against the body allowing the vibrations to be felt. 3D printed attachments secured to the lacrosse pad allowed for user adjustment of the exciters with screws. This allowed the user to change the pressing force of the exciters against the skin, which affects the sensitivity of the vibrations. The exciters were exposed to the body surface with holes in the vest, but were covered with a thin fabric that seeked to minimize damping and maximize user comfort. Wires connected the exciters to their amplifiers in a packaged module which connected to the user’s belt loop, and a battery powered the amplifiers. The amplifiers received the processed musical signals via bluetooth transmitters connected to a Raspberry Pi.

I had a hand in every aspect of the project, but I was primarily responsible for design of parts for the vest, wireless electronics, and utilizing client feedback to take our device from a table-top initial prototype to a wearable vest in a 4 month time period.