As part of the introductory engineering course, Design & Innovation, my classmates and I  had a 1-week intensive hands-on design lab through which we had to come up with a solution to a design challenge and implemented it through a functioning prototype by the end of the week. Our year's theme was long distance relationships; regardless between whom, and how, we had to come up with solutions that brings people and experiences closer to one another. 

My team mate, Petrus, and I decided to think beyond the typical long distance relationships; still inspired by last year's World Cup, we chose the relationship between football games and fans at home. 

To connect both, we designed a system that immerses the fans at home with the sound and tactile feeling they would get if there were in the stadium watching the game live. The system was made of 2 parts: the T-shirt, and the shoe soles.

Using conductive thread, an Arduino Lilypad,  LED lights, speakers, and a vibration motor we put together the first part of our ecosystem: the T-shirt.

The Arduino Lilypad controlling the different components on the shirt was placed centrally behind the team's emblem. Using a sewing machine, conductive thread was sawn to connect the Lilypad to the components which functioned as follows:

1.  To immerse users in the match's experience as if they are in the stadium we placed speakers on the shoulder. The speakers are programed to convey the sound from in between the stadium's seats to really bring the fan at home amid the audience in the stadium

2. LED lights were placed across the front of the shirt to reflect the score board. Red LEDs represented the opponents team while green LEDs, placed at the other end of the LED strip, showed the fan's team's score

3. A vibration motor was placed behind the Lilypad. When a player is about to score, the vibration motor would rhythmically move mimicking a heartbeat and reflecting the fans' anticipation of a goal

Together, the different elements contribute to an immersive experience enabling the fan at home to get as close to the stadium as possible. 

The second part of the experience would be translated through the shoe soles. These soles were connected to vibration motors which mimic the pressures on the fan's favorite player's foot, placing the fans in their favorite player's shoe. For the prototype, the motors were connected to an Arduino board using conductive fabric. To test the soles, they were placed inside regular shoes.