BLUBLISS
I am not in favor of the animal display industry, and whenever I enjoy the joys of an oceanarium, I always wonder if those lonely sea creatures are as happy as I am. So I teamed up with an engineering student who was interested in the same thing I was, and together we designed the BLUBLISS interactive marine costume. We wanted to imitate a jellyfish to connect with these lonely creatures and hopefully give them a "happy memory". Maybe one day in the future we will be able to communicate with them. This was a two-person team project, I was responsible for the creative concept, modeling, programming, lighting, and fabric experimentation, while my partner was responsible for the product design, simulation of the jellyfish's dynamic effect, and engineering stress analysis.
Research -Fish have feelings
Key points
We don’t tend to think of fish as emotional creatures, but there’s plenty of evidence to support the notion that many fish, especially larger species, have the ability to make emotional connections. They experience emotions and form human attachments, even from behind the glass. "Some of the larger species like Maori wrasse, which are quite intelligent fish, can form social bonds with the people they see all the time both in the wild and in captivity."
—Renowned underwater cinematographer Richard Fitzpatrick
•Aquarium staff say that affected the behaviors of some fish which are missing the interaction with crowds.
•Marine biologists say larger species share intelligence and can form social bonds with people
Process
The main process contains three aspects:
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The first is the inflatable airbag, I want to mimic the translucent organs of a jellyfish using inflatable transformations.
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The second part is the mechanical device to simulate the movement of a jellyfish.
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Beyond the movement, we also wanted the clothing to glow, mimicking the illuminated effect
01
Inflatable airbag
We explored various materials to achieve a semi-transparent look when inflated. Considering factors like weight and flexibility, we chose TPU material.
Firstly, for the design of the inflatable airbag, I utilized CLO to create a wearable airbag module. Then, I transformed these designs into flat patterns that can be cut and assembled.
02
Mechanical Activity Devices
Initially, we designed a moving "eccentric pendulum". However, during our experiments, we found that
The motion range driven by the pendulum was too limited, so the expansion and contraction effects of the clothing are not obvious.
In the second iteration, we extend the lengthening of the force arm. As seen in the video, we incorporated a force and spring mechanism to "amplify" the movement. However, a new challenge is that The spring mechanism resulted in a significant amount of energy loss, and our motor wasn't powerful enough to support it.
Thus, we moved on to the third iteration of our design. We added additional lever arms to replace the spring mechanism. With this adjustment, the motor's rotation would drive four lever arms to simulate the expansion and contraction of the jellyfish.
03
Materials and Luminosity
Similar to the airbag, I chose transparent TPU for the material. Through cutting and twisting, we made organic patterns and textures, mimicking the natural look of marine creatures.
To achieve the jellyfish-like luminescent effect, I designed two luminescent structures, where the optical fiber mainly simulates the jellyfish's umbrella-like luminescent fibers, while the jellyfish's luminescent tentacles are simulated by running lights.
Final Work
With the integration of lights, breathing movement, I aim to explore the potential for humans to communicate with animals through clothing. I envision a world where we aren't just visitors in an aquarium but active participants. I believe this concept opens doors to forging 'happy relationships' between humans and marine life.
