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Fiber AId

Project Background

Context:

The hobby has been popularized thanks to social media, and younger women are discovering and learning knitting, crochet, embroidery, quilting, etc. The specific topic of interest for this research is pain management among fiber artists.

User group:

Women who practice fiber arts as a hobby or leisure activity and experience some level of pain while practicing them.

Motivation:

Individuals practice fiber arts as a form of relaxation and self expression. 82% of carpal tunnel syndrome patients are over 40 years old, and 65%–75% of cases are seen in women.

‘The repetitive biomechanical demands of needlework, specifically quilting, compare with other occupations that place individuals at high risk for acquiring cumulative trauma disorders of hands and wrists.’ Colwell, K. (1994)

Problem statement

How might we support female fiber artists to practice crafting without pain by using an AI wearable glove that delivers real-time personalized feedback?

AI capabilities

The purpose of this research is to design an AI wearable that helps relieve and avoid pain among fiber artists by providing both support and customized steps (through a visual interface) for each user to manage it.

With the help of a knitted textile with sensors woven in the fabric itself. I designed an smart glove that is capable of measuring muscle strain. The AI in the companion app will process the data from the gloves to provide timely and customized feedback to the user.

Sketches

Smart glove

These sketchers represent initial ideas for how the smart glove could potentially look like. I also brainstorm where the electric components could potentially be in the design.

Wireframes

Wireframes for the main features for the companion AI enabled app.

Empathy map

This is the user's empathy map. It includes everything the user hears, sees, says and thinks around their hobby.

Jobs to be done

The jobs to be done framework include the user's jobs. What it is that they are trying to achieve and different aspects of the job. In this case, the primary job is knitting and crochet and the secondary job is performing hand exercises to the users' joint health.