A year ago, I was deep in the world of biomaterials, digital fabrication, and speculative design for my Fabricademy, Textile and Technology Academy final project at Fab Lab Barcelona. Looking back, I can’t help but feel nostalgic—not just for the work itself, but for the mindset I had at the time. The questions I was asking, the excitement of experimenting, and the curiosity that drove every step.
Now, a year later, I find myself drawn back to these ideas, but with new perspectives, new skills, and a different way of thinking. The person I am today sees the same topics with fresh curiosity—where do they fit in my current work? What new directions could they take?
Maybe it’s time to pick up the threads of this project again and see where they lead. 🤔
Re-Humanizing Sensing: The Concept
At its core, this project was an exploration of emotions, facial features, and AI-driven performance—a system where a pre-trained AI model interacted with bio-bots, using visitors as the trigger. The AI translated emotions and expressions between different communities through soft robotics, celebrating both their similarities and differences.
Under the umbrella of decolonizing design, this research also questioned the biases embedded in emotion recognition and expression training. The name Re-Humanizing Sensing speaks to a world where we are constantly bombarded with information, engaging passively rather than truly sensing. We’ve grown desensitized to "the other"—noticing, but not really seeing. This project aimed to restore that intuitive, human capacity to sense, feel, and connect.
As I reflect on it now, I wonder—how can this work evolve? How do we continue designing with awareness, perception, and emotional intelligence in a way that is truly, humanly human-centered?
