I'LLBYTE
Role
Timeline
Team
Skills
I'llbyte is a jaw haptic that allows users to bite into virtual objects. Consisting of an adjustable jaw brace, a harness, as well as a working demo, this hackathon submission won the Hardware Track and Technology Horizons for Human Interfaces awards at Reality Hack @ MIT '23.
Final Design
Takeaways
1. Having a set audience
When initially pitching this projec tot he many judges and mentors at the hackathon, we proposed a lot of use cases- this could be used for entertainment, physical therapy, and sustainability. A key piece of feedback we recieced after the judging was that our design solution wasn't catering to a sepcific audience, making it a bit vague.
2. XR is an amazing field!
This was my first hackathon and first XR prototype. Though we were a team of all female designers, we were able to bring our out of the box thinking and create something truly fascinating. The many companies, mentors, and friends I've made as a result of this hackathon made it a truly valuable experience.
Design Problem
How can we have a haptic device that simulates eating in XR?
The current state of VR technology focuses on creating an immersive experience through sight hearing and taste. However, as of today, there has not been a device that simulates the jaw, even though eating and food are such integral parts of the human experience. With such an obvious gap in the VR industry, we decided to take on the challenge.
Diagrams of the jaw harness
Current Design
The view Inside the headset vs Outside
Internals stored on the back of the harness
Final Thoughts
The biggest challenge with this project was working with the short amount of time that we had. Working with a random group, choosing an idea that we could all agree on, and being able ot stay calm despite setbacks were skills tha twere really etsted during this event. So, I'm really thankful for my team and I'm really proud of us! Though we're not developing this furhter, feel free to iterate on the soruce code and ask us any questions! https://github.com/b3aribeiro/RH_HT_23
