Ballance
Under the design brief to create a 'companion', we designed Ballance: a worktop companion to encourage balanced participation during creative discussions. This device uses real-time audio sensing and shifting weights to provide subtle kinetic feedback.
Companion Design
Product Design
3D Modelling
Arduino
Project Overview
Project: Ballance, an interactive companion device
Context: Academic project, Creative Mechanical Engineering & Electronics
Industry: Social Design, Educational Technology
Timeline: 1 month (2024)
My Role: Design Engineer & Researcher
Under the design brief to create a 'companion', we designed Ballance: a worktop companion to encourage balanced participation during creative discussions. This device uses real-time audio sensing and shifting weights to provide subtle kinetic feedback.
Design Solution
We created an interactive device that mediates group dynamics through ambient physical interventions. The solution combines:
Private Social Sensing: Noise-level circuits that detect speaking time imbalances without recording speech
Tactile Feedback: Servo-controlled movements that provide gentle, non-disruptive nudges toward balance
FDM Fabrication: 3D-printed components for customizability and easy replacement parts
Power-Smart Operation: EEPROM firmware with sleep modes for extended battery life
The functional prototype successfully demonstrated how subtle kinetic interactions can reshape social dynamics, with positive user feedback on its non-confrontational approach to facilitation.
We were also tasked with maintaining and presenting a 'Design Research Workbook' along with the final prototype. This was a tool to record our design process, and reflect on our progress. More often than not, maintaining the workbook led to new insights that would otherwise be obscured, especially regarding peer feedback during studio critiques.
