The girl who was plugged in
Sensory fiction is about new ways of experiencing and creating stories. Traditionally, fiction creates and induces emotions and empathy through words and images. By using a combination of networked sensors and actuators, the sensory fiction author is provided with new means of conveying plot, mood, and emotion while still allowing space for the reader’s imagination.
While the project explores the new ways of reading with digital augmentations, this is not a product idea, but rather an exploration in the context of science fiction stories. it is an artifact meant to provoke discussions.
Despite being presented as a prototype-project, Sensory Fiction sparked media discussion in 2013 when picked up by NPR.
In collaboration with Alexis Hope & Felix Heibeck, 2013
Design’s fundamental task is to help people deal with change
The original Amino is a friendly miniature laboratory that allows users to carry out genetic engineering and enables the subsequent care and feeding of the bacteria that are grown. Inspired by Tamagotchis, the genetic transformation of an organism's DNA is performed by the user through guided interactions, resulting in their own synthetic organism, for which they can care for like you would a pet.
Amino was developed using low-cost ways of carrying out lab-like procedures in the home and is packaged in a suitcase-sized continuous bioreactor for cells.
Design’s fundamental task is to help people deal with change by interpreting technological advancements into understandable objects and experiences. Amino has the potential to help shift public perception of Synthetic Biology and get non-traditional audiences excited about taking part in this field.
Amino was the physical output of Julie’s MIT Media Lab graduate thesis, Amino : a domestic system for synthetic biology and continuous culturing, 2014-15.
A home and school-friendly commercial version of the original Amino is now available at amino.bio
Julie Legault is a designer-entrepreneur from the city of Montreal. Over the last decade, Julie has worked in design research and in the maker movement. Julie began her career earning a B.F.A. (Design and Computation Art), and an G.Cert. (Digital Technologies in Design Art Practice) from Concordia University in Montreal. Julie furthered her skills and knowledge by completing a Master of Art (School of Materials) at the Royal College of Art in London, United Kingdom and a Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab. Since very early access to computing in her childhood thanks to a pioneering mother, Julie has pursued understanding and translating complex technologies to the uninitiated through teaching and applied design.
During her career, Julie won and attended Design Residencies worldwide, taught at Birmingham’s Institute of Art and Design (UK), the Royal College of Art, and worked with multi-nationals, and pop stars such as Rihanna to develop accessible smart materials, wearables and biometric devices. Her work as been published and exhibited globally, notably in Wired Magazine, NPR, MoMA, and at the V&A.
Her unexpected foray into DNA technology inspired her so thorougly that finding an accessible entry point in the complex science became the focus of her MIT Media Lab graduate thesis. It led her to found Amino Labs, an MIT spinout that builds hardware and synthetic biology products making genetic engineering accessible to children and non-scientists.
Throughout her career, Julie participated and mentored in several entrepreneurship environments, including IndieBio (Biotechnology Startup Accelerator), and E14 (MIT Media Lab Startup Accelerator). Julie is a proud fellow of the Coaching Fellowship program for Extraordinary Young Women Leaders of Impact.
Because time slows when I'm with you, and time flies, and times stops with every heartbeat.
Stretching or shrinking hours at the beat of your heart, The HeartBeats Watch is a timepiece in which the duration of time is paced not by seconds but according to the wearer's heartbeat.
Through a heightened awareness of self, The HeartBeats Watch brings together art and science to reveal the emotional complexity of time and the human body. A poetic investigation of the physiology of emotions, health, immortality, and control, the watch bridges the gap between society and medical science, invoking a broader cultural perception of life.
Space and Time are not conditions in which we live, they are simply modes in which we think.
Developed under the working title of "The Superpower of Time Control" the watch is a tool of self-awareness and of exploration. With the support of V2_Institute for the Unstable Media. 2011
A tiny window onto a wider world
20-day stranger is a mobile app that creates an intimate and anonymous connection between you and another person. For 20 days, you get continuous updates about where they are, what they are doing, and eventually even how they are feeling, and them likewise about you. But you will never know who this person is. Does this change the way you think about other people you see throughout your day, any one of which could be your stranger?
Compassion is rooted in the simple awareness that all others are human beings who, just like oneself, aspire to happiness.
As part of Playful Systems Research Group @ M.I.T. Media Lab. 2013
https://www.20daystranger.com
Thank you for purchasing the Rodent Sense™ Virtual Reality expansion pack. Now you can have the sensory experience you’ve always wanted.
Rodent Sense by Sense co. - A speculative design project in collaboration with Alexis Hope and Felix Heibeck.
Inspired by the protagonist in Kill Decision’s reliance on a trained pair of ravens (as opposed to drones), and by the SimStim in Neuromancer that allows Case to tap into the sensory experience of another, the Rodent Sense project links its wearer to the world of animals.
We drew on Umwelt theory to imagine how a human might make sense of the world if given the opportunity to switch between various animal sensory inputs and augment (or diminish) their senses in particular ways. For the demo, we focused on allowing the viewer to see through the eyes of a hamster.
As hamsters can only see 2 inches in front of their eyes, the view offered to the wearer is quite a distorted one. To create this experience, we attached stereoscopic cameras to a carriage and hamster-ball device that the hamster pulled, and processed the resulting video feed so that it could be seen by the viewer in 3d while wearing an Oculus Rift. The carriage and wheels were lasercut from 5mm mirrored acrylic and 25mm clear acrylic. 2013
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Everything is light, everything is warmth, everything is electricity,
A collection of pendants to charge devices or store information.
Silver, Copper, Gold, Electronics. 2010-11
“The next 99 million” (February 2017) Startup Showcase Silicon Valley, Google.
"Stem by Design" (February 2017) 2017 COSSOT STEMinism Conference, University of Toronto.
“Biological boundaries: The next 99 million bioengineers”(November 2016) Biofabricate, Parsons School of Design.
Panelist: “Biotech and Art” (November 2016) Hacking Arts, MIT Media Lab.
Panelist: “Driving Change and Creativity” (October 2016) WCET's 28th Annual Meeting, WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies.
Amino Labs Demo (October 2016) Genomics in the park, Ontario Genomics.
Amino Labs Demo (October 2016) Digital Media and Learning Conference 2016, University of California.
Amino Labs Demo (October 2016) Exponential Medicine, Singularity University.
“The Next 99 Millions : The future is Biological” (October 2016) Media Lab Startup Event @ Members Week, M.I.T. Media Lab.
Amino Labs Demo (September 2016) Alchemists of our Time, ARS Electronica festival 2016.
Hands-on Accessible Bioengineering (February 2016) M.I.T. Museum
"De la Bière qui Glow-in-the-Dark" (May 2016) l'Échapée-volée
"Amino Labs: Accessible biology by design" (June 2016) La Paillasse,Paris
"Amino Labs: Accessible biology for ages 8 and up" (June 2016) Cambridge University, Cambridge
"Accessible bioengineering: What does it mean for Academia" (June 2016) Teesside University
"The Future of Personal Bioengineering: Amino Labs" Demo Day 2016, IndieBio SF
Amino Labs Demo Showcase Award-Winner (January 2016), O'reilly Design Conference 2016
"Accessible biology by design" (November 2015) China Association of Science and Technology HQ.
"Trends in Augmented Reality and Print" (June 2015) Paris
Amino Labs Demo (June 2015) Interaction Design and Children Conference
Solarburst: Wearable 3dimensional Solar Cells (February 2012) Sixth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interactions
Panelist: "Unstable Media Test Labs" The 17th international symposium on electronic art, ISEA2011-Istanbul
A wearable that lets you feel magnetic north through temperature changes.
This Project sought to simulate magnetoception in humans and investigate the possible effects of using a device providing a constant sensor of north via a device oscillating between hot and cold. This aids in forming a better mental map of one's environment and increasing spatial memory.
In collaboration with Alexis Hope & Basheer Tome. 2014
“Whoever said 'there's no crying over spilled milk' has never been a breastfeeding mother.”
Bundle is a breastfeeding accessory that reflects and extends the tenderness of the nursing relationship between mother and baby. Bundle is a cozy for a mother’s breast pump. Tucking away the pump and its tubing and flanges, bundle wraps tight around the body like a hug, occluding the clinical and dehumanizing mechanism of the pump. Offering discretion, hands-free comfort, and easy access to adjusting pump placement, it’s designed to look and feel more like a nursing baby. Unwrap bundle, and it becomes a swaddle for baby.
Made of soft material, Bundle picks up baby’s scent, allowing olfactory cues present in the breast pumping experience like they do in nursing. Bundle has ears: two tiny, plush speakers listen when baby is swaddled and can record her cooing or crying, which can later be played back as a pumping primer.
Through scent, sound, and touch, bundle transmits the sensory data that’s central to the nursing experience, and absent in the pumping experience. Our hope is that Bundle makes breastfeeding a gentler experience for mothers, and offers a humanist solution to the logistical and emotional challenges of breastfeeding.
In collaboration with Savannah Niles, Cory Schmitz, Ermal Dreshaj. 2014
As part of the Breastpump Hackathon "Make the breastpump not suck" @ M.I.T. Media Lab
Anthropomorphic companions with evolving personalities, the wearable creatures of this collection enhance and investigate everyday interactions with personal objects. The dormant personality of each creature - Edgar, Cédrick, Arthur - evolves through repeated interactions with the user while retaining inherent behaviors specific to each.
As the user’s touch and environment influences the way the creature grows, so does its 'age', like children under your care. Each creature is wearable in his own way and has pocket compartments for the wearer's belonging. In collaboration with Josiane Mercier Auger, 2008
In collaboration with Josiane Mercier Auger, 2008
Zero to Genetic Engineering Hero is the world’s first beginner's guide to genetic engineering. Zero to Genetic Engineering Hero guides new aspiring scientists on a journey of real-world, hands-on genetic engineering experiments that teach real experimental techniques and the first principles of biology. Upon completion of the book, learners have a strong understanding of genetic engineering and can begin their own synthetic biology projects. Written for secondary school education, iGEM teams, and at-home learning,
Zero to Genetic Engineering Hero the beginners guide to programming bacteria at home, school and in the makerspace is seven chapters of DNA and bacteria-based activities, virtual simulations, pro-tips, and more than 130 color illustrations. This book replaces the need for an expert teacher with university training and enables a new generation of education in genetic engineering.
Co-author & illustrator, 2018
Available on amazon, at amino.bio/book and at your local DIYbio club
These o/s microfluidics devices were made to further explore the lab-on-a-chip idea to culture live organisms on 3d printed parts as part of an MIT course, Open Source Microfluidics for Synthetic Biology.
Traditionally made through stereolithography, microfluidic "lab-on-a-chip" technologies are part of a maturing field of research that involves miniaturizing fluidics systems to mix, move, separate or otherwise process liquids, making it possible to perform bio experiments on devices the size of a stamp, not a room.
As 3d printing these devices is a new area of research, these tests were exploratory and still in progress in the hopes to achieve self-contained microfluidic cell culture systems. Work in this field is explored on a new MIT-designed open-source website, Metafluidics.org,
Research in Collaboration with David Kong, Steven Keating & Jeremy Gam (2014) Matthew Walsh, Daniel S. Kwang Yang Quake & Hsin-ho Huang (2015)
