Rhythm Garden

Rhythm Garden is an embodied interactive stress-relief installation that reframes the relationship between physical movement and emotional regulation, focusing on the unconscious leg-shaking behavior often observed in anxious students. Unlike traditional interaction design that attempts to correct such behaviors, this project embraces the body's instinctive stress responses and transforms "restlessness" into a natural interactive input. This approach turns unconscious movement into a medium for pressure release.

The installation features an integrated foot-mat structure with FSR pressure sensors embedded internally. Requiring no manual operation, it enables users to interact simply through natural stepping. Built on Arduino and Processing, it captures foot pressure variations via dual pressure-sensing zones and noise-reduction filtering. It directly maps pressure intensity to visual effects, such as water ripples and particles, creating an immediate, intuitive link between physical exertion and visual rhythm. As the stepping motion changes, the digital ripples spread, overlap, and transform, converting unconscious physical restlessness into soft, visual rhythmic feedback. This provides a practical paradigm for physical interaction solutions in emotional regulation.

In terms of form, the installation minimizes the operational panels and tool-like attributes of traditional devices. A simple foot-mat acts as the core unit to house the complete sensing function, establishing a unified sensory language with screen visuals through soft water-ripple patterns. This allows the interaction to blend naturally into sedentary study scenarios. Regarding sustainability, the installation is constructed with standard fabric mats and general-purpose electronic components, avoiding custom injection molding or disposable consumables. The sensors, main control board, and wiring are fully modular, allowing for removal, replacement, and reuse in other prototype developments. This reduces material waste while supporting experimental iteration.