You can’t explain “experience,” it has to be… experienced. So in order to have potential clients get a firsthand understanding of what all five senses are like when they’re made interactive, we built a prototype device called the “Sensation” and a custom app to interact with it.

The iOS app interacts with the device which brings interactive, smell, taste, and touch to life. The device is a one-off creation that houses SPIA’s iScent, iTaste, and LiftOff systems in a beautiful compact integrated system. The sensation was supported by a demo sized iShake unit (a product I previously engineered). Normally iShake is under foot, but worked well with one hand on the unit and the other holding the mobile device.

Another noteworthy point: the whole interaction between the app and Sensation device is IoT. And this was IoT about a year and a half before the term started appearing in tech circles.

The app provides a simple interface to the device and not only makes it come alive, but captures real time metrics which are transmitted to a server for access via a master dashboard. Included in the data capture are the data visualizations results of two questions from an in-app survey that yields a pleasant surprise from the Sensation. The unique surprise has generated smiles 100% of the time. That is the point when creating amazing experiences!

My roles: ideation, hardware design, software functionality design, UX, and project/team management.