Doom Sense

How can we feel information?

Doom Sense is an experiment in haptic feedback modalities and sensory extension. Our goal is to improve the performance of a player at the game DOOM, by delivering curated contextual information

Team
Mitchell Karchemsky
Tomás Vega
Aleks Kamko

My Role
Initial Prototyping
Hardware Design
Embedded System Design

Methods
Prototyping
eagleCAD
Embedded System Development
Software Programming

Doom Sense

Doom Sense was a project done in the class “Software Defined PCBs.” The class focused on the idea of using software to define which components need to be utilized in order to bridge the gap in creating hardware. Being a student of Cognitive Science, I wanted to incorporate what I had learned about neuroplasticity to see how adding an additional sense modality would affect ones performance.

We modeled our device around the first person shooter DOOM, where it is important to always be tracking what resources you have. For example, you would never want to be in a dark hallway with very low health. It also adds to the gameplay if you knew when enemies were somewhere not directly in your field of view.

With these goals in mind, we created Doom Sense. Doom Sense is a jacket which a player would wear giving them a more immersive experience in a game. We focused on two data streams: Health, and proximity of enemies. We used a large dc motor with a offset counterweight to create vibrations. By scraping the data from the game of the remaining health, we could convert it to a percentage, with a percentage level, we modulate a waveform which simulates sinus rhythm of the heart; the less health you have, the faster and more aggressive the heartbeat is. The other data point we use is the proximity of enemies surrounding the player. We look for the closest enemy to the player that isn’t in the direct field of view, calculate the distance and then with some trade-secret magic, convert distance information into pulse strength. We five motors on the neck of our jacket and found that most experienced video game players would adapt quickly and triangulate within the first 2 minutes of game play, while more novice players would take 5.

Teaching Experience

Courses and Mentorship

Critical Practices

Teaching Assistant

A hands-on, studio design course where students work at the intersection of technological innovation and socially engaged art.

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Design Innovation 22

Teaching Assistant

This introductory design course teaches concepts, skills, and methods required to design, prototype, and fabricate physical objects.

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Invention Lab

Technical Design Mentor

The Invention Lab is a UC Berkeley makerspace focused on helping students, researchers, and faculty to make embedded systems inventions.

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Case Studies

Selected Works

Bifröst

Better Embedded Systems Debugging

Berkeley Institute of Design. How do we better instrument embedded systems for combined software and hardware debugging?

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Dalmatian

How can we make firefighters safer?

Technology startup focused on creating a safer more effective workforce for firefighters through the use of on-person telemetry units.

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Heimdall

Remote debugging of embedded systems

Berkeley Institute of Design. How do we enable remote intuitive debugging for teachers to help beginners design embedded systems projects?

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Wifröst

Wi-Fi Embedded Systems Debugging

Berkeley Institute of Design. How do we use instrumented hardware to better debug network enabled IOT embedded systems?

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Within2

How do we create music we can feel?

Collaboration with Meyer Sound, The Berkeley Center for New Media, and Artist Tarek Atoui. How do we create music for the hearing impaired?

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MakerPass

Hardware and Industrial Design

The MakerPass Authentication system allows for Maker-spaces to grant access to privilaged members in a low-cost, easy to implement solution.

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Doom Sense

How can we feel information?

An experiment in haptic feedback modalities and sensory extension. We improved the performance of a player by delivering curated contextual information

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Drill Sergeant

Hardware and Industrial Design

Berkeley Institute of Design. Drill Sergeant enables new makers to build confidence through self-guided interactive physical feedback driven tutorials.

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Strands

How can we feel information?

An experiment in haptic feedback and sound generation; allowing performers to explore timbre, pitch, and volume through physical interaction

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