Research Through Design / Tangible Interaction / Physical Computing
Domesticated
How do machines teach us how to behave?
Three functioning wooden interfaces explore how machine response rules shape human action. Jana independently conceived, designed, fabricated, wired, and programmed all three objects in under ten weeks. Force, precision, and anticipation become physical questions about adaptation and perceived control.
Domesticated, 2026. The three functioning wooden interfaces with their independent designer and maker.
Year
2026
Institution
University of Washington · Undergraduate Thesis
Jana’s role
Independent designer, researcher, fabricator & programmer
Adviser / collaborators
Independent undergraduate thesis
Switch / Force
A familiar control becomes an inquiry into force: what does an interface ask of the body before it responds?
What must the body do to make the machine respond?
Switch study: hand interaction, exposed wiring, illuminated detail, and the finished object.
Knob study: turning gestures, surface details, and illumination in the original artifact photographs.
Knob / Precision
The knob explores precision as a condition of interaction. It sits between the familiarity of turning a control and the demands imposed by its response rules.
How precise is precise enough?
Panel / Anticipation
The panel turns attention toward anticipation and the relationship between action and feedback. Together, the three objects ask how machine rules invite adaptation.
Who sets the pace of an interaction?
Panel study: touch, surface texture, and the finished object.
Making the behavior
Jana independently developed the physical objects, electronics, and programming. The original process record connects a handwritten wiring sketch to a breadboard test and printed parts, showing the work between the question and a functioning interface.
Original process record: a notebook wiring sketch, breadboard test, and printed parts. This is process documentation, not a verified final-system schematic.
Learning the rules, negotiating control
Domestication is a critical metaphor, not a demonstrated biological process. The next inquiry could examine how people learn the objects’ response rules and describe their sense of control. Prototyping observations and participant evidence should remain distinct; no empirical validation is claimed.
Documentation URL pending