This project developed a new area for wearable technology by using abdominal electrodes to measure signals from the enteric nervous system (ENS) or the “gut brain.” Despite intimate anatomical linkage between the brain’s emotion, stress, and memory centers to the ENS and allusions to “gut feelings” worldwide, the mind-gut connection had been unexplored for human-computer interaction research. Building devices and systems around this connection led to applications for improving emotional wellbeing, improving personal and group decision-making, and training artificial intelligence with gut instincts.

My role was to investigate and develop the human-computer interaction aspects of this gut-brain device. I assisted the project lead with early phases of research, including reviewing literature, rapid prototyping, and conducting user evaluations.

My research and prototyping in the early stages of this project contributed to a paper that was later published, with this wearable gut-brain device as the final outcome.

key words: research, wearable tech design, user testing