Project Pull
Using tactile sensing to help potters learn novel techniques
PROJECT DETAILS
Team
Student 1, Student 2, Student 3, Advisor
Year
2025 - Present
Status
IRB Approved
What is Project Pull
As a part of a research group exploring the applications of Tactile-Sensing, “Project Pull” was formed with the focus of using tactile sensing to record and deepen our understanding of pottery techniques. Eventually, we hope to use this new, quantitative data to teach pottery techniques—specifically pulling—more effectively.
Why Pottery?
Although a niche application, pottery techniques are heavily reliant on minute changes in pressure and finger position. At the same time, throwing pottery on the wheel remains an incredibly difficult skill to learn, likely due to the unpredictability of clay on the wheel and lack of feedback when things go wrong. Thus, pottery seemed like a rich space in which to design tactile sensors that could help us understand this sensitive medium. We decided to focus specifically on pulling, which is widely described as the “hardest step” of throwing something on the wheel.
Although a niche application, pottery techniques are heavily reliant on minute changes in pressure and finger position. At the same time, throwing pottery on the wheel remains an incredibly difficult skill to learn, likely due to the unpredictability of clay on the wheel and lack of feedback when things go wrong. Thus, pottery seemed like a rich space in which to design tactile sensors that could help us understand this sensitive medium. We decided to focus specifically on pulling, which is widely described as the “hardest step” of throwing something on the wheel.
Building tactile sensors
This study used techniques developed by Devin Murphy(?) / WireSens to quickly prototype a pair of gloves that could sense pressure on its fingertips. The first prototype was made up of 4 parts: The sensors (2 on each hand), gloves, wire tubes, 2 microcontrollers, and a harness.
The sensors themselves were built using conductive thread and velostat– a piezoresistive material. When rows and columns of the thread are placed on top of each other, with a layer of velostat in between, the location and degree of pressure
Using a mixture of conductive and piezoresistive materials, a semi-conductive grid is formed that–when changes in the conductivity of each wire occur–can sense the change in conductivity and thus the relative pressure.
We decided to distribute the sensors only in the fingertips of the user, allowing for high-resolution recording of the most difficult step of throwing: pulling. This also helped us narrow the scope of our project from all pottery throwing techniques to only one.
Even with the working tactile sensors, there were still many unresolved logistical issues with carrying the current from the sensors to the microcontroller. We experimented with weaving the conductive thread directly into the gloves. While prototyping, we discovered that adding a layer of compressible padding between layers of velostat resulted in a wide-range of accurate pressure readings. In this case we used craft foam and wove conductive thread in and out of the foam like buttons. We experimented with running gloves as a base to attach the conductive threads to, but quickly ran into issues with the fingertips slipping around while the potter was touching the clay. Thus, we needed a different form factor for the fingertips.
We decided to switch to silicone fingertips, originally designed to protect your fingers while gardening or doing dishes. We found that the material stayed snug on the potter’s hand while being able to stretch to fit any finger. Combined with superglue, we found it incredibly easy to map the conductive threads onto the surface of the silicone and sew them directly into the gloves. However, we discovered later on that the super glue had a deteriorating effect on the conductive thread’s sensitivity. We also used a latex glove to keep water from getting inside and short circuiting the system.
These pieces of the sensor were designed to house the wires, breakout boards, and microcontrollers in a way that protected both the electrical signal and the user wearing the gloves. To keep wires from getting caught or tangled, we sewed them into tubes and used velcro to attach them to the fore-arm of the longer costume gloves.
The harness serves as a place to hold the breakout board and rather large microcontrollers safely outside of the “splash zone” in front of the wheel.
<video of us playing the gravity game>
Designing a Study
Once our prototype was working and providing good results, we went on to [add text]
