Project Description

Interactive Mycelium Composites: Material Exploration on Combining Mushroom with Off-the-shelf Electronic Components

Çağlar Genç, Emilia Launne and Jonna Häkkilä

Nordic Human-Computer Interaction Conference (NordiCHI ’22), October 8–12, 2022, Aarhus, Denmark

Using organic materials for interactive products has gained attention during the past few years. Among them, mycelium, the vegetative part of the mushroom, is a promising material and explored by only distinct examples in HCI. This paper adopts a systematic approach to combining mycelium with LEDs, optical fibers, servo motors, micro-vibration motors, thermochromic inks, conductive threads and fabrics. We created 10 material samples utilizing input (touch) and/or output (light, movement and color-change) features. We describe our material exploration process, as well as the results of an online survey (N=30) and two design workshops (N=10) which examined the experiences evoked by different interactive elements and collected potential use-cases. Our work contributes insights about the technology inclusion to the natural feel of the mycelium, the material’s suitability for tangible interaction and suggests future applications for the composites as a sustainable alternative for interactive interior design elements and ambient displays.

Genc, C., Launne, E., & Häkkilä, J. (2022, in-press). Interactive Mycelium Composites: Material Exploration on Combining Mushroom with Off-the-shelf Electronic Components. In Nordic Human-Computer Interaction Conference (NordiCHI ’22), October 8–12, 2022, Aarhus, Denmark. ACM, New York, NY, USA 12 Pages.

Publication
The figure shows the photos of all the samples and their interactions in a table structure. The top row includes five samples under three categories. The first row starts with Sample 0 (S0), non-interactive sample, under non-interactive category. The first picture of the non-interactive sample shows a square-shaped mycelium sample with a rough texture. The second photo shows a hand touching it. The second category in the first row is titled light. This category includes three samples: S1-LED Sphere Bump, S2-LED Inside and S3-Fiber Optic. The first photo of the LED Sphere Bump sample shows a square-shaped mycelium block with a sphere-shaped bump in the middle. A red light is visible through the bump part. The second photo of S1 is similar to the first one but shows a green-colored light. The first photo of the LED inside sample is a thin cylinder-shaped mycelium block with four cables coming out from the block. In the middle of this block, there is a green light visible. The second photo is similar to the first but the color of the light is purple. The photos of the third sample under the light category display the Fiber optic sample. The first photo of the fiber optic sample shows a square-shaped sample with four fiber optic wires coming out from one side of the sample. These wires are taped together after coming out from the sample. In the second photo, the fiber optic wires are slightly visible on the mycelium block's surface with their lights turned on. The last category on the top row is Movement. In this row, this category includes photos of the S4-Servo Sample. The first photo shows two pieces of mycelium blocks attached to each other: The base piece is a similar square-shaped mycelium block with a smaller part on its bottom that it stands on. Cables come out from the bottom part of this piece. On the top surface of this piece, there is a cylindrical indent. The second piece stands on top of the base piece and is a cylinder that is smaller than the cylindrical indent of the base piece. The second photo of the Servo sample shows a similar picture to the previous one but it also includes an arrow from left to right on top of the cylinder piece, indicating that it rotates. The second row includes five samples under 3 categories. The first sample is S5-Vibration and is under the Movement category. The first photo of this sample shows a square-shaped mycelium block with a cylindrical indent as in S4. On top of this piece, there is a cylindrical piece placed. The second picture of this sample is similar to the first one but it has wavy lines around the cylindrical piece for indicating it vibrates. The second category on the second row is called Color-Change. This category includes the photos of the S6-Thermochromic sample. Both of the pictures show a square-shaped mycelium block with black paint on its surface. In the second picture, the center of the block's surface is slightly turned transparent showing the mycelium texture. The last category in the second row is Touch and it includes three samples: The photos of the S7-Flexible Conductive Fabric show a square-shaped mycelium block with a circular hole in the middle. Within this circular hole, there is dark grey conductive fabric visible. In the second picture of this sample, there is a hand pressing on the flexible conductive fabric. The second sample in the touch category is S8-Conductive Threads. The photos display a square-shaped mycelium block with some parts of three conductive threads visible through mycelium on the top surface. The threads come out from one side of the block and are connected to cables. In the second picture, a finger is touching one of the threads. The last sample on the second row is S8-Conductive Fabric. The photos of this sample show a square-shaped mycelium block with a circular hole in the middle where a conductive fabric is visible. Different from S7, the mycelium that grew over the conductive fabric is visible on the fabric. The second photo is with a finger touching the conductive fabric.

Mycelium samples and interactions organized in categories

An overview of the growing process: (a) Mycelium bag at the end of the first growing phase; (b) crumbled mycelium; (c) the mold of Sample 2 with the component; (d) mycelium medium and component in the mold; (e) grown sample.