University of Chicago researchers have created a truly unique — and partially alive — smartwatch. It has a heart rate monitor that is (sort of) powered by electrically conductive slime mold, making it one of the oddest biomechanical wearables we’ve ever heard of.
According to a study presented at the 2022 ACM Symposium on User face Interface Software and Technology, taking care of the watch is critical because the Physarum polycephalum slime mold, colloquially known as the “blob,” needs to reach from one end of its enclosure to the other in order to complete an electrical circuit that powers the heart rate monitor. That means feeding it water and oats on a regular basis to keep it growing — and this is where things get interesting.
“People were forced to think about their relationship to devices in a lot of really interesting ways,” lead author Jasmine Lu, a researcher at the University of Chicago’s Human-Computer Integration Lab, said in a press release.
That makes sense, given that most of us take our devices for granted and don’t treat them like pets (unless they’re Tamagotchis, of course). It’s a whole different ballgame when there’s a substantial, living thing that’s not only contained in the watch but also essential to its function.
Analogy with a Watchmaker
Naturally, the device elicited some amusing responses from the five participants, each of whom wore it for two weeks and documented their experiences in journals and interviews.
The first week was mostly spent growing the slime until it could finally power the heart rate monitor. In a cruel twist, by the second week, the researchers told the participants to stop feeding the slime at all.
“People were stunned; almost everyone exclaimed, ‘Really? ‘Do I have to do it?’ “coauthor Pedro Lopes, an assistant professor of computer sciences at UChicago, recalled. “There were genuine reactions. Some people were depressed, and others felt as if the connection had been severed.”
All of this raises intriguing questions about our relationship with technology, specifically how we maintain devices that are becoming increasingly integrated into our daily lives.
According to Lu, the way consumer devices are currently designed, “those aspects of care are less focused on or made inaccessible; they are made so that you trash them, rather than engaging with them more.”