RAPOUR

SYNCHRONOUS TEATIME WITH THE RAPOUR SYSTEM

Microcontrollers and Software

Interaction Design

Designed during a period of isolation during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Rapour is a system that synchronizes a pair of teapots via discord and a microcontroller to recreate the experience of sharing a drink with a distant friend. For this iteration, friends log onto a bot-mediated discord channel to take turns pouring, requesting, and accepting drinks from each other.

To execute Rapour, I developed a physical and virtual interface. In addition to considering the prompt, this system needed to be accessible to set up and use. The pots are flat packing to increase portability. Additionally, the virtual platform of choice was Discord which is highly customizable and free to use.

Look and Feel

While they were flatpack, these containers needed to imitate familiar textures and shapes of traditional teapots to inspire similar conversations that people would usually have over coffee or tea. I also found that unglazed ceramics and mute colors inspired feelings of warmth and comfort. Shown below is a progression in my exploration of different finishing methods for the teapots.

Designed for 4.032 Advanced Interactions taught by Marcelo Coelho