Ekuboom!
An interactive installation that captures and collects everyday laughter
Interactive Design
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2025
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Team Project with Bailang Cheng
Do you know that a 4-year-old laughs about 300 times a day, while a 40-year-old laughs only 4 times?
Sad memories tend to linger, but we often forget the moments that once made us genuinely happy. While we document our lives through photos and videos, our most spontaneous vocal expressions — laughter — are often lost.
What if we could capture and preserve those laughters, just like photographs of joy?
Challenge
How might we design a way to physicalize and preserve the fleeting laughters?
Solution
An interactive installation that records and visualizes laughter through sound and motion.
Role
Research, Ideation and Prototype
Ekuboom! is designed to detect laughter using audio input, analyze it using OpenAI Whisper and GPT models, and control a servo motor connected to an Arduino based on the detected laughter. Through the motion of falling marbles, it transfers the audio input to physical output, and thus capture fleeting moments of joy.
General Workflow
Marble Dropping Mechanism
Prototype
Ekuboom! = Ekubo (笑窪, means dimple) + boom! = e (笑) ku (来) boom (ブーム)!
Please bring me more laughters! It says.
Special thanks to Yuri Klebanov and DLX Design Lab!