Yo-Yo Machines

Yo-Yo Machines 2020

electronics, software, pandemic, goldsmiths, irs

Yo-Yo Machines

Yo-Yo Machines is a research-through-design project that explores how simple, self-build communication devices can help people feel socially connected while physically apart. Developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Yo-Yo Machines offers a portfolio of playful, open-source designs that allow anyone to build devices for peripheral and expressive communication. Each device connects a pair of users, enabling them to send simple signals—such as light, sound, or movement—across distance, supporting a sense of presence and togetherness.

The project investigates how minimal, tangible interactions can foster meaningful remote connection, and how open-source, self-build approaches can circulate research products to a broad public. Yo-Yo Machines has been adopted by families, friends, and communities worldwide, and has informed new perspectives on designing for remote intimacy and peripheral awareness.

For more details, see the project website and the following publications:

Yo–Yo Machines: Self-Build Devices that Support Social Connections During the Pandemic (2022). William Gaver, Andy Boucher, Dean Brown, David Chatting, Naho Matsuda, Liliana Ovalle, Andy Sheen and Michail Vanis. Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. DOI: 10.1145/3491102.3517547

Yo-Yo Machines: Self-Build Peripheral Awareness Communication Devices (2021). Interaction Research Studio. Interactions. Vol. 28 (Issue 6) pp. 22-25. DOI: 10.1145/3490446