Seeing through a porpoise’s biosonar

Fjord & Bælt asked how visitors could understand porpoise echolocation by trying it themselves. The installation used a cut-open porpoise model as a viewer, with a webcam in its snout so the visitor could look through the animal’s point of view.

Each press of the physical button captured an image and processed it with Canny edge detection in Max/MSP/Jitter. The image faded immediately; pressing faster created a clearer, more continuous outline—an interactive analogy to the terminal buzz a porpoise uses as it approaches prey.

I designed the interaction and physical interface, developed the Max/MSP/Jitter software and visual behaviour, integrated the webcam and tested it as a durable museum installation.

ROLE
Interaction design · Physical-interface design · Max/MSP/Jitter programming · Webcam integration · Canny edge detection · Visual feedback · Prototyping & museum installation