PLL project

Circus Science

In partnership with the Twin Cities Trapeze Center, we are blending technology with circus acts to create a never-before-seen experience. We are designing and assembling a high-tech, responsive costume for circus performers using commercially-available, wearable electronics. The costume lights up and changes colors in response to an aerialist’s movements and positions, and the Lab’s accompanying research has opened up the possibilities--by combining modern technology and the long and storied tradition of acrobatics--for enhancing circus performances. This project builds on previous PLL work that used circus arts to illustrate science and engineering principles to undergraduate students at St. Thomas, and it flips the experience to allow students to use science and engineering to illuminate circus arts.

This video was designed to accompany one of the Circus Science’s papers for the ACM TEI conference and demonstrates the functionality of TRAP (Trigger Responsive to Applied Pressure) and LISTO (Light Integrated Sensing Trapeze Outfit).