Reimagining a side table through joyful storytelling and material exploration


Rolly,
the Mug

An interactive companion that communicates through  movements—exploring presence and awareness.


Duration
November 2025 (2 weeks)

Skills
Mechanical Prototyping, CAD modeling (SolidWorks) , IDE Prototyping, 3D printing (Bambu Lab)

Materials
ESP32, N20 motors, DRV8833 motor driver, VL54L0X Tof distance sensors, capacitors, 4x1.5v AAA battery case, AAA batteries, LM2596 buck converter, metal ball,
PLA (3D printing)







Our everyday environments are filled with functional objects that make our lives work. Through the lens of someone with ADHD, because of inattention, they have difficulty maintaining focus, following through on tasks, or staying organized (NIMH, 2024). These objects often remain emotionally and perceptually invisible until the moment they are needed, which is why people with ADHD often lose their belongings and spend a lot of time looking for them.


This made me wonder:
What if everyday static objects are no longer passive participants in our everyday lives, but become an active presence? How would that change the way we see or interact with them?

“Objects With Life” is Master of Industrial Design thesis at Rhode Island School of Design , where I look at everyday static objects in domestic spaces and explore what happens when they begin to move. My work focuses on how motion can suggest intention, emotion, or personality, and how that changes the way we relate to objects. Through mechanical prototyping and behavioral design, I’m exploring how movement can become a form of communication, creating cues through behavior.




Intention



To explore this idea, I began my thesis with the hypothesis: when a static object gains motion, it is no longer invisible to the eye, and the human–object relationship changes.
As a way of testing this idea, I created The Mug. I made sure it looked just like any other ordinary mug, something you might easily overlook on a desk. But when the user gets close to it, the mug suddenly tries to run away. The user can never pick it up.

People were very surprised when The Mug started to moving as they reached for it. They immediately wanted to understand what it was trying to do, and why it behaved this way. My hypothesis proved to be true: once the mug gained motion, no one could ignore it anymore. 

Even the smallest movement was enough to transform an ordinary object into something that demanded attention, curiosity, and interaction. When the mug began to move, its movements were no longer just motion—they became gestures, expressing intentions and inviting people to engage with it.



Process