ADRIFT

Inspiration:

The inspiration for ADRIFT came from thinking about how much of our daily behavior happens automatically without us realizing it. While many tools today track things like steps, sleep or productivity, there are very few that help us understand our Sense of Agency, the feeling that we are consciously in control of our actions. We were particularly interested in the idea that humans possess many more senses than the traditional five, and that awareness of our own actions and intentions could be treated as a measurable sensory experience. This led to the concept of ADRIFT, a speculative system that makes the invisible Sense of Agency visible and understandable.

What we learned:

Through this project, we learned how to translate an abstract psychological concept into a tangible interface design. Designing for something intangible like agency required thinking about how behavioral signals could represent internal states.

We also learned how metaphors can simplify complex ideas. The ocean and boat navigation metaphor helped visualize changes in agency in a way that feels intuitive and engaging. Additionally, exploring speculative design helped me think beyond current technological limitations and imagine how future sensing technologies like AR glasses could enhance human awareness.

What it does:

The project was designed as a speculative system combining a mobile app and AR glasses interface. The app tracks patterns in user interactions such as app switching, scrolling behavior, and interaction patterns to estimate shifts in intentional versus automatic behavior. The AR glasses concept introduces additional sensing inputs such as gaze direction and attention shifts, allowing the system to detect changes in agency in real time. The interface visualizes this data using a navigation metaphor, where users see their progress as a boat moving across an ocean. Calm waters represent intentional action, while turbulent waters represent moments where the user begins to drift away from their original intentions.

How we built it:

We built it using wireframes of our own and made it into high-fidelity using Figma Make.

Challenges we ran into:

One of the biggest challenges was designing for something that cannot be directly measured. The Sense of Agency is an internal psychological experience, so the system had to rely on indirect behavioral signals to estimate it. Another challenge was ensuring the project did not become a typical productivity or focus tracker, but instead remained centered on self-awareness and intentional action. Finally, translating an abstract idea into a clear and intuitive user interface required careful thought, especially in designing visual metaphors that communicate complex cognitive states in a simple and engaging way.

What's next for ADRIFT:

Since ADRIFT deals with internal cognitive states, future work would involve: collaboration with cognitive scientists, ethical guidelines for behavioral sensing, strong privacy protections for sensitive interaction data. This ensures the technology empowers users rather than monitoring them.

It would also include further development to translate the concept into a fully realized AR prototype, where users could experience agency feedback more seamlessly in real time.