A Human Tail

Decomputation, Royal College of Art

Role: Researcher and Designer

Collaborators: Quincy Cardinale and Leah Mentzis

Skills: prototyping, product design

A Human Tail is a project developed to engage human proprioceptive abilities.

Proprioception (or kinesthesia) is the sense though which we perceive the position and movement of our body, including our sense of equilibrium and balance, senses that depend on the notion of force (Jones, 2000).

Inspired by the monkey’s prehensile tail - able to grasp objects and allows the monkey to hang from tree branches - we only thought it natural to build an extension to the human tailbone!

Through dozens of prototypes and design iterations (and a bit of help from the comic-con and furry worlds), we constructed a movable tail from acrylic and fishing line. Attached to the end of the tailbone and strapped to the upper body, the acrylic tail swishes and sways according to the body’s movements.

Photos show the tail skeleton, but it can be wrapped in fur, of course!