Forestʌr
An augmented reality prototype designed with UBC’s Emerging Media Lab (EMLx) exploring digital guidance that deepens sensory presence rather than distracting from it.
Field demonstration
Forestʌr field demonstration: from Tara Tiger Brown’s UBC Dissertation in cIRcle ↗
The prototype
Designed and built by a team of UBC students at EMLx, co-led by Tara Brown and Dr. John Innes, Forestʌr is a mobile application that integrates Augmented Reality (AR) and interactive pacing to support personalized forest bathing (shinrin-yoku) experiences.
Informed by research on the physiological and psychological benefits of time spent under tree canopies, the project addressed real access barriers for urban and student populations: unfamiliarity with nature immersion, time constraints, and lack of guided facilitation.
Tested in Pacific Spirit Regional Park
Field-tested in the temperate rainforest trails of Pacific Spirit Regional Park in Vancouver, Forestʌr gave participants the ability to select specific routes, set health-oriented intentions, and choose between meditative or ecological guidance.
Inverting the attention economy
Conventional consumer apps are designed to capture attention and pull human gaze into the screen. Forestʌr was built to do the opposite: use brief visual and spatial prompts to invite multisensory exploration of the surrounding habitat, looking up into canopy architecture, observing moss and bark patterns, noticing soil scents, and tuning into bird call directionality.
Foundational precedent for SGR
Forestʌr represents an early living laboratory prototype for Super Green Robot’s core philosophy: we do not need to reject technology, but we must place it thoughtfully in service of life, relationship, and embodied attention.
Read the official UBC Emerging Media Lab spotlight: EML Spotlight: Forestʌr with EMLx ↗