EchoScout

Trace the Echo · Scout the Sea

A physical-digital experience that makes sonar tangible through play.

Build your own underwater world, then navigate it through echoes.

Interactive Learning Experience · 2024–2026 · Independent Project

Role: Interaction Design · Industrial Design · Electronics · Programming · Visual Design

01Introduction

What is
EchoScout?

EchoScout is a sonar-inspired exploration game built around a world players create. Players shape a physical underwater landscape, then pilot EchoScout above it. As the boat moves, LiDAR translates their creation into a simplified sonar display, guiding them as they navigate, discover marine life, and explore underwater terrain.

01MEET EchoScout

02How to Play

Build the world.
Explore by echo.

Learn how sonar works, create an underwater world, then pilot EchoScout through it. As you move, your physical creation becomes a digital expedition shaped by echoes.

Create the WorldBegin the Expedition

  1. Players watching SONAR 101 to see how echoes reveal the underwater world

    LEARN

    Watch SONAR 101 to see how echoes reveal the underwater world.

  2. Players shaping terrain and placing marine creatures in a physical underwater world

    BUILD

    Shape a physical underwater world with terrain and marine creatures.

  3. Players piloting EchoScout across their physical underwater world

    NAVIGATE

    Pilot EchoScout as LiDAR translates your world into a sonar-inspired display.

  1. The EchoScout display guiding players to marine life and underwater terrain

    DISCOVER

    Follow the display to find marine life and read the terrain.

  2. A complete set of six collectible EchoScout discovery badges

    COLLECT

    Unlock badges with each discovery and collect all six.

  3. A player photographing their finished EchoScout discovery poster

    SHARE

    Save and share the expedition you created together.

03Begin with an Echo

How does
sonar work?

I created this animation to playfully explain how sonar uses sound waves and returning echoes to reveal underwater terrain and marine life.

A professional sonar display showing dense, color-coded return signals
Professional sonar display
The EchoScout display simplifying terrain and marine life into approachable visual clues
EchoScout display
03SONAR 101

04Behind the Making

From first prototype
to final expedition.

Over two years, I designed and built every layer of EchoScout—from its hardware and software to its visual language and interaction flow. This film traces the iterative process that brought these layers together into one complete physical-digital experience.

  1. Recreating the Sonar Experience with LiDAR
  2. Moving Beyond Hardware
  3. Combining Multiple Signals
04BEHIND THE MAKING