THE FEEL FACTOR

THE FEEL FACTOR
'Where Physical Immersion Meets Emotional Ignition'
Exclusive Interview w/Bobby Chang
Conducted by Allié McGuire

​Some people design experiences you see. Bobby Chang designs experiences you feel. As VP of Design and Business Development for Ark Dynamics, he’s reimagining what motion simulation can do—not just for entertainment, but for emotional resonance and therapeutic breakthroughs. Today, we meet for the first time to explore how the fusion of movement and emotion might just change the way we play, heal, and connect.

ALLIÉ: How about I begin this way—thank you so much, Bobby Chang, for joining me here on AwareNow to share this space and your story. Thank you.

BOBBY: Well, I thank you for hosting me and allowing me to share this story. It's a great way to start. I love it.

ALLIÉ: Awesome. Let’s get started this way. The fact of the matter is we just met, but I have this feeling that this conversation is going to completely change how I’ve thought about gaming forever. I’d like to start with this question for you, Bobby: What was the moment you realized that motion could carry emotion?

BOBBY: As we’ve been developing this platform—we’re launching the world premiere in the beginning of September, just a few weeks away—we’re still constantly tuning and dialing the product, and also tuning the vehicles to the game, ​because it’s very specific to each car and each track. I had a few experiences where the tuning was spot-on, and when you come off, you’re on a high. You feel like an alpha because when the tuning’s right, everything syncs—the platform syncs to the game, your body syncs to the platform—and everything just feels like you’re in flow state. You come off glowing, and everybody around sees it.

It’s the same glaze you see in athletes when they’re “in the zone.” Now, when the tuning is off, you come away with a completely different vibe—frustrated, anxious. The difference between those two tunings is striking. One creates extreme positive emotion, the other extreme negative emotion. And for gamers, lag is the worst. It feels like you’re just standing there while people shoot you. You come out ready to throw your equipment. It’s infuriating.

So when we’re tuning, our setup allows us to move faster than human perception. What I mean is this: your vestibular system picks things up at about 10 milliseconds, because it has to keep you balanced. That’s the quickest, most sensitive sensor in your body for detecting motion. Our platform moves at 1.3 milliseconds. That means we can do things before you’re even consciously aware they’ve happened. We’re just ahead of your expectation. That creates excitement, because your body feels it—it’s your emotional detection system at work. And remember, we’ve got 240,000 sensors in our bodies.

So when we move your whole body just a little ahead of you, that excitement kicks in. Add to that the fact that you’re sitting on a platform capable of sending frequencies and vibrations into you, and when all those sync up, you come off on a high. Which made me realize: we could put anyone on this, in some kind of motion sequence, and get them into that alpha state.

Now, what caused the frustration when tuning was off was that it lagged just behind your expectation. We’re talking milliseconds and nanometers here. The industry standard was 14-bit resolution and fidelity. We bumped it up to 21-bit. That’s like going from a dumb phone to a smartphone—the difference in resolution is that massive.

So when I talk about milliseconds and nanometers, I mean we’re playing in an incredibly fine space, but your body picks that up. It has to, to keep you balanced. When things sync, you feel it—your visuals and your emotional sensors align. When they don’t sync, that’s when motion sickness happens. Think about being on a boat. The boat moves, your eyes track, but there’s a delay. That delay creates motion sickness. Same with VR: if the graphics don’t track properly, or your senses don’t align, people feel sick. It happens a lot.

We’re not neuroscientists. We’re engineers, physicists, and designers. But we’ve discovered that because of how our system works, we’re tapping into something profound.

ALLIÉ: Let’s pause for a moment there. Not to interrupt, but for people listening—because again, you and I have just met, but I did a little research. For those who are wondering, “Who is this guy? What is he talking about?”—talk about the this you keep referring to. What is this that you’re working on?

BOBBY: We’re working on a motion simulation platform. This platform allows us to move whatever’s on top. Right now, we can put a racing chassis on it for driving. People training for F1, or people doing iRacing—there are about 50 million sim racers now—can race each other on real tracks with real cars. Our platform makes that world more accessible, at lower cost.

The technology has so much innovation behind it that we’ve already secured patents. But the beauty of what we’re doing is that we want to release it as a development platform—a developer’s kit—so others can build on top of it and expand its applications.

Think of the evolution of shared experiences. We started with radio, then video. Then with the internet, we could share more directly—you could almost be there. Now, the next evolution is incorporating motion. We’ve maxed out visuals with VR, but the rest of the body hasn’t been addressed. The body picks up motion cues that create deeper immersion.

So with our platform, you can put a racing chassis, a flight simulator, or something else entirely. Unreal Engine and Unity already create perfect environments with accurate physics. We can take that and add the physical component. Imagine creating an experience for horseback riding—you put a horse chassis on the platform, and we can simulate the motion exactly. You can learn how to ride before you ever get on a horse, which is usually the most dangerous part because the horse senses your nerves. Or surfing—put a surfboard on the platform. We can simulate water perfectly. It feels like paddling out to a wave, and you can practice standing up without being pummeled by the surf. I used to surf, and the learning curve is brutal. But if you train muscle memory beforehand, your subconscious takes over.

Take Max Verstappen, one of the top F1 drivers. He openly talks about using sims as training tools. He tests dangerous lines in simulation at high speed. When he slows down in real life, his body already knows what to do. It’s subconscious training.

Same with Tom Brady—he used to watch game film at 1.5x or 2x speed. Then, in real time, everything felt like slow motion. That’s subconscious training, that’s muscle memory. Elite athletes rely on this.

That’s why the motion platform became so compelling. If it can perform at the highest levels of racing, then it can certainly be applied to other areas—like therapy for older adults. They don’t need the same G-forces as racers. But the platform can simulate the weight of a car, shifting mass, and movement in six degrees of freedom—any direction. That kind of fluid motion opens the door to endless applications.

ALLIÉ: That’s fascinating to me, because we know the body and the mind work as one. They’re separate facets of us, but they work together. What you mentioned a moment ago about people aging and things slowing down—I think about myself. I was diagnosed with MS five years ago. There are things, for example, like surfing—my gosh, how I’d love to get up on a surfboard—but my balance is shot now. That feels out of the question. But something like this might allow me to have an experience like that, or even rewire things so my body can remember and retrain my brain. Is that what you’re saying? This has that potential?

BOBBY: Yes. That’s exactly where my mind goes—boom. Let me bring it to this level. If we put a chair on top of the platform and call it a gaming chair, then suddenly kids who are passively gaming are sitting on a platform that can actually train them in ways nothing else can.

Twelve years ago, there was all this buzz around vibration plates. Now you see them in gyms everywhere. They work at frequencies between 30 and 50 hertz—nice oscillations you can feel. What that does is train the small muscles, the reaction muscles, not just the big ones. Our platform can do that, and much more. We go up to 1,000 hertz. Any vibration, any frequency in that range, we can accommodate. In fact, we can even create harmony between ranges, like music—movements syncing in harmony with each other.

So imagine a kid who games 12 hours a day. We could design a routine where the platform helps put them into alpha state while they play. Because in gaming, sometimes you’re in alpha—everything clicks—and sometimes everything feels off. Well, what if you could push a button and recalibrate? The platform sends vibrations that sync with alpha brainwaves, helping you get back into that flow.

We’re working with the racing team at UT Austin. These kids had never been on a platform like this. Within 30 seconds, you could see the shift—they went into alpha. Their eyes lit up, their whole demeanor changed. Watching them drive, you see flow, you see faster laps, you see that zone.

Meditation is another good comparison. Normally you sit, clear your mind, go through your process. But imagine if I create a sequence where you sit, and within a minute you’re flowing—because the platform puts you in zero-gravity angle, relaxes your body, then moves in alpha ranges with vibrations tuned to you. Humans have evolved to pick up frequencies. The biggest one is the Earth’s heartbeat—the Schumann resonance, 7.83 hertz. It’s created by lightning, wind, the atmosphere. We tune into it naturally. That’s why nature feels so restorative: no interference, no towers or Wi-Fi disrupting that frequency. In cities, those disturbances are everywhere—5G towers run in the millions and billions of hertz, far from our natural resonance. That’s why people feel out of sync.

On a social level, too, we tune into each other. A group of friends laughing—your body picks up that frequency and you join in. Or, if it’s a negative crowd, you instinctively turn away. Festivals, concerts, Burning Man—all of them are collective frequency experiences. Same with yoga, sound bowls, even something as simple as a wine glass humming. When frequencies sync, it feels amazing. When they clash, you feel disturbed, uneasy.

ALLIÉ: For sure. That’s such a good point. Like you just said, there’s this transference of energy, of frequency. I never thought about it like that. Why do we love festivals? Why do we laugh when we see someone else laughing, even if we don’t know why?

​BOBBY: Exactly. We all have frequencies. Someone more melancholy might run lower, others higher. The question is: how do we amplify our frequency?

You and your team are already doing this through media—amplifying stories, amplifying awareness. For me, I grew up steeped in Eastern philosophy. My parents were Buddhist, so I was open to how energy flows—acupuncture, acupressure, it’s all about energy flow. So when I think of us as frequencies, I think: how do we make them stronger, cleaner, with less noise? When our signal is strong, our energy is strong.

When we’re sick, the signal weakens. When kids play, their signals are off the charts—that’s why we pick up on their joy. So with this work, I ask: how do we amplify it? How do we distribute it? That’s part of why we’re setting this up as a DAO—a Decentralized Autonomous Organization. We want robotics schools, kids, developers, everyone to use this equipment and build the future of motion experiences. Because for so long, motion has been sidelined—we’ve focused on visuals and audio. VR is great, but it doesn’t feel real. Add motion, and suddenly it does. So how do we get younger generations thinking in those terms? Because everything we do as humans revolves around motion. Our biggest problems come when we stop moving.

ALLIÉ: You’re right. We become static beings. Human beings, but not doing much being. This is blowing my mind in so many ways—and I knew it would. What fascinates me most is this fusion of physical state and emotional state, with technology amplifying the best version of both. So let me ask: five years from now, Bobby, what are your hopes for this technology and these concepts you’re curating? Where do you see this?

BOBBY: We see ourselves creating tools anyone can use. A healthcare researcher might say, “I’ve been missing this,” and our platform becomes the missing link. Think about entertainment. Apple just did a haptic trailer for their F1 movie—watch it on Apple TV and your phone vibrates in sync with the car. That’s not true simulation, but it opened the door for people to expect motion as part of storytelling. Home entertainment is another. Imagine this in your living room. At its simplest, it could rock a baby to sleep, syncing vibrations with a mother’s heartbeat. At its most advanced, it could hold a racing sim rig or flight simulator. It’s the motion layer of home entertainment.

ALLIÉ: That fascinates me. I keep thinking, as an editor, I always work in layers—visual, audio. But what if there were a physical layer?

BOBBY: Exactly. Even on a basic level, think about concerts. Why do people stand by the speakers? Because they want to feel the music. Imagine listening to your favorite album while the platform adds synced vibrations. Suddenly the music comes alive in your whole body. We’ve also been experimenting with AI sequences. And here’s where ethics come in, because AI controlling emotions is a serious responsibility.

We fed Grok (an AI) all the parameters and technical specs of our unit, plus tuning data. Then we gave it a simple prompt: “Create a sequence that’s energizing yet relaxing.” It generated a 20-second loop of motion code. We got on the platform and—oh my goodness. It wasn’t coming from a game; it was created from a prompt. You could say, “Relax my lower back,” and it would design that sequence.

One of my co-founders, Louie, got on and said, “This is cool.” Then he turned up the power. Within seconds, I was laughing uncontrollably—hysterically. The sequence was energizing and relaxing at the same time. It filled me with energy and joy I couldn’t contain. That kind of laughter is medicine.

This is just the beginning. With AI like GPT-5, we can design levers to control how much of each motion you want. Content creators could build 3D motion experiences, syncing with physics-enabled 360 cameras. Think about what happens when film studios, already masters at creating experiences, add motion into the mix.

ALLIÉ: That’s wild. It makes me think of the film Strange Days. But like you said, responsibility is key—ethics in how we use this.

BOBBY: Super important. It’s the same question people raise with humanoids and robotics: what if it goes rogue? What would make it go rogue? I’m not pessimistic about it—I’m very optimistic. Because ultimately, it’s in our hands to set boundaries and safeguards. In our case, the platform already has guardrails. We’ve identified potential dangers and built in protections so it can’t exceed safe limits. Right now, the dev kit is more industrial because we want people to build with it, experiment, and learn. But the next version—designed for the home—will be both functional and beautiful. Something you’d want in a living room, garage, or man cave.
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Looking five years ahead, I see us partnering with research groups, upgrading their equipment, and collaborating across industries. The platform is open-source, so communities can build and share. Those who choose open-source will benefit from our help in distributing what they create. The ecosystem will thrive with collaboration. That excites me, because it means working across verticals. One day it’s neuroscience, the next it’s high-performance athletics. Insights cross-pollinate. Athletes teach us about recovery, which applies to therapy. Therapists teach us about stress, which applies to gaming. It accelerates learning across the board. Personally, I’ve always been obsessed with high performance. Growing up, I played sports but always felt behind—starting late, lacking natural advantages. So I was always asking: how do I catch up? How do I accelerate learning? This platform answers those questions. It’s like the auto industry: brands with F1 programs push innovation that trickles down to consumer cars. That’s what high performance does—it drives everything else.

Recovery is one area I’m especially focused on. Stress is everywhere. We spoke recently with Jeffrey Thompson, a sound and frequency expert in LA who’s been at it for 40 years. He uses one of the most advanced heart rate variability monitors. It shows when your body is in coherence—when your frequency is pure. He explained that in a zero-gravity position, each person has a slightly different optimal angle. Using HRV, he can find it. When you hit that position, the screen shows coherence. That resets both parasympathetic and sympathetic systems, essentially resetting stress. Think about it: constant stress—whether it’s gamers playing 12 hours a day or athletes coming off the field—builds up over time and leads to burnout or worse. But if, after your stress event, you could reset back to zero, your body could send all its energy to recovery instead of fighting stress. That’s a massive shift. Recovery becomes immediate and full, instead of compromised.

ALLIÉ: Yes, exactly. And on the recovery side, I can’t help but think about the disability community. There are invisible disabilities, but also very physical ones. A technology like this could offer hope—an equalizer of sorts—for those who feel limited by their bodies. It’s one thing to get the mind to a good place, but to also elevate the body, to bring balance… that’s powerful.

BOBBY: You’ve touched on the full equation. The physical part hasn’t been ignored, but it hasn’t been fully tapped either. Physical therapists do great work, but this offers another tool. When I started looking at research, I noticed a surge in VR studies a decade ago. Researchers used VR to treat phobias—arachnophobia, for instance. People would encounter simulated spiders and gradually grow more comfortable. VR became a new tool, so everyone experimented with it. What I realized was this: they were all missing motion. That’s the piece we bring. We’re going to be the next tool—coupling motion with visual and auditory input. That combination changes everything.

ALLIÉ: Yeah, that’s wild—to be able to see it, hear it, and now feel it.

BOBBY: Exactly. And when we talk about the full equation, the mental part is just as big. Stress builds up over time. When it becomes chronic, it turns into disease. Chronic stress overwhelms the body until the immune system can’t keep up. But if you reduce stress, the immune system comes back online, ready to fight again. I’ve seen it in sports. I’m a golfer—not a great one, about a 13 handicap. I read a book on the mental side of golf, and the next round I shot one under par. That’s unheard of at my level. It wasn’t physical—it was entirely mental. That’s how powerful mindset and stress are. So yes, the physical is crucial. But the mental—clearing noise, resetting stress—that’s where the biggest transformation often happens.

ALLIÉ: For sure. That’s where I’m geeking out right now—because the use cases are endless. Every case is a use case. Anytime physical ability deteriorates, it always affects the mental side. Always. If we can tap into both, creating feedback loops between body and mind, the possibilities are limitless.

BOBBY: And that’s what excites me. Which brings me to a call to action. Anyone listening to this conversation can see the potential. Developers, especially, are key. Game developers already know how to build immersive experiences. They’re the ones who can take this tool and create new worlds with it.

So the call to action is this: whatever industry you’re in, whatever cause you’re passionate about, this is an opportunity to upgrade your toolkit. And the dev kit we’re releasing is surprisingly affordable. Because of the way we’ve engineered and manufactured it, it costs about as much as a desktop computer—around $500. That’s unheard of for tech this advanced. Which means hobbyists, tinkerers, innovators working from their garages can get involved. And history shows us that breakthroughs often come from outsiders. Think of Burt Rutan, the guy who won the $10 million XPRIZE for the first private spaceflight. He came out of nowhere, building in a warehouse. Richard Branson later bought his design for Virgin Galactic. That’s how revolutions happen—unexpectedly, from unlikely places.

​So imagine people applying this platform to ALS, or Parkinson’s, or any challenge they’re passionate about. I believe we’ll see an explosion of innovation from communities using this tool in ways we haven’t imagined.

ALLIÉ: Yes. At first, I thought of this as “new tech.” But now, after speaking with you, I realize—it’s not just tech. It’s a tool. A revolutionary tool.

BOBBY: Exactly. This tool never existed before. Sim racing platforms were designed only for racing, not for broader applications. We’re saying: this platform can do so much more. We’re not hoarding it—we’re opening it up. We want others to build with it, collaborate with it, innovate with it. Every conversation I have sparks new ideas. For example, I recently spoke with an Ivy League rower. I suggested we could mount a shell on the platform. If you train at a wider balance point than normal, then when you’re back in the boat, it feels like a catamaran—far more stable. That’s the kind of edge athletes dream of. And that’s just one example. Once the community gets involved, the possibilities multiply endlessly. ∎

Learn more about Bobby’s work at Ark Dynamics:
www.ark-dynamics.com
Connect with Bobby on LinkedIn:
​www.linkedin.com/in/bobbywchang