A Big Subject in a Big Semester

I believe today's presentation was a success. It was something of a rush trying to get everything done in time, however we still managed to get all of our presentation files ready, not to mention cobbling together a speech. It has been a subject of giant proportions, not just because of the added technical requirements of the Arduino. Designing for interaction and considering how it fits in a real-world context took a great deal of effort, though to be honest it has been both a pleasure and a challenge. 

Action!

We started today by shooting the remaining scenes for the movie, after which I got down to work editing and the girls worked variously on the report, object model and presentation boards. It has reached a point where everyone is simply taking on whichever jobs are required to finish the project. Fingers crossed it all gets done in good time!

**Update! The full video can be found here: Design Narrative

Everything's Coming Together...

Busy day today. Since I finished the programming last night, I've taken on the task of building the Solidworks model This was initially going to be a simple task, however it quickly got complicated when I realised how many splines and lofts - functions I'm not totally confident with - were required to build the model. In the end, I used a combination of top-down and bottom up assembly methods, and managed to make the belly light luminous in the renders, something I've never been able to do before. For the remainder of the day I worked with Sophie, who was writing the script for the scenario narrative. We finished the day by shooting some scenes for the movie. 

Accelerometer functioning!

Success! Today I managed to get the accelerometer to function. I started by downloading a code from http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ADXL3xx, and used this to run the accelerometer in the monitor screen. This gave me the readout values of the accelerometer, which I then patched  into Yasu's code for analogue sound manipulation so that the speaker plays a tone the increases or decreases in pitch according to the reading of the accelerometer. 

Circut and Programming Complete

Well, the circuitry is complete - or at least complete for now (I will come back and work on it if I have heaps of time later) We have: 

• Accelerometer. This is used as described earlier for the "toilet" function, it modifies the sound coming out of the speaker according to the frequency and how hard you shake the arduino
• Flex dependant resistor. This is used for the sleep function. When it is bent past a certain point, an LED activates for the night light
• Push Button. This is for the "eating" function. When the push button is pressed, a sound activates.

A video of this functioning can be found here: https://vimeo.com/53415563

Data recording abandoned

Based on Yasu's advice, we have abandoned the idea of including the data recording function as part of the behaviour model. Initially we had thought of somehow recording information form the monitor screen, however the reality proved significantly more complicated.

Components Acquired for Behaviour Model

Today we met with Yasu to gather both parts and advice to build the behaviour model for our product. Drawing on the interaction diagrams we have devised over the past week, we obtained a flex dependent resistor and an accelerometer. The flex dependant resistor will be used to activate the "sleep" mode, when it is bent over hopefully I will be able to program a light to be turned on, and perhaps the sleep noise/vibration to be activated. The accelerometer will be used to activate the "toilet" mode, making a noise that responds to the shaking of the device. The "eating" mode will use components from the previous task - a simple push-button tone should suffice.

Further Concept Refinement

In today's tute, our concept was further refined with a specific focus on the interaction steps. By breaking each of the individual functions (Eat, sleep, toilet) we were able to build a framework for what was possible in the interactions, and what was simply impractical. Furthermore, the framework gave us the opportunity to explore how the interactions are relevant in real life, taking inspiration from Leonardo's instruction on paper prototyping. 

Tutorial 16/10

An eventful session today, we managed to make considerable headway with the story/scenario, form and function.

Leonardo advised us to start utilising paper prototyping in testing the interaction  between our product and the users, so the next step is to find some children we can test it on. I think it will be quite important to make a 3d model of the artifact to form testing can occur

Further Development

Our idea seems to be coming together, if a little slowly. We have narrowed our focus to three main pieces of information to collect and transmit: if and when (during the kindergarten day) a child has eaten, slept and visited the toilet. We have found through questioning parents of young children that these bits of information are important for parents to know how well a child is settling in, what they may need to be fed at the end of the day and how they may behave when they get home. We discussed the possibility of monitoring how social the children are being with their classmates, however we decided that this would be too invasive, behaviour best left to the teacher to monitor. 

Our form still needs work, but we have developed it somewhat. At the moment we are considering silicone encapsulated electronics, with open-cell foam creating the 
shape of the object, and a washable cotton or microfiber cover that can be drawn on by the child, and will protect the object from most abuses. 

Back from the break

Well, that was a nice breather. Today we have been working on further ideas for how to develop the product. At the moment we are working on a toy of some sort that school children take home with them each evening and use to check back into the classroom, featuring some sort of identity electronics. This provides a means of integrating role taking into children's activity. Needs work still (obviously) and we would like to attempt to include "fun theory" still. Our task for the week is to see if we can find someone who can provide us with first-hand information on the nature of young schoolchildren and what information one might require from them. I guess we'll see how it goes!

Round Table Presentation

Today there was a round-table style presentation on our progress to date. We basically provided a powerpoint presentation on what direction each of us thought the design could take. The feedback we received has fairly decisively changed our direction, I think the main change is to be in the very nature of what our product is to be. We have been swayed from an object that the children take home with them at night an use to check in in the morning, to a product that stays in the classroom. This is a completely different way of looking at the design, and may result in a completely different design outcome. In the end, Ann-Maree's concept (pictured) best reflected the direction we intend to go in. 

Fishing for Ideas

Today's gathering consisted primarily of passing around ideas for where to head for the next stage of the design. The concept bombs, though an interesting exercise, failed to yield any suitable ideas for a design direction. Despite my shining idea for Urinal Trough Space Invaders (seriously, what's not to love?) we are focusing less on the general public and more specifically on children. Children are more or less free agents, they express emotions without inhibitions or sophistication, and are shamelessly drawn to things that are fun or might provide some sort of a game. We still intend to use the "fun theory" to inform our design, just with a different audience. 

Trip to Lifetec

Our studio today was relocated to lifetec, with the purpose of exploring theway in which interaction design can affect the lives of those with different disabilities. The trip was of particular relevance to the "Sensing the News" project of course in the way we were able to see how products are designed for people with sensory and/or cognitive impairment. 

Concept Bombing

It has been a long time since I've undertaken a concept bomb, and since then I had forgotten not only how challenging they are, but how useful they could be if undertaken properly. Today's lesson was certainly refreshing in that sense, however a great deal of the challenge lay in interpreting and understanding the parameters of each of the concepts. They contained a number of seemingly contradictory statements, for example: a device to communicate and prioritise various information sources in everyday life, WITHOUT a screen or any complex audio communication. Such a thing seems at face value almost impossible. In the end, however, the concept bomb exercise provided us with a number of possible directions to start with, and valuable material to work on in the coming weeks. 

Public InterACTION

Just watched a very funny take on public interaction: Most Epic Ad Ever Made.

Presentations

The presentations yesterday showed the great variety of directions taken by the other groups, some of which were remarkably sophisticated in their execution. It was well worth the time taken to explore the other interpretations of the task, and gain inspiration for the next step of the task. 

Reflections on task

This task has been a very, very steep learning curve. When given the Arduino board, I had not the faintest idea how I might get it to do anything at all, and was similarly perplexed as to how to go about working on the assignment. It wasn’t until our second week breakthrough that the gears really started turning and we began undertaking truly productive work. As the first genuinely “interactive” task we have undertaken, this project has significance. There has been an extra dimension we have had to work with; instead of simply designing and modelling a device, its shape and appearance, we were choreographing interaction with that device. The experience gained here, in particular the knowledge of microprocessors such as the Arduino, should prove invaluable in future projects.

Model completion and testing

Today was spent putting the final touches on the model, and testing it on an office chair before heading to a nearby shopping centre carpark to film the model “in the wild”. Here is a video of our testing inside, stay tuned for our carpark video!

Red and green LEDs replace display.

In the place of the 7-segment display, we decided to include a pair of LEDs; one red, one green. To achieve this I wired them in the same way as the blinking LED tutorial, and then patched the code across so that the red LED would accept the same input as the buzzer, and the green would take the input of the victory tune. This proved relatively simple, the only obstacle being the void loop at the end of the audio coding, which needed to be deleted.

LED display cut from model

Despite our best efforts, it seems that we will not be able to get the counter properly programmed in time for the presentation, so we have decided to drop it from the model altogether. Attached is a video of where we got up to in the programming, showing the problematic segments and the missing characters (it was meant to scroll 0-9, A-F)

Tutorials found for LED display

Ann-Maree has forwarded a number of tutorials to me to help with programming the 7-segment LED display, a task which has proven bewildering so far. I’ve decided to focus on one resource in particular: 7- Segment LED Tutorial. We’ll see how it goes…

Two Tone Success

Breakthrough! I managed to coax the Arduino board into generating two tones: on, a low, buzzing tone to be activated whenever the trolley hits the side of the railing, and two, a victory tune that plays when the trolley is properly put away. Next step: programming the display!

Focus Session

The group focus session today was very successful, the fact that all of us had at least some time off allowed us to have a “rolling” focus session that encompassed the whole day.
A trip to Jaycar in Wooloongabba furnished us with the components we would need for our mock-up: soldering iron and solder, a roll of wire and push switches. Before we put these into use, however, we first had to complete the circuitry and coding on the Arduino. I worked primarily on the electronics, Sophie fashioned the mountings for the buttons to be attached to a trolley, and Ann-Maree and Felicity researched programming methods and worked on concepts for the application of the equipment. While the model is far from complete and the electronics still have a lot of work, I feel that today has been a great step forward in terms of progress towards our goal. 

A Breakthrough!

After many days of searching we have managed to conclude our tutorial session today with an idea worth pursuing. Some interesting ideas were gained from the very amusing First World Problems blog, and made for some fun concepts. The best inspiration, however , came from The Fun Theory, a project set up by Volkswagen, which aims to use fun to "change behaviour for the better". Discussion and subsequent brainstorming on this topic led to an idea to encourage people to return shopping trolleys to the bays at the supermarket by turning it into a game. A plan was drawn up, and the necessary parts obtained from Yasu. Our intention is to use buttons on either side of a mock up to make a buzzing noise when users touch the sides of the trolley bay, and one button on the front to activate a victory tune when the trolley is pushed home, "Winning" the game. To add to this, a 7-segment LED display would show how many times the user touched the sides (the lower, the better) and an RGB LED would shine blue for normal use, red when it touched the sides, and green when the trolley hit the end.

Workshop Session 07/08

Today's workshop session provided a particularly steep learning curve, allowing us to shift the focus from dismantling and identifying parts of the objects we had brought in, to experimenting with different forms of action and reaction, and how they can be factored into an interactive model. Experimentation also continued with the Arduino board, however only the most basic tasks have been successful so far. 

Inspiration

Interesting bit of inspiration from one of Arduino's co-founders: Ted Talks - Massimo Banzi

Bill Verplank reading

Bill Verplank’s reading on Blackboard was difficult to respond to. I feel that I will need to return to it throughout the semester to fully understand what it has to say. For now though, it has served to force me to look at computers objectively, not an easy thing given their place in society, and look at the relationship computers have to interactive design. Dividing thought on human-computer interaction into the three paradigms of brain, tool and media is a concept I had not thought of before, but it makes a great deal of sense. I think this will be a rading worth examining further.

Interactive Tutorials

In order to better understand the Arduino and how to use it, we decided to undertake the tutorials These were very instructive, and lots of fun - as this video we put together demonstrates...

Input/output Component ID

The Items we deconstructed have proven difficult to arrange into interactive designs, so we have sorted them to better understand what each component can do for us. The photographs below show the key components identified as either input or output.

  

Workshop Session 31/07

The tutorial on Tuesday 31/07 was devoted to deconstructing devices that we had brought from home, and trying to scavenge components to use with the Arduino board. Our group teamed up with another in the workshop in order to share our understanding of the task and also our resources, as not all of us brought an object to work with.

Whilst we did not manage to make a complete interactive model combining the input/output parts we gathered from deconstruction phase of the exercise, we managed to gain a valuable insight into the types of parts commonly found in an interactive system. We plan to spend the time leading up to the next tutorial better familiarising ourselves with the Arduino board, and further testing the interactions we can make with it. 

Understanding Arduino

We have been given our Arduino Board by Yasu, however it is as yet unclear what we can do with it. The notes on Yasu's Wiki look like they will be useful once we start attempting the tutorials, but in the mean time Youtube and Vimeo are proving inspirational. This video in particular makes for excellent viewing: Arduino The Documentary (2010)

DNB 601 Begins

With the introduction of subject, tutors and assessment, DNB601 began. Teams were formed for the main assignment - I joined a team with Ann-Maree Saver (http://dnb601annmareesaver.blogspot.com.au/), Sophie O'Rourke (http://sophieorourken7208669.blogspot.com.au/) and Felicity Kammholz (http://n7160119.blogspot.com.au/). 

In the kinetic interaction model workshop, our team came up with the idea of a system of signalling whether a gate was shut, or if it had been left open. To achieve this, we built a model fence with a gate using dowel and timber slats. To this we added a small cardboard flag that would rotate up when the gate was shut and fall out of sight when it was open, as shown in the photographs below.  

Flag signaling the gate being shut

Flag signaling an open gate