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!