Author: Ghalya

Premise

Imagine you miss a flight announcement because it was only made over loudspeaker intercom. Or you’re at a train station and they announce that they changed your train’s platform but you didn’t hear it. Often times, a screen is not available and/or not updated in time because people assume everyone heard the announcements.

Proposal

I am proposing a program that uses the built in mic in your phone, laptop, watch or any smart device with a microphone to do two things:

1. Recognize when an announcement is happening by letting the user know there’s a loud sound.
2. Use speech recognition to translate what is being said onto your screen.

Proof Of Concept

The program starts off by showing the volume levels as a ball moving up and down the screen. If the volume surpasses a threshold, the screen turns red to alert the user. The user can then prompt the speech recognition by touching the screen. Then, when you touch the screen, or click your mouse, the speech recognition clears and starts over.

For some reason I could not get the entire code to work in one browser. The speech recognition would only work on chrome, meanwhile the volume would work on any other browser, but chrome. I think the reason for this is the high security and blocking of certain information access that chrome has built in, and I was unable to figure out how to surpass that. If you have any ideas please leave a comment… my code and the libraries I used can be found in the zip file below.

galsanea_speechRec

Premise

I was driving a friend of mine that’s colored blind, and we stopped at a traffic light. I asked him, “how can you tell if it’s red or green or yellow?”

He said, “I usually guess. During the day I can see if the top or the bottom one is one, but at night it’s hard to tell, so I just wait and see if other people go, then I’ll go.”

I thought there must be another way to design traffic lights for the color blind, but for now, hope this solution helps.

Traffic Light Translator

The project reads which state the LED is on (red, yellow, or green), and based on that it prints on a screen the state in which the traffic light is on. Also, at the bottom it prints a countdown in seconds to how long you have left in that state.

This could also be useful to anyone, not just color blind people. For example, if something is blocking your view to the traffic light (i.e poor weather or giant truck in front of you), this display could exist in people’s cars and show you what state the traffic light is on.

For this to be implemented, there needs to be a way for the device to know which traffic light to read the state of, which I am unsure of how to do. Possibly, using GPS coordinates?

Proof of Concept

Code & Files

Alsanea_Files

Note: I did not include a schematic diagram because I used the board’s built in LED.

Premise

You can’t breathe. It’s dark. Your heart is pounding through your skull. You’re sweaty. It felt so real. You know it was a nightmare. It was not real. Yet it was. You’re alone. You stare into the abyss. You try to calm down. You hope the darkness helps. But it doesn’t.

A lot of people struggle with daily nightmares, whether due to underlying anxieties, PTSD, sleeping issues or anything of the sort.

NightmareLight

We already have Fitbits and Smart Devices that track our heart rate and track our sleep and REM cycles. Theoretically, the data is all there, so the device could tell when you’re having a nightmare. Imagine a device that emits soothing sounds and lights up with calm colors, helping soothe you after a nightmare. It feeds on the sleep data and reacts accordingly, creating a better sleeping experience.

How Would it Work?

As you sleep, your smartwatch collects data as usual, and when your heart rate elevates drastically and it realizes you are having a nightmare, it signals the night light to turn on. When the night light is on, it uses the combination of smell, sound and sight to help soothe you back into sleep.

 

In terms of Ardiuno and Fritzing sketches, I am not entirely sure on the process of reading live data using Bluetooth, but I imagine it would be uploaded on the cloud and Ardiuno would have to read the stream of data and certain functions would be called upon when they are needed.

Input is the online updating dataset (I am unsure of how this part works). Outputs are the LED, Speaker and a toggle mechanism for mist sequence.

i.e. if heart rate is above 120 bpm, then execute A, B and C.

A- release mist

B- play tune

C- turn LED to on and change color of LED from warmer to cooler red to slow down heartbeat.

Tom Igoe

I agree with most of what’s on the list. Although, I would say we shouldn’t automatically steer away from them. Yes, they are over-used in projects, but I think there is value to innovating on what’s there rather than reinventing the wheel and creating something completely new every time we set out to design a new project. I’m not saying copy them exactly, but there are things to be learned from these projects and maybe ways of thinking about them inventively.

Descendant

This is one of the most interesting readings I’ve read in a while. At first I thought the narrator was the human, but towards the end I couldn’t tell who was the human and who was the suit. The emotions that were perceived as human were also felt by the suit, for example, he kept the body in him “for sentimental reasons”.

A quote that stood out to me was “We don’t need the machines, anymore that then need us. We just think we need them. They don’t matter.” It made me think of how we try to convince ourselves we are not reliant on machines and the “we can stop whenever we can” mentality. Obviously, the protagonist wouldn’t have survived without the suit, but somehow psychologically he was starting to believe that the suit was not real and that it is not important. Honestly, this whole reading made me think a lot about our psychology and how we think, especially our inner dialogues, and our mental relationship with technology.

Background

I am a fifth year Bachelor of Architecture student here at CMU, pursuing ideate minors in Intelligent Environments and Physical Computing.

DIGITAL SKILLS
Modeling & Drafting (Revit, Rhino 3D, AutoCAD, SketchUp)
Communication (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Movie Making, Microsoft Office, V Ray Rendering)
Scripting (Grasshopper, Arduino, Touch Designer, p5.js)

ANALOG SKILLS
Curation, Drafting, Drawing, Woodworking, Model Making, Casting, Painting, Sewing, Crocheting, Knitting, Scratch Art, Stenciling, & Electrical Circuit Building. Basically I love being creative and working with my hands.

• performance skills
  • I love music, I used to play over 7 instruments, but now I can only play 5 of them: piano, guitar, drums, percussion in general and the ukulele.
• work with disability
  • everyday.. whether with myself or others.
• javascript / p5.js
  • love javascript
• CAD software
  • proficient in 2D and 3D CAD
• digital fabrication – laser cutters, 3d printers, mills
  • I am proficient in digital fabrication skills, I love working with my hands and I love working on my computer, so it’s a win-win.

I want to dedicate my life to positive social impact, whether through design, built structures, art or providing a necessary service to fulfill that. The way I see it— I have been given an immense privilege to still be alive and have access to this top-line education. It is my duty to share that privilege with others, after all, I only got to where I am today because of others’ empowerment of me.

Ultimately, I aspire to communicate in a way that changes how people think about immigration, refugees, displaced and marginalized people through strategic spatial and artistic interventions.

I am very passionate about working with refugees and displaced people. Coming from the Middle East, I am also passionate about women’s rights and women empowerment. I try to let these passions seep into my work.