Month: October 2019

Assignment #5 – Icy Roads

Problem: In contemporary cars, its common for backup cameras to have additional visual aids such as guiding lines and audio feedback such as a dinging that gets quicker the closer you are to an object.  Rarely, there are haptics in the seat as well.  These haptics are often bad, and may even be different based on where you’re sitting in the seat or how thick / how many layers are between you and the seat.  Further, its the same feedback no matter the road conditions, something drivers want to be aware of.

Image result for backup camera

The Solution: First, the audio dinging does not really communicate exactly how much left you have to go, instead forcing drivers to rely on constantly slowing their pace to match it.  This can be useful in forcing more exact drivers, but can often be annoying.  It is also not available for hard of hearing drivers.  Therefore, a physical system that represents in miniature how far you have left to go would also be good.  This is constructed here as a rotating servo, ideally fixed to some reference point in the car like a level.

Second, road conditions are not communicated with the current back up camera system.  While it could be obvious to look outside the vehicle and see snow, ice can often be more inconspicuous.  To emotionally communicate this state, I thought it could be fun to have the backup device become “nervous” and shiver/shake, alerting drivers that something is off and they should be extra careful.

Proof of Concept: Primarily, a distance sensor driving a servo, with additional input from a potentiometer approximating “iciness” of the roads.  The servo rotates similar to a weather vein based on distance to and from whatever object is in the rear, and is more or less “nervous” (see video) based on how bad the road conditions are.  These are, respectively, a fixed amplitude and a variable frequency of a sin function.

[Fritzing coming later today]

Video + Code

On the legality of counting cards and getting free food and drink at a casino

Gambling and magic tricks have a role in interaction design but I have trouble working them in to the syllabus without encouraging illegal behavior on campus.

The MIT Blackjack Team has a good FAQ on counting cards.  tl;dr: Yes, it’s legal to count cards but not with the aid of any external device or help.  In Las Vegas the casinos are privately owned and they are allowed to eject anyone they suspect of counting cards.

The scheme my friend used to get us free food and drinks in Tahoe casinos was to be seen as people gambling (and losing) a lot of money; we’d get vouchers for free food and drink at the house restaurant.  The (legal!) scheme was betting “Don’t Pass” at the craps table more often than not.  That is, we were betting that the person shooting dice will lose and the house will win.   This is how casinos make money — the people gambling lose more often than the house, so the house wins more money and makes a profit.  When the house notices you’re winning more often than losing (and cutting in to their profit) they change the payoff for winning a “don’t pass” bet or simply close the table.  However, we still had our vouchers for free meals and drinks!

If that doesn’t make any sense, the wikipedia page might help.

Class notes: 3 October, 2019

Physical representation of information

For the purposes of this class we’re looking at physical representation of information over time at a small scale.  Think tabletop or handheld representations.

Some examples:

  • vibration: usually done with “tactors” but also a feature of mobile devices and handheld devices.  Mobile phones can vibrate, some tools for electronics vibrate as a way of sending notification.
  • thumps and pokes:  using motion from a solenoid or servo to relay information with pressure or tapping motions
  • temperature: peltier pads (what we use to cool CPUs and GPUs) that can heat/cool, flowing water or air that is heated or cooled.  Electric heaters or coolers are probably too complex for this class.  Dry ice is another option but can be hazardous to work with.
  • symbols: Braille terminals

Adam Savage’s DIY costume cooling vest for cosplay and a commercial alternative.

Physical representation of information over time

Using motion over time

  • signal encodings of language: Morse code
  • pattern recognition: what motion feels like walking? Running? Being happy or sad?
  • meaning is generated by content that changes over time
  • School for Poetic Computation

Coaching vs. grading

Think  about coaching, providing good feedback and encouragement to take a positive action.

Example: sports trainer that monitors your HR, BP, breathing rate, and hydration and knows your training course.  It encourages you to do better instead of punishing you for not doing enough.

Example: music “coach” that helps you learn to perform music. Watches your body and helps you correct form/posture.  Reminds you that you are always performing, even when you’re just practicing a scale or an etude.

Alice Miller’s “For Your Own Good“, a criticism arguing that we replace the pedagogy of punishment  with support for learning, using the German pedagogy that gave rise to support of fascism as one study.

Crit 1: Cycling Tire Monitoring System

Problem

In the manufacturing of physical goods, it is often difficult to test for small defects. In the case of products such as rubber cycling tubing, small, hard to detect perforations can become much more troublesome for clients in the lifecycle of the product. Additionally, it can be difficult for active cyclists to focus on identifying non major leaks and gradual changes in tire pressure on long rides.

Solution

A mounted sensor array focused on detecting both leak frequencies and changes in tire pressure can be used to streamline the tire quality assurance process, and help signal the need for tire patching or tubing replacement on the fly for cyclists. Using microphones to pick up sounds within common frequencies for leaks, as well as using an air pressure sensor to track significant changes from an ideal benchmark can be used in concert with visual indicators to help identify tears and deformations.

crit1

Proof of Concept

The sensor array would have a visual indicator tied to each sensor to attempt to give users an idea of where a leak would be happening, or if tire pressure was being lost. After attempting to use an LCD to provide descriptive error messaging, I decided to use a series of LCDs in concert with microphones to simulate air pressure leaks, as well as a flex sensor to simulate an air pressure sensor.

Crit1

Class notes: 1 October, 2019

Kinetics 1

Consider the size of physical control related to other controls and the context for the controls.

Is there physical feedback that you’ve used a control or do you have to look at a screen to know the effects of your control change?

Is physical feedback encoded — one buzz is a phone call, two buzzes is a text message — or is it just an alert to request that you look at a screen?

Controls can be stylistic or even skeumorphic: cars that look like airplanes vs. boxy economy cars.

We fly spacecraft with computers, there are no joysticks ala Star Wars or any other movie that uses WWII airplane controls to navigate in space.   However, on the Enterprise…

MIX MECHANICAL AND OTHER CONTROLS WHERE APPROPRIATE Mechanical controls are better for some uses, though they can’t as easily serve multiple functions. Nonmechanical controls, like touch-screen buttons, are easier to change into other controls but don’t offer the same kind of haptic feedback, making them impossible to identify without looking at them and creating questions about whether they’ve been actuated. Design interfaces with an appropriate combination that best fits the various uses and characteristics.

– Shedroff, Nathan. Make It So: Interaction Design Lessons from Science Fiction (p. 26). Rosenfeld Media. Kindle Edition.

Data filtering and cleanup

look at input over time for kinetic outputs

How do you smooth data, similar to what I showed on the whiteboard?

Reading assignment

Arudino tutotorial on simple smoothing

20 minute tutorial on smoothing analog input

Find some examples of data over time that you can interact with, not just respond to.  ex: weather forecast changes your todo list so your outdoor errands happen when it’s not raining.