Category: Uncategorized

Natural Alarm

Lamp
Circuit

https://www.tinkercad.com/things/32OPOznpltn-stunning-curcan/editel?sharecode=ZzRkc6SEV4qRWETWBHUlpaVMg9w8RBxkgwzj03aXpbA

I do not know why but phone/mechanical alarms tend to give me migraines. (I think it’s because it suddenly creates a loud noise that wakes you up? not sure; but this is why I can’t take naps) So I just wake up corresponding to light. Yet I also sweat a lot, and I have been waking up in a gross state of mind because always wake up to the heat of the sunlight.
So I thought, what if an LED lamp works as an alarm instead of creating a loud sound.
I coded/made a circuit that has an LED that corresponds with the value of a photoresistor.
In real life, the photoresistor would be attached behind the blind so when the sun comes out, the LED lamp will light up without sunlight over heating the room.

Wearable doorbell for hearing impaired individuals

Based on my previous concept, I developed symbolic visuals using p5.js. Colour is being used to indicate that somebody is knocking the door. Employing Computer Vision, the transmitter sends signals that categorise visitors into two categories; either friends or strangers. Warm-coloured,  fast-paced particles imply that close people like neighbours, family and friends are at the door, while cold-coloured, slow-paced particles embody unfamiliar faces. The user can either allow the entrance or speak to the visitors using the microphone.

Link to code: https://editor.p5js.org/MariaV/sketches/_JDB9Grwt

LED Status Thermometer

Problem:

A regular thermometer will beep to tell you that it is done taking your temperature. This is a problem for the deaf who in order to know it was done, would have to stare at the display and look for when the temperature stays constant. This would cause the person to go cross eyed and be highly unrealistic. Furthermore, impatient people are often tempted to take the thermometer out of their mouth early to make sure that it is working as it can sometimes feel like it’s taking forever to take a temperature. Other than the a fore-mentioned cross-eyed staring at numbers, this person has no idea how close the thermometer is to being done.

Proposed Solution:

In order to give more feedback to everyone and allow deaf people to easily know that the thermometer is done taking their temperature, I propose a thermometer that has an RGB LED attached to it at about eye level. This device would be red when they first put the thermometer in their mouth, turn yellow as the temperature got closer to leveling out, and finally turn green when the temperature was found. The colors would clearly show both when to take the thermometer out of the mouth and what stage it was at solving the problem for both deaf and impatient people.

Proof of concept:

In this demo video, I used a thermistor to represent the thermometer temperature sensor and my fingers to represent the temperature of my body. This is not a super accurate way to measure temperature, so I made the acceptable temperature ranges for it being done bigger than it would be for a real thermometer.

Quick mock-up of what it could look like in shape

A quick video demonstration for my proof of concept:

One note for others: If your phone has a good camera and you have it default to the best setting, make sure to change it to a much worse one for these proof of concept videos as the file will be huge and take forever to get saved to drive and won’t be uploadable as the max is 16MB.

 

Interpreting ‘Make it so’

After reading ‘Make it so’, I finally realised why my dad was always into science fictions movies. Since I was a child, he used to describe to me all the evolutionary technological changes I am going to experience later in life. And I did. I still remember the first motorola cell with the small antenna he brought home, our bulky desktop screens that became gradually thinner and thinner, my first touch cell I got in high school before even iPhones were launched into the market, the video calls I am having with my mum from across the world etc. He also mentioned that one day,  matter itself will be able to transform form and identities. The craziest things is that after twenty years I am here in the US, working in the Morphing Matter Lab and I do exactly that. I design and engineer applications out of materials that can transform.

What I found really interesting were the following:

In Chapter 1, it is the different layers of interpretation speculative interfaces have. More specifically, the picture of Dr.Floyd talking to his daughter and the multiple technological readings an interaction designer conducts. 1) Video call itself, 2) minimising the distance between Earth and Space, 3) the smart machine that could sense the presence of a child,(maybe through face recognition or voice analysis) and auto protects the interface.

In Chapter 3, it is the different goals that can be achieved if with the same components you design the same interface differently. And this is the most important principle of synthesis either in architectural and industrial design, or in interaction design. The way you interconnect the components, building sensory cues that bear meaning and make sense in order to guide the interaction. Different intentions may lead to different combinations and hierarchy of elements,colours, scales, motion and so on.