Proposal

Title: InfinEight

Summary: An interactive rollup phone case that can be used to mix and mashup music.

Descriptive paragraph

The goal of this project is to design a fabric-based user interface that controls media on a phone. A phone is an incredibly fast processor and has access to millions of songs, but the screen is small and not usable for actions that incorporate a persons’ whole body. I will be designing an interactive electrical sensor system, boolean capacitive sensing to receive input. The interactions will be sent to my phone using a bluetooth chip to control a Unity Application.

YouR PLAN

How are you going to complete this project?  It can be an outline.

  1. Write a program for the Bluno Nano to send boolean capacitive values to my phone.
  2. Finalize interface design, and screen print conductive ink
  3. Unity visual of capacitive buttons being touched
  4. Use Unity to control music playback.
  5. If Unity does not work, I will use p5.js to write a program.

Materials Needed

Bluno Nano is the main additional component. I will additionally be screen printing the design.

Deliverables for Show

I will need the product, my computer, and my phone. Additional speakers would be nice, but are not necessary.

MEDIA for Show

Poster describing interaction, so people can play with the design!

Proposal – Contextual Living Room Table

Title:

Contextual Living Room Table

Summary:

Generating interactive 3D contents on a living room table using AR and a haptic puck.

Description:

The living room tables have rich stories behind it – conversation with family, studying for a homework, eating dinner, kids playing with LEGO, and so on. What if these tables in a living room could provide us interactive and engaging contents such as weather forecasting and entertainment for kids? This project allows the user to engage with the AR information and artifacts that are coupled to a physical desk through a haptic interface that consists of an array of small vibrators and a heat pad. The goal is to design text-less and immersive AR interaction techniques that enrich everyday living room table experience.

Process:

  1. Test BLE on Unity and iOS
  2. Test IR tracking using a webcam (or depth camera)
  3. Battery check (drive 4 vibrators and BLE board)
  4. Get all tracking, wireless, and actuation working
  5. AR contents programming
  6. 3D print a package for haptics
  7. Prepare a table and a webcam installation

Important tools:

  1. BLE board
  2. heating pad
  3. IR emitter
  4. LiPo battery (x5 for backups)
  5. webcam
  6. webcam setup tools

Deliverables for show:

Space for a table, PC, and a webcam installed on top of table

Media:

Demo video

An interactive music box

An wireless music player with physical interaction to minimize distraction.

DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPH

Why a music box?

I like to put music on while i’m working, however in this digital age, the “recommendations” and changing between screens can be quite a distraction. A music box with physical interaction should be able to minize that as much as possible, while still kept the interaction entertaining.

How it works:

The music box would come with figurines with RFID tags. When different figurines are put on top of the music box,  different sets of music would play. Ideally, if it can be achieved, the user can put their own music album and make their own figurine.

 

YOUR PLAN

The final project would be based on the previous assignment where I used touch sensor and Arduino Uno with a simple p5js interface. Here is the basic outline of the project:

  1. Incorporate/test RFID onto the project
  2. Connect speaker to the box instead of using laptop
  3. Refine the music library
  4. Refine the p5js interface
  5. Add the feature where user are able to make their own input
  6. Switch Arduino Uno to a Particle Photon
  8. Add lipo battery and battery shield/battery baby sitter
  9. Make a shell with laser cutted plywood

MATERIALS NEEDED

  1. Arduino Uno/Particle Photon
  2. RFID Reader chip and RFID tags
  3. Wifi base (I might be able to just use my laptop)
  4. Plywood for laser cutted bounding box
  5. Music Pieces (20s-30s per sample)
  6. Lipo battery
  7. Battery shield/baby sitter
  8. Some LEDs for indication
  9. Some buttons for play buttons etc.
  10. A cheap speaker should workout

DELIVERABLES FOR SHOW

On the day of the show, I would need a outlet for charging the battery, and a wifi base, which potentially could be my laptop. The speaker won’t be too loud so it should be ok to be somewhat close to other projects.

MEDIA FOR SHOW

I probably would put up a slide show on my laptop or some print out handouts/flyers

Proposal

Anxious Animation
Do you ever find yourself tapping your fingers on your arm or legs, out of boredom, anxiety, anger? This projects aims to convert said anxious behavior, tapping your fingers, into a more tangible output. While it may not reduce the stresses that cause us to fidget, perhaps a slightly more positive outlook could be achieved. This project doesn’t exist to fix a problem, but rather to reduce it or reframe it. This project would be considered a success if people were able to view their anxious habit as rewarding, via sound or animation, rather than as a result of negative outward effects. Form may depend on how the user taps. Perhaps they tap, but maybe they swirl their finger in circles? Final animation and sounds will be influenced by meditative imagery or sound, symmetrical and calming.
Plan:

create wearable patch that can live on cloths and upload to computer
• flora, lilypad, or particle
• capacitive touch board
• eeprom or some type of data storage for taps
• fabric
• battery

p5js or processing sketch to output the data collected
animation
• controls that influence color
• shape
• size?
sound
• tones to match taps
• controls for pitch, tone, etc.

manufacturing
• people need to be able to tap
• plug into computer
• select sound or animation
• “clear data”?

Materials:

• Flora, lily pad, particle
• capacitive touch capabilities
• eeprom or data storage of some kind
• fabric
• batteries
• conductive fabric or thread

Time:

• May need to order some things such as extra storage and conductive fabric/ink
• Leave time to program with data in p5 or processing

Deliverables:

• Need a desk for laptop and potentially patch
• Perhaps I have a jacket or lap pad that people can actually wear to tap
• Power

Media for Show:
I may want an additional flyer or poster
Monster Breath
Anxiety can consume me, making it difficult to breathe. While I have meditation and breathing exercises, I often feel I do them ‘wrong’ or am too stressed to even remember them. This project is a desktop friend that lives on your workspace, detects when you need to calm down, and starts to breathe. You can see the monster’s breath rising and falling, prompting the user to follow along with the subtle breathing creature. You can set, perhaps based on heart rate, how long the breathing lasts. Perhaps the silly form of a friendly monster will help reduce anxiety in addition to the meditative breathing. Research may include different types of breathing techniques and may influence final form. For example, 5 seconds in, hold, 7 second out, or breath counting. Lights may be involved to help guide the user through the exercise. But depending on the breathing exercise, maybe the monster has one eye..or three, form decisions like that may come after more research.

Plan:

create a monster of sorts, friendly of course
• find fabrics that allow for movement and fur like look
• figure out heart rate detection? perhaps through fitbit or other existing wearables?
• catch attention of stressed user (light? sound? haptic buzz?)
• test, bit by bit each step of the interaction
• detection of HR
• breathing
• turning on and off muscle wire
• completion phase
• maybe monster smiles
• eyes that light based on touch?

Manufacturing:
• design monster
• figure out power relay

 

Materials:

• Arduino or particle or two
• HR api, sensors
• fabric
• muscle wire
• power relay
• lights

Time:

• May need to order some things
• muscle wire, HR sensor?, power relay
• time to..
• build/construct monster
• set muscle wires and insulate
• solder

Deliverables:
  • Need a desk for laptop
  • depending on monster’s form, somewhere to put him
Media for Show:
  • I may want an additional flyer or poster

Proposal: Pace Yourself

Title: Pace Yourself

Summary: An projected animal companion assists you on your runs and logs your pace.

What is it

This projection is meant to be an entertaining way to help runners keep their pace. As an ex-cross country runner, I often find myself trying to run at a pace I can’t maintain anymore. Last year, I got shin splints halfway through training for a half marathon because I was pushing myself too hard. In cases like mine, or for runners who are training alone, without others to help set the pace, this projection helps the runner set goals and gives them a visual pace-keeper.

This allows runners to increase their pace in a constructive manner by analyzing their step per minute count for every minute of their run, and comparing it to their previous runs and their long-term target pace. The mechanism can then suggest a target pace for their next run. The visual projection of a running animal can allow the runner to keep their short-term target pace in a simple way, by keeping up with their animal friend.

PLAN

  1. draw a couple of running animal animations, for different paces
  2. use geolocation tracking to determine pace (on run)
  3. code pace graph viewer (3-line graph) (off run)
  4. code short-term pace goal calculator (off run)
  5. animal selector based on short-term goal pace (on run)
  6. sync animal run pace and short-term goal pace (on run)
  7. code animal noise for excessive pace deviation (on run)
  8. combine on-run and off-run modes — based on device motion
  9. adjust for phone use and display
  10. find a portable projector
  11. animal projection
  12. create armband including projector and phone holder

MATERIALS NEEDED

This project is meant to be lightweight and useable for high intensity physical activity. I would need a portable projector and materials to create an armband that could carry the projector and a phone while still allowing the animal image to be projected and the phone screen to be visible (fabric, needle, thread).

DELIVERABLES FOR SHOW

What I need: Place for laptop, dark hallway or area to walk around in (so people can see the projection)

MEDIA FOR SHOW

Poster or storyboard to explain functionality of the equipment and/or wifi connection instructions so that people can work the basic non-projection code on their phones.

Project Proposal: An assistant for a healthy mind

Title: An assistant to promote a healthy mind.

Existing home assistants improve interaction in the home by using speech recognition and intelligent natural language processing. However, they lack the emotional intelligence needed to listen, motivate and support the user and provide support towards a healthy mind. My project proposes the use of a custom google assistant through AIY voice kit to detect emotion, provide social support and generate empathy in the user.

Proposed plan

  • Build custom Google home
  • Provide an avatar to assistant through the hologram
  • Build custom intents to listen to music, contact social circles actively and passively.
  • Detect emotion from voice or NLP
  • Detect user and location (optional)
  • A private dashboard for others to monitor the mental health of the user. (optional)

MATERIALS NEEDED

  • Old phone/display for assistant
  • Laser-cut transparent plastic
  • AIY Voice kit
  • Hardware neopixels to display assistant mood. (optional)

DELIVERABLES FOR SHOW

  • Half a table.

MEDIA FOR SHOW

Slideshow on a laptop

Proposal

Title: Smart Desk

An interactive experience for office workers.

DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPH

The goal of this project is to add interactive functionality to an adjustable standing desk. Countless times my workflow gets interrupted by my environment, whether it be the room being too dark or too stuffy. I use my room as a home office, and it is important that my housemates and friends know when I am on an important call and cannot be interrupted. In the age of social media and technology, it is also increasingly difficult for people to focus on the task at hand without getting side tracked by notifications.

I am going to resolve this with interaction design by building solutions for these individual issues and integrating it into a seamless working experience for the user. It will detect when the user approaches the desk and begins to work and activate the other functions. There will be a light system that automatically turns on when the room starts to get too dark to do work. There will be a simple visual system placed directly outside the room to determine if the user can be interrupted or not. There will be a fan that turns on if the room temperature surpasses a certain number. There will be a task organization system to help increase productivity. It will use RFID cards and a timer to alert the user when they have been working on a task too long. There will also be an alert system for when users need to get up and take a break.

A success would be creating a visually appealing and functional desk that could be used as a polished product prototype. I assume that some of these planned functions may change or be altered according to my research on best practices for productivity. Ideally, the desk would not require a computer to be connected to the system and they would all run on their own battery powered arduinos.

 

YOUR PLAN

  1. Find sensor materials needed (proximity sensor, switches, photoresistor, RFID reader and cards, adafruit LEDs, arduino(s), potentially a LED display for timer functionality)
  2. Make the proximity sensor accurate enough to distinguish between someone walking by versus someone sitting/standing at the station to work
  3. Create the light system for the desk itself
  4. Create the out-of-room light alert system for housemates
  5. Build the fan functionality
  6. Build the RFID productivity organizer
  7. Build the “stand up and take a break” alert system

MATERIALS NEEDED

Sensor materials listed above and a pre-built standing desk.

DELIVERABLES FOR SHOW

I’ll need space for the standing desk.

MEDIA FOR SHOW

I’d like to have a video showing all the functionality of the desk. It may be impossible for me to physically alter the entire room to be so hot the fan turns on etc…