Project 3? More Like Project 2: Part 2

Today in class we sort of had a major bomb dropped on us... no more project 3. Now instead we have to revise project 2 to a higher state of completion. This was not the greatest news to my group because we had already invested time and money into our idea for our jacket, but we sat down and talked for awhile anyway about what we need to do to add finishing touches to our library shusher.

Ultimately we are treating our presentation as one to an investor or committee awarding grants. We are going to throroughly all aspects of this device that can be improved and provide complete sketches, information, explanation, etc. to achieve this next phase.

Our main focus is on the sound and the form. We want to change our sound from a single tone to a "melody", a handful of tones that will play in a specific order and with specific pauses to suggest a reproving phrase such as "please quiet down" or "please stop talking." This melody is not meant to be a pleasant musical sound but a reprimanding organization of tones.
We also want to make our housing tamper-proof, and are in the process of finding the best solution for that without changing our current design too drastically. In our presentation any changes made will be indicated by rhino sketches. We will also provide samples of materials we have been considering for the housing. Top contenders currently include bamboo, other possible kinds of wood, glass, possibly a kind of plastic?
If we are able, any major form changes to the housing will be replicated in a cardboard maquette.

Another new element to this project will be a branding/ logo system. This system will be applied to apects such as proposed packaging, labeling, the appearance of the form, promotional material, etc. The presentation will also reflect this branding system.

Other considerations to look into for this presentation are what other means we will need to use in order to make a finished unit, how much one unit would cost to make, and how that would therefore dictate possible pricing; how these will function in a network system, perhaps designing a program that would act as the central hub of this system- so that the librarian could use the program to pinpoint loud areas of the library.

There are lots of things to consider, we definitely have our hands full. But I think that what we will present will be carefully considered, well vocalized and visuallized, and professionally handled.

Thoughts

Monday night I met with the team and we set our goals for this project. Now we all have a clear idea of what needs to be done. I am going to think about the sewing and the look of the jacket, also our presentation of it to the class. This is going to be a very simple prototype of what we actually want the jacket to do, but I think that if we keep it simple (seeing as we've got less than 3 weeks including thanksgiving), we will be just fine.

Monday class we had a crit for project 2. Ours was really great, good feedback, good ideas on how to move it further, which hey we could possibly try to get a grant and make a real product out of it. I'm just so glad that people had such a fantastic response to all of the thought and work we put in to it.

Home stretch coming up...

Interactive Clothing Research

http://www.oobject.com/best-interactive-clothes/piezoresistive-textiles/639/
http://www.oobject.com/best-interactive-clothes/nyxit-illuminated-clothing/645/
http://www.oobject.com/best-interactive-clothes/solar-bikini/646/
http://www.oobject.com/best-interactive-clothes/hug-shirt/650/
http://www.oobject.com/best-interactive-clothes/the-printed-organism-jacket/652/

Kickbee
http://www.talk2myshirt.com/blog/archives/1266

Fabric Circuits

http://web.media.mit.edu/~leah/grad_work/engineering/fabric_PCB.html
http://web.media.mit.edu/~leah/grad_work/projects/e-textile_kit/e-textile_kit2.html

Breathe 2.0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHi3KVDmNOY&feature=related

Breathe 3.0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBBAyOeojkE&feature=related

Personal Space
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYtUM5iLfAk&feature=related

Noise Burlesque
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV2LcwH8vCE&feature=related

Yay project 2 completion... rejoicing short-lived

Tomorrow we present project 2. On Friday I met with Noah and we played around with the tolerance levels of the device (which was good timing because our code was on the N drive that failed this weekend!! *phew*)
It's really interesting to see how it reacts to the human voice because it seemed to respond more quickly to Noah's voice than mine. Perhaps, we thought, because male and female voices are not on the same frequency? But I had to raise my voice louder than Noah to even get a light to occur. The noise is funny too because sometimes it makes other random sounds. It is definitely annoying, which I think is good incentive to keep quiet in a place where quiet is needed.

I also printed our pamphlets, that was a two hour ordeal. It took me forever to figure out which program to use to print that would give me the best combination of color matching (between the print and the screen) and double-sided printing. You would think that whatever you make on screen would translate well to its printed counterpart but it is quite the opposite, that is why I always do several test prints before I do the final version. But this was definitely a fight. I did get it the best that I could and they look pretty good (for some reason there is a lot of red in my dark areas... but unfortunately I can't better the situation any more).

Tomorrow night I am corralling my group for a meeting so we can sit down and designate tasks for the new project, and set goals. There is little time left to the semester and we need to stay focused in order to finish. Thanksgiving, although delicious and my favorite holiday, throws a wrench into anything because that eliminates a substantial amount of time for us to work collaboratively... perhaps time for separate research/ tasks/ etc. I know it will get done, it always does no matter what.

Till next time...

Pamphlet Images

This is the pamphlet that I've been working on for Project 2 to ask students to be quiet in the library.

IT'S WORKING :)

We have a working project 2!

Lights and sound are being produced when we speak/ yell/ converse above a certain decibel level.

So exciting :)

HOUSINGGGGG

So we were able to pay for and pick up our housing yesterday (well Noah and Kevin picked it up because Tim and I went to see David Carson, graphic designer, lecture at FIT). It is so awesome to see the actual product produced in rhino in a 3D form. I am really excited to see when it is completely completely fun. Last night we worked on it (there were a few issues, for some reason it didn't print exact so we had to sand parts down and try to get the two pieces to fit together as best as we could) but I was unable to stay to see the completed product. We will definitely meet again this weekend though to play with it and make sure that everything is in ship-shape to present Monday.

I also have to print out the brochure on silence I have been working on. I hope that it adds to what we are trying to promote, which is the importance of respecting quiet in the library. It was also a good design exercise, I am happy with it :)

And then we are on to project 3. Already.

We sat down and discusses THAT too yesterday before we went to get the housing because we had some time.

The idea is the same, we just needed to tighten up our ideas (atleast I felt that way) because it just seemed as though there wasn't a cohesive thought on the goal of the project.

Here are my notes from our "brainstorm":

basic principal= person in motion- goes to the arduino (data)- data is sent to the digital realm (meaning the computer and whatever program we use)

instead of focusing on exercise, we broadened the term more as "life-tracking" (see Tim LaSalle's blog)

we want this device to provide "instant gratification" (so to speak)
using the microcontroller, wifi, and the computer- so this means we will need to read up on wireless technology

this also means we will need multiple arduinos, and a specific one that is made as a receiver

sensors to be used- whatever is available and easy for us to use (basically); current thoughts are- accelerometer, sensors for heart rate/ light/ temperature

these sensors will collect the information around the person, not even necessarily OF the person (well heart rate probably it will), this will create a data base of random numbers, these numbers will go into the computer and affect the visual/ audio elements we have going on.

method of wearing this circuit- we really want to do a jacket, that way anybody can wear it but we also considered more form fitting apparel (some sensors could have the potential to need skin contact)

ultimately one person will wear this from the group, we are all different sizes, so no matter what- whatever we produces is a mere suggestion anyway of what the technology can do and what is possible. obviously even though one person wears this jacket or whatever it is in our presentation, we are not limiting the possibility of who the user is and what body-type they have.

new questions we discovered:
how can random numbers/ data create a visual or sound?
if they don't generate anything how then can they alter existing sound or a visual?
what would the effect of layering videos and sounds do for the project?
layering sound creates a more realistic idea of the environment we live in- how can we use the data to alter some or all of the sound?
pertaining to our "jacket" or clothing- aesthetics (what will it look like?), appropriated or made from scratch?
who wears it (meaning in the group in a more immediate sense, but also how can we make it approachable for a mass audience?)

Thoughts on Sound:
we can record various spaces (indoors, outdoors) to use as the sound in our project (that is altered).
some thoughts on the places include studio space, classroom space, a busy street, cafe, library, etc. any space either public or private.

This is where we are currently in our thought process. This is still a ton to think about so hopefully we can refine again... and possibly again, until we get a perfectly formed and shaped product. This will be a challenge for sure but I think it will relate nicely to the idea of "synthesis"- what we have learned so far in the course... I hope.