Overview of the Paper

After having the final presentation today, which I think went quite well, the paper has officially come to an end.

Overall, my preferred assessment was the app one, mainly because I am majoring in Visual Communication Design, and designing an app interface really appealed to me. In terms of the second project, I didn't really enjoy it quite as much, although nonetheless it was a good experience figuring out some basics to electronics and breadboarding, along with seeing just what we are capable of. It was quite interesting to think about the potential for future concepts, and what we could experience in a few years time. In terms of our project, the active alarm, I think it was quite successful. Our idea was quite a creative, quirky, and experimental one which allowed us to have a bit of fun with the project.

Our group worked fairly well together across the two projects, and made sure to meet up on a regular basis to discuss and share ideas with one another. In both projects, the workload was split roughly 50/50.

With this being said, overall it was a good experience taking this paper as an elective. In terms of feedback, I would possibly suggest to have a day where the paper is promoted and explained in-depth, as when I signed up for the paper (based on myMassey descriptions) I assumed it would be revolving around web design, app design, and forms of coding etc. 

Powerpoint for Final Presentation

With the final presentation coming up tomorrow, I thought that it would be a lot better and make our design look more professional if we had a powerpoint slideshow to present the class while speaking about our 'active alarm', rather than just talk about it and show the video. Therefore, today in my spare time I decided to make our group a powerpoint, which has a few brief descriptions, bullet points, and a video, which we can explain in more depth during the presentation.

Presentation Video

This afternoon, after finalizing our electronics and bread-boarding circuit, I went back to The Cube and did some filming for our video. I used my mate Fraser Malpas as the 'model', and tried to get some interesting shots to make the video a bit more exciting to watch. The video isn't meant to be completely serious, and is meant to be a bit more playful. I decided not to use any shots of the circuit we had made with bread-boarding, or of the cardboard catapult, as I felt like the video should be showing how our product would be used in a real-life context, considering we have the proof of concept (electronic circuit) and a storyboard to present along with the video. This way, they all do their own part in presenting our conceptual interaction, rather than all showcasing the exact same aspect of the design.

I feel like the video is quite clear in showing exactly what "The Active Alarm" is, and our storyboard then gives a bit more insight into how the electronics actually work.

The video has been attached below:

Following the completion of the video, storyboard, and proof of concept, now we are all set and ready for Friday's presentation. 

Electronics - Fixed

Today we met up in the Fab Lab, to set up our electronics and breadboarding circuit again, to check for any issues. Once we had set it up, it was working perfectly, which meant that the magnet glued to the classroom desk must have been interfering with the reed switch, which was causing it to react weirdly at times. We were glad that there was nothing wrong with the circuit itself, which seemed to be working perfectly today. With that acting as our proof of concept, now all we have to do is make the video before Friday's class/presentation. There are some photos below, attached to this blog post, showing the final set up for our circuit.

   

  

If we were to make this in real life, out alarm clock would consist of a similar set up. However, there would be a couple of small differences. The electronics would still be the same, and reed switches, resistors, magnets and an arduino would still all be used. In terms of the Arduino, instead of requiring a computer or laptop to supply the code, we would use a small Arduino Bootloader to upload the code. The code would consist of having a function which reverses the reed switch, which would cause the alarm to activate once the magnet moves away from the switch (just as we had done in this circuit). With regards to the trigger/catapult itself, we were looking at using some sort of servo, and speeding it up, in order to trigger the catapult. It would be quite small, with a sharp, speedy spring action to shoot the ball across the room.

Printing Storyboard

After I had drawn up each page for our storyboard, Alfred then whipped up a quick storyboard on Photoshop, which we got printed today by one of the University's large format printers. The storyboard is looking pretty good, and explains how the electronic side of our alarm will work.

Tomorrow, we will meet up to set up our circuit once more, and see if the reed switch and magnet/ping pong ball are working properly, seen as in Friday's class there were times where the reed switch would play up. However, we are fairly certain it was because there was a large magnet randomly glued to the table, which may have been interfering with the reed switch.

A video will also be filmed and made for Friday's presentation, which is our final lesson for this paper.

Class - Week Eleven

During class today, we mainly spent the time refining our design, and sharing idea with the other groups, and then finished off by working on our A2 storyboard to be presented next week.

While we were playing around with the circuit, the buzzer and reed switch weren't working 100% as they should, possibly due to loose connections in the breadboard, or another magnetic field affecting the reed switch. Therefore we spent a lot of time trying to resolve this apparent issue.

Towards the end of the lesson, I drew up a few more pages for the storyboard, which we will possibly use for our A2 storyboard. I will look to put these into photoshop and put them all onto one page, which we can then use the large format printers at the university to output. The newest drawings for the storyboard have been attached to the bottom of this blog post.

Over the course of the next week, before our final hand-in, we will look to figure out what was wrong with the circuit, and refine it so it is functioning properly, print out our A2 storyboard, and whip up a video to show how our alarm clock works. 

Independent Work - Proof of Concept (2)

Following on from the previous blog post, once we had sorted out a couple of ways to put the magnet inside of the projectile (in this case, the ping pong ball), I then proceeded to make us a basic cardboard catapult, which would be a simple yet effective way of showing proof of concept for our design. That way when the catapult is loaded, the magnet is touching the reed switch, and the buzzer is making no sound. Once the catapult releases the ball/magnet, the alarm will begin to sound, until the ball returns to the loaded position.

The catapult was made with double layered corrugated cardboard for stability, with the arm being created with a pencil, and then cardboard to hold the ball in place. The tension for the catapult arm was created from a rubber band, which stretched across the width of the structure, and was twisted countless times to increase the tension.

I have attached a video below, showing how the basic catapult structure works. We weren't too focused on the distance the projectile was thrown as this stage, as we were more just looking at showing the effect the magnet has on the reed switch, and using the catapult as extra proof of our conceptual design.

Once I had come up with this catapult design, and created it to a functional standard, we then went on to look at positioning the breadboard and arduino in a way that would allow us to have the ball/magnet touch the reed switch once the catapult had been loaded. Once positioned, I took a video of the catapult in action, which shows the buzzer start sounding once the ball has been fired, and then the sound turns back off once the ball returns to the catapult arm.

We will present this proof of concept in class tomorrow, and see what feedback we get. We will look to refine our storyboard, along with create our short video demonstration early next week, ready for hand-in.

Independent Work - Proof of Concept (1)

Today, we decided to meet up again in order to get our proof of concept ready for tomorrow's class. Having been to JayCar yesterday, we had all of the equipment that we would need to create this circuit. I have attached a photo below of the circuit, which is almost identical to the one created yesterday, although with our own equipment, and a larger, noisier buzzer.

Once we set up this circuit, and uploaded the code from the laptop to the Arduino Mega, we were glad to find out that it was working. Below, is a video of the circuit in action, using just a basic magnet to activate the reed switch.

Next, we proceeded to look at ways of putting a magnet inside of a ping-pong ball, which we were planning on using as proof of concept for our projectile. As shown in the photos below, our ideas were to either put the magnet inside the ball, or cut a hole in the bottom to stick the ball in a secure position.

Attached, is a video showing how the magnet/ball de-activates the buzzer.

Independent Work

At the end of last week's class, we had emailed Fab Lab to ask if we were able to play around with their electronics and breadboarding kits, in order to make a prototype for our buzzer alarm clock idea. After receiving confirmation that it was fine to do so, we went in today at around 1pm to get going on it.

We ended up making the breadboarding circuit, using an Arduino as well, in order to create exactly what we wanted. I have attached a photo of the circuit below. The circuit worked fine, and the buzzer would sound whenever the magnet was away from the reed switch. The magnet would then turn off the sound once placed next to the reed switch. We wanted to buy a larger buzzer from JayCar, as this buzzer was reasonably muted.

After making this circuit, and using some code within the Arduino to get it to work, we ended up heading down to JayCar electronics on Adelaide road to purchase some equipment of our own, so that we would be able to show proof of concept at Friday's class. Stu also let us borrow one of his Arduino Megas, which saved us buying one of them, all we needed was a usb cable to connect it to a laptop.

Research - Catapult

During class today, we continued to think about how we could possibly make this circuit. After figuring out roughly how we are going to make the buzzer turn on and off (through the use of magnets and a reed switch) we decided to look at how to actually make the catapult launch. We looked at existing examples as inspiration, with one in the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPomwRV0Fyc

In the above link, it shows a catapult that has been made out of cardboard, and uses a breadboard, arduino, and a servo to launch the catapult. This is most likely the approach we are going to take in our design, as it would be an effective way of shooting the ball across the room. We will look to have it so as the ball is placed back onto the catapult, the buzzer turns off (have the reed switch below the catapult to do so).

We will continue to research into different ways that we could create this circuit. By next week, we will look to have prototyped a catapult that works, so that we have a proof of concept. We are also going to look at creating a draft storyboard to present in class.

Research - Reed Switch

After doing some research, we found a video which shows a way that we would be able to get our idea to work. This research came after doing some basic breadboarding, and we wanted to expand our knowledge on this type of circuit.

The video in the link below shows the reed switch in action, with two magnets used to control whether the light turns on or off. The only difference with ours would be that we would use a sound buzzer, rather than an LED light.

The video shows how when one magnet is moved closer to the other magnet/reed switch, the light (in our case buzzer) turns off. This would be perfect for when the magnet in the ball is placed back on top of the alarm clock (which would have the circuit, reed switch, and other magnet inside of it).

http://www.instructables.com/id/Reed-Switch-Reverse-Actuation/

Fab Lab Session

Yesterday we attended the 'Intro to Electronics and Breadboarding' at Fab Lab. We went over the basic circuits that we could make, and were given a small task of making an LED light turn on using the breadboard, and arduino.

After this, we were able to practice on how to make our own idea, which was the buzzing alarm clock. For this, we were looking at using a reed switch, so that the buzzer would be set of when the circuit was moved away from the magnet. We created the circuit, as shown in the photo at the bottom of this blogpost, although the Fab Lab laptop was playing up and didn't seem to process the code, and there wasn't enough time left in the workshop to restart it and try again.

However, we are going to look at putting the circuit and buzzer inside of the alarm clock itself, rather than the ball. That way, the sound will be closer to the person sleeping, as the sound would appear quieter if the noise was in the ball instead, as it would get further away, and could possibly get stuck under something which would muffle the noise.

This circuit acts as almost a 'proof of concept', showing how we are able to set up a circuit to do what we want for our haptic interaction.

Fab Lab - Intro to Electronics and Breadboarding

Last Thursday, Alfred and I attended the "Intro to Fab Lab" workshop at 11am, so that we would have a fair idea of what the Fab Lab offers, and also so we know what we are able to make there, if our project requires us to do so.

We have just signed up for the "Intro to Electronics and Breadboarding", as they kindly added another intro session at 3pm tomorrow (Wednesday). I'm quite excited to go to this intro session, as it will give us a basic idea of how the electronics work etc., which will definitely come in handy for our alarm clock idea, where we will need to try linking up circuits with sounds etc.

User Experience Story Board

Today in class we presented our ideas and the class decided that we should do the alarm clock idea and look to develop and refine it. We did a bit of thinking of how we could have an effective alarm clock which forces the person to get out of bed, so I drew up our storyboard for user experience. I have taken photos from my physical workbook and attached them to this blog post below.
The below image is showing an idea for how our design could be set up. An idea would be for it to be set of by sound or vibration from the alarm clock.

Below, shows the alarm going off at the set time. At this point, our design will be triggered off and the ball launched randomly across the room.

Below, is a drawing showing the ball being launched across the room, which will encourage the user to get up and try to find the ball, in order to stop the alarm. Otherwise the noise will keep going until the ball is returned to the firing dock.

We could look to have the ball making the noise, although the only trouble with that is if it gets launched into a confined area or under something, the noise won't be as loud, and the user could possibly get back to sleep if the noise is muffled. However, another idea would be to make the object that's fired into an irregular shape, that way it doesn't bounce into the same area each time, and it instead can bounce to different locations. These are all factors to look into, and we can weigh out the pros and cons as we look to refine and develop our idea.

Over the next week or so we will look to do some research regarding ways of making this, and how we can go about it's creation. We could also look for existing similar examples, and try to pick out their flaws, so that we can avoid similar flaws, and make a better interaction.

Haptic Interface Ideas

Over the course of the past week, we were given the task of coming up with three potential ideas for our 'haptic' interface ideas, which we would use as our project for this term. We came up with quite a few possible ideas, and then narrowed it down to the three that we felt could be most successful.

Alarm Clock: We were looking at playing around with the interaction with alarm clocks. We had the idea of using a pressure pad, which means you need to stand up and stand on the pressure pad to turn of the alarm, which would encourage you to stand up and get out of bed. Another idea, was to have the alarm trigger the lights in the room, so that as soon as the alarm goes off, the lights in the room turn on. To turn them off, we were thinking of either using a pressure pad (as mentioned earlier), or using a motion sensor which requires you to move to a certain part of the room to turn them off again.

Mouse Glove: This idea, which I feel would be extremely effective, was to use a motion tracking glove to replace a laptop/computer mouse. That way, you still move your hand in the movement you would with an actual mouse, although would work a bit better on uneven surfaces in comparison to a regular mouse. An idea would be to have the user then just tap one finger on the surface to 'click', and swipe two fingers to 'scroll' down the page, similar to how you would operate a laptop trackpad.

Light pads: The third idea that we decided we would present, was a way of replacing light switches in the house. This would incorporate of having a sensor pad in place of the light switch, where you simply just tap the pad to turn it on. We were considering looking at ways to swipe upwards or downwards on the pad to incorporate dimming and ways of changing the light's brightness.

We feel like all three of these ideas are quite strong, and would be exciting to work with and try to develop. We will wait til Friday's session to get feedback from the class and Stu on which ones they think we should go on to develop for this assignment.