Week 1 - Exploration of Assistive Technologies & Tangible Interactions - Part 2

Since class this week I’ve spoken to a few people about items that they use every day that would benefit from additional Tangible Interactions. So I’m just updating my idea bank for the week.

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Sensory Feedback Chairs:
First off I spoke to a few Special Education Teachers. One of the things that they spoke about was chairs. Because of the sensory needs of some of the children in their classes the chairs are often fitted with texture pads that give the children what they require. If this became an interaction point for the children it could be used to encourage the children to sit. Included in the chair would be sensors to sense the sitter and sense the time spent sitting. Another application for this could be a seat that cannot be sat of for extended periods of time. The might use a mechanism that causes discomfort after a set period of time requiring the user to stand up before the chair can be sat on again.

Egg Carton Interactions:
Egg cartons provide some protection for eggs bought in the supermarkets however when collecting eggs from the chickens at home there is also significant risk of egg damage depending on the terrain. Can we combine use an accelerometer and airbag system to sense the swift decent of the egg carrier activating the airbag to cushion the fall? This is a bit farfetched but would be interesting to explore.

Scent Memory Pens:
Various studies have shown that the application of scents while studying and trying to remember study content for exams can assist a person in recalling the material. By incorporating a scent dispenser into a pen or highlighter and a form of sensor that can identify the content a memory assistance product could be developed.

Mail Sensors:
It is often useful to be able to know if there is mail sitting in a mailbox without needing to manually check for mail. It would be quite easy to implement a sensor to that could sense mail but how would I communicate the information to the user? We now have a number of mediums through which to communicate. These include, but are not limited to, visual displays, audible alerts, SMS and even through a purpose designed App.

Was the Kettle on?:
A common problem that I have found is not knowing how long ago the kettle has been boiled and if the water is still hot enough to make a coffee? By using a heat indicator of some sort, how can the product communicate this information to the user?

Week 1 - Exploration of Assistive Technologies & Tangible Interactions

Our next task was to explore every day assistive technologies (AT) and then to see what sort of tangible interactions could be applied to an AT. So to start off with we were given definitions of both. These were to help direct our research and ideas.

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Assistive Technology:

...any device, system or design, whether acquired commercially or off the shelf, modified or customised, that allows an individual to perform a task that they would otherwise be unable to do, or increase the ease and safety with which a task can be performed.

Independent Living Centre Australia
on Assistive Technology
(http://www.ilcnsw.asn.au/home/assistive_technology/assistive_technologynext)

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Tangible Interaction:

"Umbrella term" that describes a set of related research and design approaches focusing on: the design of the interaction instead of the visible interface.

It prioritizes as principles of design:

• tangibilityand materiality
• bodily interaction
• embeddedness in real spaces and contexts

(http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/tangible_interaction.html)

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As you can see from the definitions we are now left with an extremely broad range of products to select from.

An AT is simply a product that assists day-to-day activities. It could be anything from a waterbottle to glasses to a large appliance such as a dishwasher or washing machine or even a car.

A Tangible Interaction is any interaction that can be felt with the body in the real world.


What follows here are some ideas that I came up with in class.

Musical Proximity Indication:
Through the use of Bluetooth or GPS or some form of wireless connection two or more friends' mp3 players could be paired or grouped so that play a particular song when they are within range. This would notify the friends that they were close to eachother which stimulates spontanious connections or enabling the friends to know when they had arrived at their destination.

Audible Cutting Board:
A myth that many people believe is that a knife is safer if it is blunt. This is often incorrect as the additional effort required to cut the item can cause the user to slip causing even more damage. What if a cutting board could indicate how much "pain" it was in due to a blunt knife?

Night Sight:
When a person has glasses they find it even more difficult to find things in the dark... especially when it is the glasses they are looking for... I know from experience. Can a pair of glasses be fitted with a motion sensor so that the user can find their glasses in the dark? (Brief research shows that this has been done... but could I do it better?)







Drink Up:
Drinking water is a common mundane day-to-day task. Can I make it more interesting? My idea is a bottle that is fitted with a level indicator that shows the water level and water movement of somone elses bottle, either just one or multiples. The bottles could be paired or grouped via the internet or other wireless technology.

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Other ideas from class members:

Head Mounted Navigation:
One of the ideas that I particularly liked that came from someone else is a head mounted GPS unit that projects a guidance arrow onto the ground infront. This would be very helpful for cyclists and would remove the need for a screen that requires riders to take their eyes off the road. This may also have implications for in-car navigation displays.

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I'm gradually realising that although some of these ideas may seem useless right now the technology and mechanisms that we develop in this class could potentially solve issues that arrise in the future or even problems that people have and we don't know about yet.

Week 1 - Exploration of feedback types

When looking at feedback options there are a number of types that are available. Some appear to be much more difficult than others and will require different technological approaches.

 

These feedback types all satisfy various physical senses; sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste. The last two of these senses are much more difficult to satisfy however I won't be counting them out completely. They may offer up some unique possibilities???

Must remember that each of these will also trigger different emotional responses within each person.

Some of these may also exclude people with different physical abilities however this should be able to be overcome through clever design.

DNB 601 Introduction - i-sense

Well hello all! Week 1 has introduced us to a new way of designing for innovation!

Our aim for this semester asks us to:

"design a product that gives users the ability to be aware of the presence of friends or family and the status of a particular situation. The product design must adress the significance of 'presence' in a context that excludes face-to-face interaction."

Our criteria:

• must operate over a distance (short as a few cm or as far a half way round the world)
• must be a tangible product using current tech... input & output (transmitting & sensing)
• must focus on social awareness
• must address day to day interactions across generational groups
• must not exclude people with different physical abilities (refers to light to mild physical disabilities such as arthritis, limited ranges of motion, lack of strength, poor eyesight etc)
• must not employ GUI's (Graphical User Interfaces) meaning that any form of screen is excluded from the projects.
• Indicator lights are ok
• Icons and displays using rows of LED etc. are excluded

The model of design that we will be employing will take into consideration:

• Object
• Behaviour
• Senario

Each of these affect each other directly and indirectly. We will explore how these influence our product innovation over the coming weeks.

Some examples from our first class include a physical indicator by way of a raised flag, that shows that you have received a txt message.

A simple device that has an input and output.

A ball that is wirelessly controlled via a remote that can be located on the other side of the globe. Connection is made via infrared to a computer via the internet and a computer on the other end that outputs the signal to the ball. 

A more complex device that allows for a unique form of international social telepresence.