The objective of this project was to develop a physical device that would assist in some aspect of daily life by using an arduino equipped with some sensros and some outputs.
Design and Sketches
My initial ideas were separated into two main categories, sensing warning devices and other more active communication devices. By using sensors, I created designs that could alert people to circumstances that they normally would be unable to gauge easily themselves, such as the heat toelrance for dogs or the max duration/volume for sound exposure. Other devices involved assiting with daily routines such as tracking time passage for teachers, a sensor to help proper reps at the gym and a device designed to streamline clicker training for dogs.
Refinement
Following our presentation, the idea that most stood out was Daniel's idea for a posture corrector. The idea had similarities and merit with my gym posture idea, so we decided to expand upon what else we could do with it.
For my ideas, the main focus was on the mode of execution. What was the most effective way of incorporating the device such that it could detect posture and alert the user? Initial thoughts were different designs for placement of the device, and the output used to get the user's attention. With further refinement when we settled on the box idea, I contributed the notion of a button calibrator to make the device more versatile.
The other group members devised the following sketches:
Dennis' sketches
Daniel's sketches
Payal's sketches
Fungai's sketches
Implementation
In our final implementation, we argued over the merits of what would be the best way to implement it and we realized that a sensor ont he back may not always work, and a sensor sitting in front may also not work based off distance such as moving the chair. To combat these problems, I suggested the use of a button to reset the calibration. Alongside calibration, another problem was the inability to adjust the sensor for differing heights. To compensate for this we thought of things such as a sensor that could slide up and down, be removed and repositioned, or put on a stand. After some talking, we thought of having the sensor tilt at the top.
As the design came into focus we realized that the idea of a black box did not coincide with the aesthetic context for our device, so we brainstormed ways of making it look appropriate on a desktop. We came up with the idea for a robot, as the shape and range finder sensor "eyes" looked similar to Wall-E. The idea was to then have the device be a watchful robot who could look at the person and let them know when their posture was off, as the robot itself was a sort of cute desktop ornament/paperweight that looked more natural than a simple black box, and made the sensor look more friendly and less intimidating.
