To create an enjoyable interaction for a child and adult over distance–a networked toy–it seems essential to provide a rich communications medium. No matter how enjoyable the toy is, nothing purely physical can replace the sound of a child’s voice or the secondary channel of body language. Therefore, we’re beginning to explore the GM-862 Cellular Module as a potential foundation for …
This week’s readings are all examples of single display from multiple input. The BBC window display takes SMS and transfers it to the screen behind an interviewee. Blinkenlights accepts input from BlinkenPaint and makes a building-sized display or allows Pong from one or two mobile phones. Vectorial Elevation accepts commands from the internet and displays searchlights over Dublin. The single display …
This assignment was to create a model for a single elevator (not a system of elevators) that would serve a 1000 floor building. Current Elevator Model: 1. Elevator makes all requested stops in one direction at a time, then reverses and makes all the stops in the other direction. 2. The UP and DOWN buttons on each floor stops the elevator …
Here are my notes and a Flickr category of pictures from a Super Bowl party Kitchen Analysis project. There was one major story from this Super Bowl party-making observation session. The kitchen lacked temporary storage space. While cabinets were plentiful (for New York) a combination of limited counter space and zero non-cabinet shelf space created a major obstacle to the party …
We created the SuperSucker for a Toy Design exercise that demanded an “amplification toy.” Sucking on the little clear tube triggers the much more powerful vacuum motor, creating amplified suction on the end of the big black tube as shown here. The functioning prototype was a lot of fun to play with since it allowed interaction with both the external environment …
Calm technologies attempt to deliver information in a contextually-appropriate manner. But more attention (if you will) needs to be paid to how exactly that context is to be sensed and manipulated. Should technology simply wait until the room is quiet before announcing something? Can the importance of information be planned in advance, so that signal amplitude is controlled by prior conceptions? …
This presentation was for an assignment to create an alarm clock for business travelers.
This Subway Map Analysis was performed as the initial class assignment for User-centered Design.
This is the circuit for the prototype of KidVac, a toy that amplifies a child’s inhalation using a vacuum, so that they can “suck” up objects for fun. Here’s the first draft of code for the microcontroller.
This is a first-draft prototype of a slider control for a shower. The control is intended to move easily between warm and cool, with a double-reversal of direction required to select very hot or very cold water. The control utilizes some fundamental interactive properties. Water temperature is mapped to up and down, and constrained from accidentally entering unintended extreme regions. However …
