A quick video/slideshow of our prototyping for our TUI project. It includes initial rapid models, to electronic prototypes to more resolved laser cut forms. These prototypes are what predominantly shaped and developed into our final idea.
Archive for the ‘Tangible User Interfaces (TUI)’ Category
TUI Prototyping video
February 11, 2009Prezi for presentations….
February 11, 2009After just looking at Adam’s blog, he reminded me of the presentation we had prepared for the final TUI crits, but unfortunately due to time restraints we couldn’t use it. So for documentation purposes, or if you want to take a look click here! We used a web based tool called prezi to build it….its wuite interesting if your bored of the classic powerpoint!
Screen shot presentation, taken for adam’s blog
“Meet the Food we eat” video
February 11, 2009Now our TUI project is over we have had time to get our prototype up and running and make a video of it.
TUI links
February 4, 2009
Here are some links for posts and photos from the TUI course, i will update as more appear….
Neo-nomad.net, arduino.cc, localhiddenvariable.com, Ujjval’s flickr, Eilidh’s flickr, Tobias’s flickr, David’s flickr 
“Meet the Food You eat”
February 2, 2009On friday we presented our final work for our TUI course……
completed working prototype in exhibition space
What is it?
Our project is a scale that measures a food product’s environmental impact. It looks at the carbon emitted as a result of transporting the food and measures this in terms of how many trees would be required to offset that carbon over one year.
Who is it for?
The scale is an exhibition piece intended to make the general public think about the environmental implications of the food they purchase.
Why is it valuable?
This scale is an exploration in how tangible interfaces can be used to interact with data on the web. With the increase in usage of RFID technology and as “everday” objects become networked, we anticipate access to untold amounts of information for things as simple as an apple. With appropriate ways to interact with this data, we hope people will be able to make more informed decisions that will help build a sustainable world.
As an exhibition piece, this scale will raise questions about the food you buy, where it comes from and how it is transported. With a subject as complex as carbon emissions and the global food economy, our scale is only an entry point and is intended to raise more questions than it will answer.
This scale can also be viewed as a hypothetical kitchen appliance or point to a future grocery store service. The data it uses is important but remains hidden to most people, and we hope this will not be the case for much longer.
How does it work?
The scale works by looking at the carbon emitted by transporting a particular product from it’s country of origin to Denmark. Place an RFID tagged product on the appropriate arm and try to balance the scale with the tree shaped weights. The amount of trees used to balance the scale represents the number of actual trees it would take to offset that product’s carbon emissions over one year. Swap items on the scale and compare different items from a particular country or similar items from different countries.
What were your key learnings?
Our team experienced many challenges in assembling the scale and in gathering the data behind the products, but most of our key learnings came in the beginning of the project. Rapid prototyping and user testing were essential for our team. We learned that building rudimentary models is the best way to test rudimentary ideas. Some models told us when an idea was going in the wrong direction while other models told us this only when in the hands of people outside our team. From the beginning, our project was heavy with metaphors – a scale and weights to measure data, and trees to represent this data. User testing was the only way to know if these metaphors were the right choice.
Our process documented in a book (printed for exhibition)
TUI exhibition
February 2, 2009On friday we ended our TUI block with presentations, and a brilliant exhibition organised by Alie and Heather. During the presentations we got some great feedback from our internal CIID faculty as well as Durrell Bishop, Christopher Scales and Yasmine Abbas. Throughout the course each group generated, developed and refined ideas and worked towards building a technically working prototype. We over came problems of aesthetics V’s function, using the correct metaphors and creating the right affordances, managing our time to achieve the deliverable and general nightmare issues around electronics and programming!! But in the end we pulled through and really learned a lot form the four weeks……Some photos from the exhibition
Eline and Nunzia’s interactive alice and wonderland game
Jacob,Francesco and Alice’s Dubmate for remote file sharing
Kevin and Ashwins Frontline Gloves for Firemen
Jason and Magnus’s “Easy run” making your Iphone tangible for running
Marcin and Ujjval’s networked cameras
Late night working…..00:51am
January 24, 2009Today and this evening we have been trying to power our motor so it will lift the required weight we need it to. Currently the driver for the motor that we are using is not producing enough current. So with the help from Vinay a new driver is being built as we speak
Soldering some electronics
Adam writing code.
Sid mounting the motor
More prototyping
January 24, 2009Last week we have been working towards building our final prototype. This has involved numerous iterations of prototypes…This is what we have so far.
2D foam core model of scale mechanism
Sid working on 3D foamcore scale
completed foamcore scale
hacking a digital scale to get a load cell
Sid and I Assembling a laser cut acrylic prototype
Acrylic Prototype
Completed Acrylic Prototype ready for the electronics
Mounting the gears and motor into the mechanics
Hooking up the arduino board and some electronics to power the motor
Fridays Presentation Photos….
January 19, 2009
Dinner Meeting….
January 19, 2009
Last night Adam, Sid and myself had a night of risotto, america cookies and some project work. Over the course of the evening we discussed the feedback be were given on friday during our crit and refined our idea and tweaked our idea. During our presentation, there were still elements of confusion with the metaphor of the scale we were using…So we also brainstormed ideas that took the visual of the scale away and really simplified the functions of it. Today we will get feedback on whch is the best approach to take and hopefully get down to some more electronics prototyping!!
