This Week

This week I worked on building my prototype and modelling it based on my user research conducted thus far.

As seen in the image below, I have planned out what I want my prototype to look like. I decided on a pattern of hexagons for the main installation. This would look like wall decor in the house and will not be too invasive but will annoy people once it activates. I have decided to build my prototype in two parts. The focus of my prototype will be on Temperature in the house. Emily will monitor the temperature, weather, and air-con usage. And moderate if there are energy savings.

Part 1:

This build will mainly concentrate on the physical look of Emily along with the lights, colours, sounds and vibrations. This part of the build will also include the sensors and how it will sense if there is someone in the house and annoy them. I have decided that there will be two conditions.

Good - Emily will appear green IF the household is being energy efficient and there is no excessive aircon usage based on weather conditions in and outside the home.

Bad - Emily will begin to annoy the user by flashing red, vibrating on the wall and making sounds until a user walks past and interacts with it. The only way it can be shut off is if the user touches all the hexagons. Once it is shut off, Emily will wait 10 minutes before checking the house conditions again and moderating if the user has changed their behaviour, IF NOT then it REPEATS annoyance.

I have started to code this behaviour and have them function with the lights. This can be seen in the image below. However, that was the last of my ARDUINO! I ended frying the board as I plugged in the power lead. This was a mistake as I was trying to get more power to make the lights brighter. But after some more research and looking at the power lead i used, the Arduino cannot take 12V and yeah....

The body of my prototype is mainly built, I 3D printed some hexagons with covers so that they can be fitted to a wall. The colour of the hexagons was chosen as white so that the light can be seen through. I also bought a line of LED lights to fit inside the hexagons. I just need to figure out how to make the led long enough so the prototype can sit on a wall and my breadboard and Arduino rest on a table or something.

Part 2:

This part will focus on the "Temperature" variable of the house. I am going to have to use a temperature sensor and some sort of method to check if door or windows have been left open. I also need to figure out how to incorporate a weather app to allow for comparisons.

Next Steps

I am going to continue on my prototype once I have my hands on the loan Arduino from uni. In the meantime, I am researching how to user the sensors for touch and how I can incorporate that into the hexagon. I am also continuing on the report that needs to be submitted along with the research and process I have taken.