Further Development of Emily

In complete honesty, the past two weeks have been quite slow. I lacked motivation towards this subject as other subject assessment has been quite heavy, and after completing the big hurdle of the first prototype, it has been hard to get back into it. However something that I have been enjoying relating to this course is the development of the portfolio. I love design and so being able to design my own website starting from scratch has been quite fun and definitely a refresher from the last time I developed my own website (which was many years ago!) There have been times when I've gotten frustrated with trying to further implement the final aspects for Emily so being able to resort to a less stressful task like building the portfolio has been a nice escape.

Works In Progress

The portfolio is mostly completed, I just need to incorporate the final images and description of Emily once she is all done, and then upload all the files to the hosting exhibit site. I'm am still working on implementing the feedback stage but I am very close to having it completed. We did receive feedback and results from the initial prototype, and I have taken on the feedback that Lorna has provided which includes the following:

• Playing around with the beep more
• Considering other ways the user can calm Emily

Depending on time left, I will see what I can do with this feedback and whether there is any possibility in implementing these. I feel that there is very little time for me to find a new source of sound to incorporate into Emily although I may see what I can do with the changing frequencies of the pitch of the Piezo element. However, regarding exploring other ways for the user to interact, I am thinking that ideas including continuous tapping of Emily or movement of the user could be ways in which the user can interact with Emily, should she get more annoying.

If I'm unable to implement such ideas however, these will definitely be considerations that I will outline were I to have access to unlimited time and resources.

Finalising The Form

I have actually gained inspiration from team Cabitat in 2019 on the form of their project 'I'm Home'. I was wanting to have a translucent form that allowed the Neopixel lights to glow through and their form did that and looked very polished and clean (see below in Inspiration Works for their form).

I did also do research on existing smart home devices and found that products such as Alexa and Google Home maintain a minimalist and polished style. I felt that I wanted a polished look for Emily that would appeal to my target audience of adult users and look aesthetically pleasing within the home. The idea was that if I couldn't find anything then I would try to attempt the idea of making paper translucent to create a dome, that I took inspiration from in my last post.

I decided to go online and explore the possibility of finding an already existing solid material or shape that I could use to encapsulate the Neopixel strip. To my luck, Bunnings appeared to have a translucent white pot that suited the aesthetic of what I am going for perfectly. I have a perfectly sized square box that will be situated under the translucent pot, which will hide the Arduino and majority of wires, in order to develop that polished and clean look that I am going for.

Future Progress

What's left to do is to complete the feedback part of Emily and if time is kind, implement some of the feedback listed above. Once that's all done I'm able to upload images and videos of the final form of Emily for the portfolio. I am feeling extremely nervous about the upcoming exhibit but am looking forward to seeing all the varying projects!

Inspiration Works

I'm Home - by Team Cabitat

Photo taken from Max Cartwright Portfolio - http://deco3850-portfolio.uqcloud.net/2019/mcartwright/process.html