It has been a great semester and I want to say thank you to Lorna and all the tutors who helped carry this course even during all this Corona virus shenanigan. Thanks you all and see you next semester.

Exhibition:

This week was our exhibition week and we have completed our prototype and we are ready to present during the exhibition, here is a demo video for our prototype that I showed on my profile and my annotated portfolio,

in my opinion the exhibition went very well. initially I thought having only three visitors for our exhibition was because our prototype wasn't good enough, however after further investigation and talking to the teachers I realised that that was about the number everyone else got. since this whole exhibition was all online there weren't as many visitors as previous years. Here is our setup for the exhibition.

Anotated portfolio:

Alongside our final exhibition we also had to complete our annotated portfolio. For the development of the portfolio I used bootstrap to create my website with some basic JavaScript plugins such as smooth scrolling. Here are some photos of some of the section of what my portfolio looks like and here is the link

https://ixd-2020.uqcloud.net/rashid

This week we are finalising our prototype, Sean and I have successfully integrated our prototypes and did some test runs which went successfully.

We also change the interaction steps with ITSY, so instead of the user reading the questions and then answering through the buttons or answering by showing the colours to Etsy. the questions will be given as auditory prompts, by this I mean they will be read out like instructions such as “can you show me the colour red” or “can you answer question 3”. and then these are will respond accordingly either by pressing the buttons or showing a specific colour to ITSY.

Here is the final demonstration of ITSY

Prototype Update:

This week Sean and I went to Kmart to buy matching teddy bears, which we will use for our final prototype. we as a team also discussed that we will be using the same exact teddy bear to showcase our different prototypes and features. so, from an outside perspective it will look like the teddy bear is the same with multiple features inside of it, however realistically it is four identical teddy bears with four different features built inside. Since Sean lived very close by and our prototypes features we're very similar we decided to do our final presentation together so from next week we will be working together on the final prototype and try to integrate our features into one teddy bear .

Work Done:

Hardware

After getting the bear I solder and extended the buttons so they could be fitted inside it's his arm. once I installed them the arm became clickable and interactable. it was a bit odd cutting into a brand-new teddy bear however once we installed it did seem.

Software

I made some changes to the UI of the website, instead of just having clouds randomly floating around I change the clouds to a PNG image of ITSY bear. Similarly I created a website for Sean’s prototype which helped give a more unified Feel to our project

Prototype appraisal:

Here is my video from my last week’s demo presentation and appraisal for my prototype

I managed to successfully complete and submit this assignment while having other major assignments due at the same time. Our entire team were able to do the critiques very well. We all watched the videos together while discussing what to say about each team member of that team. Once we completed all the critiques, I was responsible for submitting most of them onto the Miro board so the other teams can see. All the videos we saw were done pretty well however some of their did not get the point across fully and therefore, the concept was a bit hard to understand.

Reflection

Here are some of the feedback I got for my video presentation which you can cheque On YouTube on the link provided above.

The first one was by Dimitri, he had some really good ideas for doing some testing to improve the prototype and I was glad to see that he mentioned the bop it toy as that was one of our initial inspirations when creating ITSY, I do believe if I was able to do some more testing I could have gone in more refined prototype however this was a bit difficult with all the Corona virus restrictions .

A similar thing was said by C.Lee where they really liked my overall concept however they wanted to be a bit more interactive as also mentioned by Dimitri above.

Lastly, the feedback from Lorna was quite helpful as she pointed out that it would have been better if I implemented the prototype inside the plush toy for the demo. which I completely agree with however but given the complete change in interaction from my initial design, I did not have time to do that however I will be creating a better version soon .

Individual Protype Progression

This week I submitted my demo for my prototype. here are the changes I had made since last week. I got rid of the audio inputs as it was quite difficult to actually implement as the voice API I was trying to implement found it hard to recognise little kids voices. Instead I put two buttons simulating the left and right hand of ITSY, so I could use these as inputs for pressing the left and right hands of it when given a auditory prompt. so basically I changed it from audio output audio input to audio output and button input.

Here is the Web UI and the Node-Red Flows

Usability testing

I started with some interviews with my cousins. She is 5 and her brother is 11, with the parents’ permission I decided to get her to do some tasks. To test the voice recognition, I ask her to use Google Voice Assistant on my phone and that's when I realised Google was not 100% accurate when detecting her voice. Later this led me to remove the use of a microphone and only have auditory output and not input.

I also talked to my partner who is a coach at Girl Guides Clayfield and she stated many of the parents who join their kids to Girl Guides do it because they want them to learn more actively and develop a wide range of skills which they would not get from doing thing is just at home.

Here is the user task flow that my prototype will follow:

Prototype progression

This week I got all my parts for the Arduino sorted so I can complete my initial prototype as I will need to submit my demo video and documentation next week. Here is what my prototype looks like so far. I have connected the Arduino with node red and managed to get input and output from the Arduino and implemented inside my website.

Reflection

After creating this version of the prototype, I realised I might be having issues with lack of inputs from the Arduino. so I will most likely be changing out how I interact without we know so this feels more natural when actually implemented inside the plush toy.

Prototype progression:

This week I Mainly worked on finalising all the components I need for my prototype. once checking inside the given DFR robot kit, I realised there were no microphone or audio input devices. This is critical as my entire feature is dependent on audio input and output through the plush toy. For my initial prototype I will be using the built-in laptop microphone input and the speaker output which was controlled through the HTML to check if my Arduino is able to communicate successfully with the web application I was running.

Hardware

I discovered there were no microphones are audio devices present inside the kit, so I checked my spare electronics leftovers from previous projects to see if I have any microphones. I did manage to find one however later I realised it was broken I tried fixing it however it did not work so next week I will probably go buy one from Jaycar,In the mean while, as you can see in the picture above I am using the 10k Potentiometer to simulate and analog signal.

Software

I will be using node.JS, to connect my Arduino with my HTML. to make this process a lot simpler I am using the node-Red platform to do all the functions and programming.

Meeting:

In this week’s meeting our entire team did our brain storming and breakdown of the concept on the Miro Board. we divided all the tasks that needed to be completed by each team member and how those individual tasks can be incorporated back together again. we made two mind Maps, one for the actual prototype and concept explaining the different aspects of ITSY and the second one is more about targeting the weaknesses strengths context abuse and all the surrounding factors regarding ITSY.

General Update:

I was thinking about how to connect my Arduino to the computer add have successfully transferred data between them. I was not sure what the initial prototype will look like.

This week We finalise how we will tackle creating this learning toy. we decided to have one final prototype and each of us working on different features of their prototype. this allowed us to maintain a good level of cohesiveness. we are able to do this as we have good communication between our team members and we are willing to help each other with different parts.

Pitch

This week we had our pitches, and everything went successfully. We received some great feedback

The feedback from the pitch generally focuses on the interactions: inputs and outputs, the target user group and the learning topics.

Topic

The team was recommended that we should aim for the final product, so that the technology will not limit our design.

Input

Many people have raised the concern that the interaction with the teddy bear is not suitable for children (Initial concept & Image 1), and it is suggested to let the kids make emotional connections with the toy in order to learn in a comfortable environment. Recommended inputs include clapping, colour identification and voice recognition.

Output

Besides from the glowing ears and voice encouragements, friendly tone and phrases can be used to motivate the kids, such as ‘You are close to the final answer, give it another try’, and music, vibration and heats can also be added to give children more feedback on various senses.

Audience

Another crucial feedback is that the target group is ambiguous regards to the demographic and use case.

Learning topic

The scope of the learning activities is too broad, so that it might be hard for the team to focus on one solution. The potential topic includes Math, English and Colour identifying.

Physical solution

Different types of toys can be developed based on children’s like and different learning goals, such as microphone for English vocabulary pronunciation and fluffy rabbit for kids who like peter rabbit.

Design Evolution

After receiving the feedback we decided to take away / add / alter some of the characteristics of ITSY.

We took away the aggressive input methods such as twisting, smashing etc. as it was not very appropriate for our target audience. Which also narrowed down to 5 year olds, especially parents with 5 year old.

Cancellation of classes

This week was supposed to be week 4, however, due to the coronavirus the university had to close for a week and all the classes had to be shifted by one week.

Group work and meetings

Despite not having classes, me and my team finalised and completed the team charter and worked further on developing the topic. We came up with a name called ITSY for our toy, we thought it was cute and easy to say for little kids. I also created a little drawing on illustrator for a bear that we can annotate over.

We created the slides for our pitch and then later I recorded everyone's voice and made the final pitch video.

Here is the video

World cafe

During the world came the whole class walked around and visited all the different ideas and got a chance to discuss them. Each of us got to discuss about 3-4 topics (depending on how many times we hosted each topic ). In my case I hosted 2 topics Emotional Intelligence and Creative learning .

Here are the ideas I discussed:

Emotional Intelligence

We talked about how emotions can be altered or effected through design and computers.

We really liked talking about the party cup because it showed how much alcohol you drink and help you keep track of your drink. Later on we adapted it to be a potential tool that can help people avoid over drinking and stay under the limit if they are planning to drive home.

Enhanced Mundane spaces

Enhanced Mundane was the topic that my prototype had fallen into. We discussed how this is an escape from reality and it can be made into many different things. We listed some characteristics for an enhanced mundane space.

• Escape from reality
• Change of scenery
• Relaxing
• And most importantly not be intrusive/ disruptive

Creative learning

This was the last topic that I was part of for the discussion. I really liked the learning and teaching part of this idea. We started discussing the MORT toy that Michelle created and went onto adding features to it and making it better. “A toy that would help you with your learning” At that point we did not have any ideas about what we could teach.

Voting and topic selection

Later on we got to vote on the topics we like and what designs we wanted to pursue.

Soldering workshop

Later on Tuesday i did the soldering course and created a light that glows inside a box that we created in the laser cutting workshop.

Talking to Bash Isai

Thursday’s class began with a video call with an UQ alumni Bash Isai. He talked about graduate roles in the future and how to prepare for recruitment assessment, internship etc. He also pointed out some tips such as how much easier it is to apply for a position when doing it through a recruitment agency. We also did this cool activity where we write 50 words about ourselves then narrow it down to one word, mine was creative.

Team Formation

Meeting the team members

Later on Thursday I got to see which topic got and who my team members were. I had gotten the topic Creative learning, which was my first choice of topics so that was great. Then I got to meet my team mates who were Sean, Sheryl, Han and me.

Defining the concept

What is Creative Learning?

To me creative learning is designing and creating a method of learning that is different and new. I am a very visual and auditory, that means If I find it difficult to retain information by reading only, however, if I see a physical example of a video explaining things, my brain learns it much quicker. That's why I want to delve further into this topic.

Narrowing of topic

One of the key characteristics of the product will the ability to improve motor skills and enhance their intelligence through a method called synchronised learning.

I suggested we use similar technology to the Bop it toy

1)Pull it

2)Twist it

3)Push it

4)Flick it

5)Smash it

Live Social Feed

Poster

Inspiration

Context

My concept is called Live Social Feed

My idea was inspired by the GOMA light wall and the Westfield Garden City Projectors on the side of the shopping mall. In this concept, the user/s will take photos of a given set location and they will post that online, out of all the photos that are taken by everyone on that location, some of the best photos will be displayed against a nearby building.

The software will keep refreshing and updating the current photos every 30-40 seconds. If no posts are made it will rotate from previous posts. This system can take inputs from many different social media platforms ie. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter.

This is a great way to provide exposure to local creators and help them grow. Also provide the general public with a new public platform to experience local art and talents, or even share their own.

Problem

The Problem this concept is addressing is the lack of exposure local artists have, and the lack of a platform that can a decent amount of exposure.

Target Audience

This concept is aimed towards local artists. Whilst still focusing on the general public, however, this system will cater to the artists more.

When Lorna said we will be hitting the ground running, She was not joking.

Week 1 was a quite intense. Not in terms of complex work, rather the volume of information.

Tuesday

This day was quite important as we were given the full overview of the course. It was great meeting everyone and seeing people whom I might end up in teams with. It was quite fun finding examples of physical computing. I posted the one about the robot that picks out tomatoes from your salad, using Image recognition and machine learning.

I was there only for half the day, as I had to attend the UQ Innovate Induction from 1pm- 4pm. This was also a really good experience and I will most definitely use the facilities in the future

Wednesday

This day we looked at the 7 grand challenges of physical computing.

We were shortly divided into 7 tables for the 7 challenges, I was in Table 1 which was Human technology symbiosis. Our entire table came up with some cool ideas as listed in the butchers paper

Introduction

Hello my fellow DECO3850 blog-mates, my name is Fardeen and I am a 3rd year Bachelors or Information and Technology student. I am majoring in Information Systems and User Experience Design.

I am a hard working and determined student, I work very well in a team, I am guilty of taking charge by default however, if someone else can do the job better than me, I am more than happy to let them take lead.

Expectation

I didn't have any expectations initially, but I did manage to form some expectations after the first week of classes.

#1

We will have a functional prototype by week 13

#2

Things will be very fast paced and our team will be required to stay on top of our game

#3

Final week before showcase will be Insane