Documentation & Reflection

Finally, this is the last post for my journal in this course. It has been a hard time for everyone but we survived well enough till the end.

The exhibition was running smooth. Even though some of my friends from another country had a problem with limited internet so they could not watch the live demo. But they commented that our projects are cool based on our websites. Don't forget to come to my website too on https://ixd-2020.uqcloud.net/lumombo/

I had a good experience with my product. We spend times together till two hours before the exhibitions. Even though I found many problems, that was because of the brain too tired. I could not see simple mistakes, for example: forget to attach the code to the objects that would affect the result. So tips for everyone, do not forget to rest your mind and heart. Give them a break.

Based on that, take a nice holiday before next semester for everyone still on the way to the graduation day. Also, congratulations to everyone who finish your study.

Yay. Finally, the final week of this semester is here. We survived the entire new style of study. I am too sad about this situation. Even though the class was done, I don't feel it like that is done. I miss the moment when I need to wake up early in the morning, then come to campus and do the course activities. Meeting friends and do overtime to the break time. I hope we can meet again in the future. Congratulations to my friends who finish the study in this semester. Wait for me to finish it at the end of 2020.

So, back to the assignment things. I focused on my assignment from another course this week. Lucky for me that I don't need to focus on the thesis for several weeks. The tasks are accomplished one by one for sure. A few days ago, I started the assignment for this course again. I started my website portfolio. I recycled the website from last semester, but in the end, I changed a lot of things. Because of that, I designed the pages using PowerPoint first; then I do the coding. I added codes from the internet based on my needs. Also, this journal helped me a lot. I have the documentation ready from here. I only need to add some graphics and photos of the final product.

I am on progress to polish the product for the exhibition. I wish I have the magic one that I mentioned in the class. But I will make sure that I will finish it on time.

This semester is almost finished. I happened to mix up the deadline for every course in this semester. Thanks to coordinators who send reminder through email so that I can go back to the line.

I interviewed an ex-teacher for the thesis project this week. While doing that, I found the information that is related to my Physical Computing project. My thesis project is to find out about what children want or what is the best game for children. Based on the interviewee, children like to use something magically. The characteristic of children is curiosity. They like to use something like spy glasses or torch that can show hidden objects.

I wanted to make projected AR game to teach programming last time. Because of the many problems I got, I decided to make something different but still the same concept. I change the way users see the game. I use the phone instead of the projected image. I plan to create the phone looks like the magnifying glass with the shape of a square, not a standard circle. So, users can see the virtual object than can only be seen through the magnifying glass. They need to explore everything in the virtual world through a small screen. They will not know the answer directly. They need to read every marker to get the correct answer. To create this thing, I need a selfie stick and the phone, but I don't have the phone holder yet. I will get it tomorrow. After that, I will cover it with a paper frame.

Also, I want to change the way of the game environment. It can be played with more than one users as long as they have the "player marker". I break the board marker, and each answer will have its physical tag, not only virtual like before. I will use https://brosvision.com/ar-marker-generator/ to generate it. It is easier than create it by myself. I will make eight markers for the answer part. The problem that always comes related to this is about bit depth of the image. As for the digital part, I think it will be more comfortable to be handled because I finished with the core function.

I have decided to recycle the portfolio website from last semester. I will change the content and some pictures.

This week, I received the mini projector, so I tried to play the project with this device. But I got several problems. The first problem and foremost problem is no HDMI cable slot on my laptop. I don't have it now, but I will get it. Because I cannot display the image directly from my computer, so I create another method to test if the camera can read the marker. I put the projector on my camera tripod. The projector faced down to the floor, where I put the board marker. Then I displayed the images with it. The second problem came. The resolution does not fit with the marker. Because of that, I just left it like that for now. At least, it will give a distraction to the physical board marker.

After the image displayed, I played the project from my laptop. And I tested the marker. It is hard to detect the marker if the physical marker is covered with projected white colour. It is preferred to display the marker with black colour as projector think it is something not to be displayed. That's why the physical marker still clear to the camera. I will consider this option for the project.

The capturer marker is always hard to be read if the range with the camera is too far. I think the quality of the camera will affect the marker reading as my rear camera is not as good as the front one. It can be seen in the images below. I screenshot it from my laptop. Once the capturer detected by the camera, the virtual object can be seen. Then I overlay it with the projected image. It still there.

The quality of the image from the projector is okay if I turned off the light. But, the camera cannot detect the marker at all. With so many problems, I am thinking to make this project as original AR, not the projected one. Users will not use their hand to touch the screen. They need the screen for seeing the virtual images only. If someone says that VR is better than I will say no because, in VR, there is a limit to see the surrounding world. With AR, we can see the real-world and virtual world together. And in my project, users control virtual object with a physical object that can be touched by their hand.

So, what will I do with the projector? Watch the movie of course. :)

I finished the prototype, including the document and the video seconds before the due time. And I think that the video is not good enough to give the information about what is my concept. That's why in the comment I got, the other team didn't understand about it. I will need to spend more time in the editing next time.

Other points that I got from the comments are:

1. Specific target audience. I mentioned in the document that my target audience is children, but I didn't put the specific age range. It was pre-teens. But recently because of lack of testing, I changed the target audience as everyone who doesn't have a background of the coding—one of the comments mentioned about visual impaired users. This group will not be a problem as this game will be played in the short-range from the eyes. I predicted that the issue would not come from users, but instead from the quality of the projector.
2. Add some features to improve the prototype. Some comments mentioned about the features that can be added to the prototype such as: 1) Rewards that will be added to improve the prototype as the initial plan, 2) Output or maybe they mean the feedback (already put into the prototype (green for correct and red for incorrect)) but need the improvement of the visual so it can be more interest the users, 3) More players, this features is always in my mind. But I only can do for two players for now. I will try to create it for more people, but my focus is solely on the two-player game, 4) The animation is the best way to make the game fun and not static. Users will not get bored, especially when they are in thinking mode.
3. More complex content of knowledge. Only for this prototype, there is only one question. As the plan, there will be more questions and will increase based on the update of the product. Even for the market version, this product should have a database to save the questions and answers and change every period. One comment mentioned the questions that can be modified by users. I think that is not a good idea. This product is to teach the users the coding that will give them knowledge. It always is better to make and modify the questions based on the experts.

During the contact session, our group discussed the appraisal for the team we are assigned. We wrote points of the comments related to the work from each of us, and then we did the combination into 300 words appraisal.

For the prototype, I didn't improve it for this week, and I will do it for next week. I need to finish my other assignment from a different course. I hope this semester will end well and don't destroy our mind. Haha.

This week, everyone was focusing on prototype delivery, including me. I tried to solve the problem from last week: capturing the virtual object using the physical object (capturer). I found the tutorial and followed it. And I solved the problem.

During the week, I also changed the shape of the capturer many times. I got a problem with the marker. Based on Vuforia, the marker that I created was not good enough until I got five stars for my rectangle marker. I print it as a cube so the player can hold it comfortably. I added a virtual needle for this marker, so the player can know which object (answer) they capture. But the problem I felt when I tried it, the cube is too big. Because of that, I changed to the shape of the marker so it can fit the cutter. This cutter is so easy to behold, then another problem came. The width of the cutter is too small. The marker was following it and become too small to be identified by the camera. I looked at the problem on the internet and found out that if the marker is too tiny, the camera cannot read the detail of it. In the end, I am going back with the rectangle marker (cube in physical shape).

Because of the marker, I also found out that every printer has limited function. Not every home printer can print 300gsm paper. Think about your future project before buying the device. Haha.

Main problem since I began my project is only on creating the marker. Since I solved it not as perfect as I imagined, at least I can solve other problems. I finished my core function in this prototype. Now, I am still doing the documentation and the video.

I started my project. The main focus of this project is about catching the virtual object using the physical object. So, this week I start by creating the AR. I followed the tutorial by [1]. I made two markers as I plan in the concept. I tried to make the marker as simple as possible. I wanted to make the project that is projected on top of the marker can be seen clearly. I uploaded the marker to Vuforia, and I got no star for those markers. It was not good enough to be recognized. Because of that, I changed the design.

The problem I got is the ink printer run out. For testing the project, I put the marker on other screens, one on another laptop and the other one for the capturer, I put it on the smartphone. The problem fixed. I can display something from the markers. And I tried to overlap two markers, and it still worked. Yay.

The next thing I tried is how to capture the virtual object. I had no idea about it. I was confused with the keyword for the tutorial. So, I asked the tutor. The keyword I got is measuring the range between marker and camera. I searched the tutorial for that. Luckily for me, I found the tutorial about moving the AR object in real-time: [2] and [3]. I was inspired by [4]. Following the tutorial, I am still figuring it out to solve my problem in the project. And I plan to change the concept design for the capturer.

[1] Playful Technology. “How to create an Augmented Reality App,” YouTube, Feb. 10, 2018 [Video File]. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtiUx_szKbI. [Accessed: Apr. 26, 2020]

[2] 3dJeebs. “Moving an Augmented Reality Object in Real time: Unity3D and Vuforia,” YouTube, Jun. 3, 2016 [Video File]. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_fv1MNa130. [Accessed: Apr. 30, 2020]

[3] 3dJeebs. “Creating a Control Device for Augmented Reality in Unity,” YouTube, May. 27, 2016 [Video File]. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yft9xDgzUw. [Accessed: Apr. 26, 2020]

[4] B. Alexander. “Augmented Reality Demo,” YouTube, Feb. 9, 2008 [Video File]. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2gqshFr4AI. [Accessed: Apr. 26, 2020]

This week, I made the concrete idea to be applied. The last journal, I made it a single-player game, but now, I made it into two players game. I was thinking about the capturer. I thought about using the dynamic capturer by using Arduino to change it. But now, I decided to create the static capturer that has two sides of the marker. So, players need to flip it to apply different function, zoom and capture.

For this idea, I need a board with a simple marker in the corner of the board. The camera will capture the marker then display the game into the board from the projector. When the player put the capturer on top of the board, the camera will read a new marker. Then the projector will do the task based on that. I watched the tutorial about the AR game, but I didn’t see about overlap marker tutorial yet. I will see it as a problem in the future. So I will consider the change of the system in the future.

The ideal final product is shown in the image below. Each player has their area of question and score. Also, they hold their capturer. And in the middle, there is an area to display words of code. I had future imagination about this too. In my mind, the words from the centre area should float in the air—something like a hologram. So, the player can capture the word using the capturer like capture a butterfly.

My idea is fixed now, so next week is time to create it into reality using the tutorial I gathered before.

Week 6 – Proposal and Before the Break

This week, we try Miro. In that application, we did the method for discovery. In this pandemic situation, it is hard to do the work field tasks, something like observation. But there is a lot of other methods, even for interview things. For observation alternatives, I found three things that can be done: Photo/Video/Voice Elicitation, using the wearable camera, re-enactment video. I can do that to my project testing. But the issue that is in my mind is how to bring the prototype to the testing participants. So, I plan to do the testing to my roommates or someone in the same building with me and keep social distancing.

The other thing we do with Miro is mind mapping for the project with team members. I found that mind mapping is easier to use to find the idea for the project, as all of us think about what we need to extend. And what else we can add in the specific branch, like the target audience and the form. My friends gave the idea about the robot and book, and I can add mine: projected AR game.

My idea for the project is about AR game without a screen to teach programming to the users. And I will create the fill the blank game by capturing the words with the capturer. The enemy for this game is the computer virus that likes to eat the words. As I don’t know how to create it, this idea may change during the semester.

Plan for the break week: keep sane by doing fun activities inside the house. Happy Easter holiday.

This week, we do the report back as we finish our presentation and got feedback from last week. In here, our idea is getting more confusing. We want to teach the users about programming. But because one of our feedback is about the gap between learning coding and real programming. It is fun to play the coding play. It is easy because it uses simple language. But, the problem is when they want to apply in in programming language, they don’t know what to do.

So, I reminded that I taught programming before. Before students learn about the programming language, they need to learn about the algorithm. There are so many kinds of the algorithm. One of them is called Pseudocode. Pseudocode is algorithm with the same style as the real programming language, but using English so it can be understood by anyone, even for someone who never learn to program.

Usually, pseudocode is made only as an initial sketch before going to the programming language, so students cannot see what are they doing. It always made in a piece of paper. So, I am thinking to make this as our team idea. So, I brought it to the team meeting.

Our team has two sides. There are two opinions: Teach basic common programming or even robot programming. I didn’t know the concept of robot and programming at all. I prefer to do something that I know first before I teach someone else. About creating the idea into the product, we always have many ways to make it.

So, I decided to focus on my idea, teach the basic programming. For now, I am thinking to create something similar to my first individual inspiration, using something similar to AR, but without the screen. But, there still no fixed concept until now.

Because of Corona, the course model has changed. And the lecture week goes back one week. And Zoom everywhere and every day. Week 4 is presentation week. My group's schedule is on Tuesday in the second session.

My group was preparing for our presentation on pause week. We divided the tasks to prepare slides to be presented, then record our voices to be later made into one video. I got the Inspirations, Purpose and Target Audience sections. Because I knew very well for these parts, one problem that arises at this stage is the division of tasks that are forgotten to be written clearly on the document, so the works were done based on "as I recall".

On the day of the presentation, I saw several presentations from other groups. I concluded that many groups did not consider the target audience very well. Some groups state that their ideas are for everyone, all children, or all the others. Designing for children is different from creating something for adults. For children, there are individual restrictions. Children's toys sold in stores always include an age match for these toys with consideration of safety, importance and comfort. For this reason, in World Café activities, the target audience is discussed and should be taken seriously.

Bee Bear Lions get feedback and critique for our presentation. The point that concerns me is "whether our ideas can teach programming to children". Because based on the tutor's explanation, even though children learn coding with the game, when they are confronted with the actual programming language, they will not be able to solve it. This issue is still a matter of debate and consideration in our group.

This week is the group formation week for the project to be worked on until the end of this semester. The group is determined by Lorna and other tutors based on several selections. The first selection is to fill in the form provided. The exciting thing I found there was a question about 'Spiritual Animal'. I don't think I will find someone who chose the same animal as I want. But I saw him for sure in my group.

The next activity for group formation is to do a World Café on Tuesday. I did this activity in the Computing Studio 1 last semester. The problem that often arises first is the loss of hosts from several tables. In this course, in the rounds before the break, everything was safe. But after returning from break time, some hosts disappeared. Several tables I visited, one table did not have a host, so everyone on the table had to read the notes on the paper on the table. In general, this activity helped me to get new inspiration. Each person must have a different idea that will not be heard if not in the same table with them.

After World Café is finished, we gave three votes to the theme we like. The day before this activity, I was interested in Creative Learning. But I don't know what I want for the second and third choices. After World Café, I decided to choose Altered Landscape and Change Through Reward as other options. In my opinion, all these choices can be used as one project in common.

The next day is the announcement of the specified list group. Before that, we made a video call with Bash Isai, UQ alumni. The exciting thing that I got at the talk was to keep thinking positive—and not easily entangled in one place. If the workplace that we go to does not provide what we need, you should leave the area. Each person has their unique characteristics.

After Bash is finished, the group list is announced. I got a group with Bowen Jiang, Wentai Ouyang, and Sulaiman Ma. It was a great relief because we had all been on the same team. Hopefully, this team can work together very well!

The theme we get is Creative Learning. To determine the project idea that we will work on, we ask the question "what do you want to teach" to each group member. Programming, Music, Electronic, and even cooking appear as our consideration.

On Friday, we had our first meeting. Before this activity, we looked for some inspiration. I looked at ideas on Kickstarter. There I found chess in physical form. The opponent's chess piece can move on its own. I think this is good to be combined with learning programming with the concept of fighting. And some other ideas that I found based on mobile games that I have ever played.

The results of the first meeting, we decided to teach programming with the concept of the racing game using characters shaped like chess pieces. The inspirations are "Square Off Neo & SWAP" and "7 Billion Humans". To make it enjoyable, we added challenges like a maze, but simpler ones like trees, houses, or other objects placed on the same board. And even at this meeting, we found the name of our group, namely BEE BEAR LIONS, based on the spiritual animals we chose.

After seeing the inspirational presentations from classmates, I concluded that in general, the ideas they put forward were related to everything that was "smart". And the second most is related to mental health which in my opinion lacks understanding of the problems taken, so some ideas will actually make users tortured.

I have seen feedback on the ideas I put forward and I appreciate the additional suggestions that will be very helpful for improvising these ideas. These blocks are limited to one side only as a marker so it is not complex, which can then be developed into all sides to be more interactive. And some suggestions related to puzzles remind me to add them as a challenge. An interesting game has a competition so users can get better and better. Therefore there is a need for the high score. I found this in one of the feedbacks. Nice advice.

So, I am interested in something related to learning and games. I hope I can find a group that has the same interests to do the adventure in that area.

Soldering Tutorial

I have no experience at all with this, so I have been confusion in making my LED light up. I focus on making the lights turn on, without realizing that the lights cannot be turned off because the melted wire is connected to the entire circuit. I fixed it and I was having fun to learn something new.

The more rapid development of technology, the development of children to use it also increases simultaneously. Children become addicted to smartphones and tablet devices to play, not to learn. And that makes parents worried. Some developers develop educational games to insert education while children play. Educational games are built on media with screens (smartphones, tablets, computers) and increase to Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality.

A large company, LEGO, followed this development. Although they make plastic bricks, recently they made AR support their products. Users can see animations or other forms of shapes they build using bricks. This idea is the main inspiration for Sky Reacher. It will integrate Bricks and AR into one product, not separate products.

However, in Sky Reacher, the form used is not bricks, but blocks. Blocks have basic shapes that are usually played by pre-school children. The advantage of this game is that it teaches problem-solving and imaginative. This game can be played alone or by the group.

The main feature of Sky Reacher is an animated game that can be seen directly on blocks without using a smartphone. So children can enjoy the game instantly without holding their device. The goal is made to motivate them to build the highest blocks possible. And challenges are inserted in a random time count on random blocks as well like the game in general, which has goals and challenges.

The process that occurs starts with the reading of markers on the blocks, then emits visual animation and games on the same block. Each block added, the visual will change. The essence of this product is a game that uses no screen at all but still has dynamic visuals.

See this:

• Genc, Z. (2014). Parents’ Perceptions about the Mobile Technology Use of Preschool Aged Children. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 146(C), 55-60. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.08.086
• Koralek, D. (2015). Ten Things Children Learn From Block Play. https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/mar2015/ten-things-children-learn-block-play
• License Global. (2018). LEGO Brings its Bricks to Life with AR App. https://www.licenseglobal.com/toys-games/lego-brings-its-bricks-life-ar-app

Intro

Hi! My name is Liony, the student who wants to learn something new almost every time. And I like to challenge myself to do something more than I think I can do.

For this semester, I hope I can create something that can be playful but also useful. Hope I can create that with joyful team-mates.

Activities in Class

I do a lot of things in the class during week 1. In day 1, the first thing we do was making clear what kind of, course, is this. Each table answers the questions then write it down on the whiteboard/paper. There's a lot of rumours and concerns/fears that made me worry about myself in the future. Let's wish the best for all of us. :)

After that, we analyze the examples of Physical. I conclude the characters from them, such as Physical, things what users really need (pro and con digital), users familiar with the device, people don't take it seriously for some examples (e.g piano stairs), and finally it is helpful/useful. And I found there were so many other examples in @hardwareux Instagram. Not all examples fit for specific people.

On the second day, we discussed about HCI Grand Challenge. I got into Security and Privacy Group. In here, I realised that the problem is not about how to make a good or safe product, but how easily people give their data only for an interesting offer.

On the same day, the activities that I like the most is playing cards to find the ideas. Using different words and change it many times will help us think more and variated.