I didn't take any photo of the exhibit!!!

We set up the living room for the exhibit. We used two computer screens(one to control Unity, on for live stream on Discord), two mobile phones(one work as the webcam, one for the connected accelerometer to Unity), and two iPads(one for Discord, one for show the simulate pictures.) to support the prototype.

audience

We have invited our friends to the exhibit. They have given some feedback to us, including the concept and the prototype.

• We haven't think about the people who live alone

Two concepts of our team are all encouraging all the family members to join in the housework. So for the people who live alone, they cannot use our prototype.

• AR experience

Our audience has questioned about the AR view. We need to explain so that they can understand the prototype.

• Poster
• difficuly of the game
• conntection between the game and housework

off topic

• other teams
• get more audience
• online exhibit - audience

It's quite awkward to talk to audience online. We want to communicate with them, but they always keep silent. So I don't know if I should carry on. Or should I wait for the response?

Not like the normal exhibit, each of the team members can explain the concept to several people. In the online exhibit, we have to explain at the same time. So when we explained to the first audience halfway through and the second audience came in, we don't know whether we should continue or explain the former things again.

Most of the focus is on building the website. And I also made some changes in Unity.

Unity

This is the final week. These are the final try on the Unity.

Accelerometer

The accelerometer in the mobile phone is used to detect the movement of the mop. I install the phone on the mop.

I used paper to build simple support. Not quite beautiful, but useful.

Scene change

The scene change is based on the function SceneManager.LoadScene("sceneName").

Countdown

I also use a countdown before the ball is served. The number is put on the plane. I used the Invoke function to control the time of the countdown.

Portfolio

I still use the design of my personal website. Check this link https://phthisic.github.io/

The difference is I changed the navigation list. To build the website for DECO7385. I used a home page to briefly introduce the project and myself.

Content

On the concept page, I used a video to demonstrate the process of playing. To ensure fluency when viewing the webpage. I insert the videos inside the text. Each video is less than 1 minute expect the concept video.

The page is quite long, and many images and videos have been put into it. Therefore, inside each section, I used a sub-navigation for the audience to view the content.

Code

Actually, all of the content is based on the index page. I separate different content into several sections and use the display property to control them.

The fadeIn is used to control the animation when show the webpage. So it would not be too unexpected.

The section that is showing on the current page has a white background in the navigation bar. This is also controlled by the JS. The key function is the addClass and removeClass. Siblings function is used to focus on other sections that haven't shown.

Prototype

The prototype now mainly contains three parts.

Scene building

The game scene is simple but when I try to add the bounciness to the objects, something went wrong. As I want to make sure the movements of the ball and racket are different, I give different materials to the objects.(The image is the sketch when I want to figure out the bounciness between different objects.) But this with the friction, the ball did not move as in the real world.

Now, by detecting the collision between rigid bodies, I add force to the ball to make sure it can move. And, because sometimes the ball would stuck in the middle, I give another function of "shaking the table" to make sure the ball would move again.

physical interaction

As the foundation of the game is Pong, I still need to use the process of bouncing the ball. I remain the racket and the ball but change the control mode as mentioned in the concept part. I have tried to use Arduino. While it works fine separately, the movement of the racket slows down when link Arduino to the Unity.

I used an Ultrasonic sensor to detect the distance. While unity gets the data per 0.1 second, I can convert the distance data to speed.

I have tried to use the FixUpdate function instead of Update function as it is a simulation of the real world's physical movement. But it was still not what I want it to be.

Unity has been slowed down.

The next thing I tried is the accelerometer. The tutor mentioned this in the last few weeks but we didn't change the control mode at that time. So the accelerometer did not work fine. However, now, we only need to detect when the mop is moved quickly. As the mobile is installed on the mop, it is quite like shake the mobile. The accelerometer works fine here.

One thing that is really convenient is that I can download the unity app "Unity Remote 5" to my mobile and link my mobile to the PC by a USB wire. Then the computer can read all the data that provide by mobile phone's hardware, including the accelerometer.

Still, it needs to convert the data from distance to speed. But it doesn't need an accurate number. I compare the result to 0.5 to determine whether it moves slowly or quickly.

Core code:

Monster

Yifan has worked on this part. He needs to make sure that every bounce on the monster would change its appearance a little bit.

https://deco3850.uqcloud.net/blogs/week12-5ed4ca2778bc8

Process of Design Concept and Building Prototype

Projector

The first thing I did is to try the mobile phone projector. It turns out that it can only work in really really dark environment. I think it’s because the light from the screen of the mobile is not bright enough. We used the box to block the light and a magnifying glass is used as the key component. Putting a mobile phone upside down into the box, the video is projected on the wall. But the image below is the best quality we can get. So, obviously, we cannot use this to build the prototype.

Interaction

As the game is designed to enhance the housework, I redesign the interaction and want to make it more helpful. We decided to not be too ambitious and for this prototype it would be better if we can focus on one specific housework. We spent one day for observation. What action has been frequently appearing in the process of cleaning the floor? We noticed that when meeting the dirty spot on the floor, a common action is moving the mop back and forth. The same situation happened when using the vacuum, but it is a little bit different as the speed is slower.

Thus, in order to combine the action, the interaction now is designed as when the user moving the mob really quickly, the racket would move to left. And when they slow down, the racket would move to the right.

Arduino

Then, I begin to think is it possible to combine Arduino with Vuforia. Arduino is used to gathering the input and Vuforia is used to show the output. In the previous prototype, we found that the computer requires some time to recognize the target image and the physical components did not work well in Arduino. So, my idea for the prototype now is to use the distance sensor.

Buy sensor the distance, the speed can be calculated. Now the idea is to check if the distance changes quickly and moves back and forth, it would be identified as the user is mopping the floor really hard.

Problems

We now have some problems

• Where should the sensors be put?

If the sensor is put on the mop, it would be much easier and only two sensors are needed (or one, cause most of the action is moving forward and back). But this requires a wifi module and the furniture and other things could influence the result. If I put the sensors near the wall, it would be easier to identify the distance, but the result can be influenced by users’ foot.

• How these two parts combine?

I am now in this step. It would be fine to let the computer read the data, but I still need to figure out how the AR thing would use the data. If we use the Arduino, either we use wifi to link it to the mobile, or we need to put the laptop and Arduino near the wall and use one mobile as the webcam and another one as the screen. And the android did not support the plane ground which means wifi might not work here.

• The achievement system

We now have some argument about the achievement system. While I think it would disturb the housework, Yifan thinks it would enhance the interaction. We still need some time to discuss this.

Teenager's motivation

As my focus is on the teenager’s motivation, I also did some research about this.

• Music

With the rhythm of the music, cleaning can be fun, and this is consistent with the result of the questionnaire. And music can provide a work pace that teenagers would encourage to continue with the housework

• Appearance of the ball

By using the different appearances of the ball, motive teenagers to always thinking about what would be next. The ball can be changed when they reach some achievement like having cleaned three times or more than four hours.

• Competition & essential role

This is consistent with the PVP and PVE mode before, so we would continue doing these two modes.

Reflection of the prototype:

Having read the comments of my video, there are many things that is helpful.

communication

Well, first of all, I'm really glad that my communication with the video has been praised by other classmates. I actually was concerned about it as I have put a lot of things into the video. Turns out, it works well. But having watched others' videos, I think I still need to focus on some of the size and sharpness of the images.

concept

My audiences have raised the question about the concept. The original aim is to help the housework, but we might put too much effort into the game itself rather than thinking of whether it is helpful. With two modes and a collection system, I think the game might be too complicated and could influence the housework itself. As the main aim is to improve the experience of doing housework, it might be better to focus on the housework again. I might go deeper with the PVP and PVE mode. As said by another team, finding out what the teenagers really like would be helpful.

Moreover, I have not thought about the mis-scan during the housework, so, thanks for pointing that out. But now, as I would focus more on simplifying the game, I would not pay too much attention to the collection system.

technique

I have been working with Vuforia for several weeks. From the experience and tutorial on the website so far, it is really hard to use it to make a dynamic game. So, I'm concerned about the final experience. The collapse of the AR objects is hard to simulate by using image target and when using the plane ground, it would require a long time to react on the screen. What’s more, the ball always goes through the racket because the computer needs some time to calculate. Thus, I have to control the speed of the ball to make sure there is enough time for calculating. And as the speed of the ball would not be too quick, the possibility of damaging would also be decreased.

The tutor has advised using Accelerometer. Having watched the tutorial, I think it might require too much movement on the human body, which I'm concerned would influence the housework. Thus, I would put it as a third choice.

From other teams concept

From the other's video, I have learned something about communication. First of all, it is interesting to make the video interesting. While now we are compelled to watch the video carefully, The video would not be paid attention to of the investors in the future if it is not attractive enough. I really interested in the fourth video of CDI because of the beginning. The second video of CDI gives a timeline of the whole video which is also helpful. However, some of the videos have using stationary images for a long time, and it is easy for me to lose some of the content.

My next plan

Considering the final submission would be in week 14, I plan to end all the work at the end of week 13. And I shall reserve a week's time for building and writing the portfolio.

prototype

There are two weeks for the prototype.

• one week to try the projector

Actually, I still want to try the projector. Having to rethink the control mode, I would use a function that can help the housework. So, now I'm planning to detect the speed to control the racket. I need to use rather a speed sensor or a distance sensor.

• one week to adjust it if successful

if the projector works well, I would definitely go with this, but need to think about the monster and the connection between players. I mean, the data transform.

• one week to adjust the Virtual button if not successful

If the projector does not work, I would still work on the ar. But, because of the weakness of the physical collapse, I would prefer to use virtual buttons to control the rackets. The game would require less movement if I use this. The place that shows the virtual buttons could be space that is still dirty.

portfolio

last week is for the portfolio. I have made the portfolio last semester for DECO7180. While it focuses more on the web building, I would use the frame of it and change the content. The work would be more on writing.

User Research

Has done, can be seen on Miro. So, I won't talk about it here. https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_kuQ3Bs0=/

Unity

This week I have made some progress

device

We have an Android device now. Great.

With the device, I have met some problems.

• "The device cannot meet the hardware requirement." The screen kept pink and does not show the camera view. -> Change the Color Space to Gamma and select auto color.
• Cannot export the apk. -> When installing the Unity, remember to also select the two options inside the android support. (It's hidden, and it is not selected by default)
• DroidCam can be used to change the device into a webcam.
• The computer kept crashing down, so I did not save much of the screenshot. (Q_Q)

Unity & Vuforia

At first, I build a simple ball game. Three cubes are used to limited the ball. The ball has an initial force AddForce( new Vector3(30, 0, 20)). Cancel the influence of gravity and friction. (But the speed still keeps falling. ???) Using -> <- to control the racket. (Remember to limit the position of the racket)

Then I move it to the AR environment. It works fine and it is simply by changing the camera and add an image target.

At last, I tried to having the physical things to replace the racket, to interact with the ball. But failed. It did not work fine. Now, I'm turning to let the virtual button control the racket. But the simulation of the keyboard did not work fine, still need some time to fix it.

We still cannot have 3D objects(The scanner app can only be run on Android 5 or newer version). So, I decided to make some simple drawings, stick them on the things we need and let the camera detected the pictures.

problems need to be solved:

• physical items' interaction
• Initial position of the racket
• The ball would go through the cube if the speed is high
• The ball begin to move when the game begin. But I want it to begin to move when the camera detects the image.

PROJECT IN PROGRESS

In this week, I have finished gathering user data and learn something about vuforia.

User Research

Questionnaire

We are still waiting for more people to answer the questionnaire. However, most of the participants are around 20-30 years old, which I think would influence the final data.

link: https://forms.gle/vcifsSmVGLHDvMUC8

Probe

The data has been recorded for two weeks long. There are two participants.

Interview

6 people have been interviewed including a four people family and a couple. We are still working on the data, and some changes have been made.(detail can be seen in Miro)

Changes

• The kitchen part has been canceled.
• More sound would be added to it.
• A reward system would be added to it.

Unity

This week, I begin to work with unity. Following the tutorial, I have success using the vuforia to detect an image and show some changes over it.

I have tried to create a 3d sphere in the scene and another cube(the racket) with the target image. The interaction is wired cause I cannot control the position very well. And If I want to have two physical parts under the target image to interact with each other. They did not work very well.

Also, we have some issues with the device thing. IOS with Mac, Android with Windows. We only have windows and iOS.

My plan for next week with Unity:

• Building the ball game without Vuforia. Using <- -> to control the racket
• Put the game into AR environment. Still using <- ->
• Using physical thing to control the racket

Hardware

The projector has become an AR mobile view. because the projector requires a very dark environment. So, considering the real situation that people cannot hold a phone while doing housework, I bought the google cardboard. Still shipping, needs some time to get it. But it's not a serious problem.

My plan for the prototype:

Ar part through the unity

building the interface of achievement and items system by XD

Add sound to it

Observation & Methods for Discovery

Breaking Down the Project

Report

In the last minutes of the studio, our group talked about the report. To make sure the progress, we reached some agreement during this section including narrow down the target audiences and divide the work into individuals.

Arduino startup

This is not the first time for me to use Arduino. And the workshop starts with a simple example of using LED light. So, instead of following the tutor, I decided to warm up my mind by reviewing the components I used last semester.

Potentiometer and photocell

Projector

But I also look at some of the tutorials for the projector. I would take some notes on the websites and videos here. I think in most of the tutorials, the environment is quite dark. So for our project, it might be not suitable to use it. We want a brighter environment. In the projector, we need magnifier glasses so we plan to buy the glasses next week. (Hope we can find some in the stores)

Vuforia

https://library.vuforia.com/articles/Training/getting-started-with-vuforia-in-unity.html

Vuforia seems quite easy through this video. I have followed this video to build the game scene. The main function is to scan an image and some 3D objects would show. There is no code needed but I'm worried about the physical game building. Cause in the game, the racket has to move around, which means the target image would also move. So there might not be enough time to recognize the image. Also, I haven't figure out how the mobile phone could detect the movement.

Questionnire

I made the questionnaire and ask my friends to fill the form, but there is something that I am concerned about. As most of my friends are around 20 years old, the sample group is actually not what we want. It can reflect on the demand of young people but as our target audience also include people who are older. I am afraid that the result cannot tell us what older people are thinking. So, I decided to make a Chinese version, but due to the network, it's hard for people in Chinese to access google doc. And now, I do not know how to access the people in Australia who are around 30 or 40 years old. So, right now, I am facing some difficulty. Trying to work it out with my teammates.

Content of Questionnaire

I have divided the form into five short parts. The form can be completed in two minutes. The parts include:

• some basically information about housework
• How often do you do this housework?
• How much do you like this housework?
• Game preference
• Housework and game

Most of the questions are yes/no question or linear quantization problem so would not take a long time to finish.

Interview

The interview questions include two parts: housework information, entertainment.

For the first part, I have prepared some questions:

• Who are you living with?
• What's the situation do you think "It's time to do housework"
• Are there any specific chores that you really like or hate and why?
• How will you emotion change during the housework?
• Can you remember something interesting that happened during the housework you have done?

For the second part, I have prepared some questions:

• What would you do for entertainment with your family members?
• Have you ever doing something fun to fill in the boring time?
• Would you focus on the housework only? or would you do something else in the meanwhile? What's that thing and why would you do it?

Other questions would be added according to the answers given by participants.

My plan is to finish the interview in 30 minutes, and I really want to interview a family rather than an individual. But I'm still looking for participants.

Determine the form of cooperation

The most important thing in the Tuesday section is to decide which option to take.

Some elements have been taken into concerned.

• the innovation space in the university is also not accessible anymore.

This means we need to be more cautious with our ideas and try to avoid the resource that we are not able to have.

• Due to the policy, it’s impossible for us to sit and work together.

Thus, we need to figure out what can we do to reduce the amount of team cooperation. Fortunately, my roommate Yifan also has this course and we are in the same group, which means, at least we can complete something together.

Basically, I and Yifan would work together, and because there are only three team members right now, so we talked with Gloria. She could join us but the barrier would be the method of cooperation. Some physical items would be hard to share. And we also worry about the coding part. Will it be difficult for us to work on the same file? Another option is to work on another project which is related to the domain. As her original idea is different from ours, it could be a chance for her to do something she would like to do.

We also asked for advice from Lorna. At last, she chose to work with us, and she would focus on developing the idea further based on our project. I have to admit that I am worried about the coding part and the cost of our project might be higher because we need to use two sets of equipment. Well, this is a special period, I have to accept all the possibilities.

Division of labor

The second step is to decide the division of labor. I created the google doc as usual. We decided to look into the problem space by looking through the academic paper and in the meanwhile, we would conduct some user research based on the problem. The users' research includes a questionnaire and online interviews. We also need to explore some examples and existed projects which are related to our problem space. So, Gloria and Yifan would do more about academic research. I would be responsible for the user research and example exploration.

We would share the result in the google doc and begin to write the report on Monday.

P.S. I really wish the google doc could provide the function of the Gantt chart.

Starting

It's time to start the research. And it comes to the individual work.

I have given feedback to most of the presentations. It would be too long-winded to list them in the journal, so I prefer to talk about something I was interested in and some feelings during the presentation.

Concepts related to video game

Having watched all the presentations, there are some ideas I think it’s really interesting. As I’m a video game lover, I have paid more attention to the concept of games. However, when I see those concepts, I always find it is similar to something I have known. Well, I have to admit that you can always see Nintendo from the gesture controller. So, as Nintendo has done so well in this area, can the controllers break the restrict of gestures or is it possible to be used in another area instead of just games.

Another concept’s a robot to “help” people make decisions. In another course, I have thought about using games to help people diagnose the mental disease as people can make decisions that they most want and do not have to think about the real limitations. The aim of this concept is very different and the form reminded me of the game “The Stanley Parable” Also, the aim is to think about the relation between people and technology.

There is another game for blind people. I really like this concept. Because looking through all the concepts, this might be the only one that specially designed for the disabled.

What’s new in this course

At first, I thought this course is a bit like design thinking. But now, I think the difference is that I need to consider the practice for the project. I can see that most of the concepts are designing for a certain problem and a certain group of people. Not only the interaction but they also consider whether people would accept it, is it safe enough, will it interrupt others and many other features.

Online presentation

It’s not the first time for me to have a meeting through zoom. But because of the hardware equipment, I have lost the chance to get more feedback after our team’s presentation which it’s quite disappointing. So, next time, I would make sure at least my microphone would work. Another thing it’s that without seeing people’s mouth, it becomes hard for me to understand others. Good chance to practice listening. ==

I have given feedback to most of the presentations. It would be too long-winded to list them in the journal, so I prefer to talk about something I was interested in and some feelings during the presentation.

Concepts related to video game

Having watched all the presentations, there are some ideas I think it’s really interesting. As I’m a video game lover, I have paid more attention to the concept of games. However, when I see those concepts, I always find it is similar to something I have known. Well, I have to admit that you can always see Nintendo from the gesture controller. So, as Nintendo has done so well in this area, can the controllers break the restrict of gestures or is it possible to be used in another area instead of just games.

Another concept’s a robot to “help” people make decisions. In another course, I have thought about using games to help people diagnose the mental disease as people can make decisions that they most want and do not have to think about the real limitations. The aim of this concept is very different and the form reminded me of the game “The Stanley Parable” Also, the aim is to think about the relation between people and technology.

There is another game for blind people. I really like this concept. Because looking through all the concepts, this might be the only one that specially designed for the disabled.

What’s new in this course

At first, I thought this course is a bit like design thinking. But now, I think the difference is that I need to consider the practice for the project. I can see that most of the concepts are designing for a certain problem and a certain group of people. Not only the interaction but they also consider whether people would accept it, is it safe enough, will it interrupt others and many other features.

Online presentation

It’s not the first time for me to have a meeting through zoom. But because of the hardware equipment, I have lost the chance to get more feedback after our team’s presentation which it’s quite disappointing. So, next time, I would make sure at least my microphone would work. Another thing it’s that without seeing people’s mouth, it becomes hard for me to understand others. Good chance to practice listening. ==

Feedbacks

After the presentation, it’s glad to see the reflections we have got. We have reviewed the feedback and I organized them. Basically, there are five perspectives that I think it’s really useful.

Safety

Through the feedbacks, the loudest sound is about safety. As we have done a body storm about how this concept could interact while cooking, people are considering whether waving the knife would become a dangerous action. We have to admit this possibility and think about solutions. There are three questions need to be discussed.

• Is it suitable to join in the game while cooking?
• If yes, how can the game change guarantee safety?
• If no, will the person who is cooking feels isolated?

Right now, we still want to keep the kitchen part and have raised some solutions.

Using the feature of cooking. While people need to bounce the ball before, now the ball would fly to the thing that is chopped or cooked. People need to chop it three times or hold it on the spatula for 15 seconds, then the ball would go to the next person.

Change the form of the game. Actually, the kitchen is always a dangerous place. So, the ball would no longer show up in the kitchen. Instead of that, the ball would stay around the kitchen in a “no power” status and a family member need to remind the “chef” to press a button to trigger the ball again.

Whether these ideas would work is still need to be tested. And in the next week, we are planning to get some feedback through these ideas.

Sound

People have suggested adding some sounds to the concept. It could be one choice. But for the initial idea, the reason why we did not add to the sound it’s because, on the one hand, some people might like to listen to some music while doing housework, on the other hand, the sound might interrupt people’s communication. This is what we do not want to see.

So, yes, we would consider trying to add the sound. It can be a reminder to tell people the ball it’s coming. It can be a celebration when people have bounced the ball several times. It also can be a note to tell people where it’s the ball right now.

Young people involved

While most people agreed that the game could motivate young people to join in the housework, they are looking for the detail that how they can be motivated.

More interaction

We have already noticed that there are plenty of details we have not thought of. So, in the video, we also ask for advice. So, for more interaction, we are thinking about these possibilities:

• To begin the game, family members are required to “have five”. The problem is how can the game sensor the action. Or it would be easier to trigger the game by saying a sentence together.
• When someone fails to catch the ball, there would be a sound to indicate it and this person needs to hug one of the family members to restart the game.
• When people are done the cleaning, they need to put the tools to the right place to quit the game.
• A board would be added to the game, where people can see their grades during the game.

Practicality

Some people talked about the real situation. As this is still housework and there are things need to be clean. How can this game promote people to do better cleaning? We think this advice it’s really useful as we have not thought about this before. It is easy to have a ball showing up where the table/ floor is dirty. But what about washing clothes and cooking, how can the game be connected to the housework? We now have not thought about solutions and this topic is reminded to next week.

Team change

As the course has changed a lot, one of our team members decided to drop the course. So, there are only three people left. We are concerning how much would be influenced because of the change and what we should do if some of the work cannot be completed because of the lack of people.

Hope this would not have much impact on the project.

What to do next

• Get feedbacks for the new ideas.
• Discuss the possibilities of interaction
• Discuss the way to make the concept
• Get ideas on how the game can be connected to the housework

Because of the one week break, all the study activities have been pulled off. This week, people became anxious as we don’t know what would this course be like and our team could change a lot after the break. But in the meanwhile, this break provides time for us to consider the theme.

Project discussion

First of all, via communication through Facebook, we decided to come up with ideas individually first and then together, discuss the ideas and set down to one of them.

Based on what we have discussed in the class, I made something new

House pong game

This idea is developed on the interactive floor. Doing housework is boring and we want this activity could become a connection between the family members. So I think, why not make it a cooperation game. Because it is a game, it can be playful and attractive, encouraging all the family members to join in the housework. The virtual ball would come from one person to another, they can communicate through the game.

Pigeon

This idea is developed on the monster mailbox. I thought sending and receiving messages in the office could be boring. Combine with my working experience, the fact is that it is hard for me to keep sitting as I need to get or send some things to other people. So I came up with this idea. Pigeon can send messages and items, also can get them back when needed.

Timetable cube

Still in the office, as every week, every day, there are many meetings and other schedules, I came up with the idea to make a timetable cube wall. The cubes are placed on the wall. Each color represents for on place or room when people select a color and press the cube, the cube would recognize the fingerprint and put this person’s photo on the cube with the background color as selected. So the wall would be like a place where people can see all the people's timetables. The wall would be connected to computers and photos, so people can edit it through these devices.

Discusstion

After the discussion, our team members have some suggestions on the ideas.

For the pigeons, it might decrease the working effectiveness an it is hard to control the amount and how it can be used in the office so people might not accept it.

The timetable is more visualized but not interesting enough. Because of the time and place are fixed, it is hard for people to play with the wall. So it becomes an enlarged timetable and not playful enough. It did not change the fact that office is mundane.

We hesitated between steamer and pong game after the discussion and asked advice from Lorna. Finally, settle down to the house pong game.

Prepare for the presentation

Not like before that each person would responsible for one part of the content, this time we decided to separate the work to video, audio, sketch and edit. I am response to the audio part. To make sure that we are working on the same content, on the one hand, we need to communicate frequently on Facebook, on the other hand, I decided to use a doc to communicate the working detail. So our team members can search for what they need to do.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dEUoKnp5DWaSzl5QfDLAPMVsqkumpLDlw8IKw1ltIik/edit?usp=sharing

New Group

The group has been formed today. Happily, I can still work with the people I am familiar with. With our new team member, we did some warm-up conversation.

Then we made our team agreement. We reached the agreement that when we have different opinions, we would vote for the idea. But there three team members(including me) have worked together for a whole year. I am afraid that the new team member might not used to the way we work. It's always good to welcome new thinking, but still, I think we would have many disagreements in the future.

Our idea

boring space

We have thought about many boring spaces in our life including the workplace, home, and public space. Not only the physical spaces, but we also think about the activities that could be boring.

Some ideas have been generated in the class.

Mailbox

A cute mailbox that can swallow your mail. And threw the mail up when you receive one. It can also identify people, so it would make some noise when you pass by and there is a mail waiting for you.

For this project, I was concerned about the rubbish mail. I live in an apartment with two roommates last year. Each month, we would receive a lot of rubbish mail but we never checked our mailbox until someone buy something on the internet. So, people might not want to be disturbed every time they have got mail. What's more, most of the important mail has been sent through the internet. Thus, is it necessary to have something for the mailbox?

Interactive Floor

The cleaning floor would be boring, so we are thinking about making the floor interesting. Such as giving some interaction when finish clean up a part of the floor. The idea is good but I was thinking about whether the idea of modifying the floor would be too common. And we still need to expand on the idea to make it more interactive. Considering the action always happens at home, maybe we can think about all the family members.

Reminder bag

This idea is about a screen on the bag to remind people of things. But I was thinking that the time people would look at the bag. It's only when you put on it. So what about the other time when people put on their bags. They cannot see the bag, but can it do something with the strangers on the street. This would also contribute to the interaction as only a screen would lack interaction.

Washing hands

To encourage washing hands, we are thinking to make the water interesting. Give the water some special Effects both when washing and after washing. But this idea would be super hard to complete.

Chopping Game

The last one is a chopping game that people can play when chopping vegetables. This could be unsafe but still can be interesting. The movement of chopping can be related to hitting the monsters.

Because of the time limitation, we decided to discuss more after the class by Facebook group channel

World café activity

Start with "altered landscape", I discussed several themes with other people this week.

Enhanced Mundane Space

In the discussion of this theme, we talked about the mundane spaces and what can be changed to make them interesting. The common answer would be office, housework or homework, but we thought about some unusual things like playing instruments(children practice instruments).

I also thought about the mundane things in our life, things that always appear and we are getting bored with. I remember when I move to a new place, my mom would never forget to do something with the light switch, Either by using stickers or hide it inside a picture. So, what if I can make the switch playful. I remember when I play Minecraft, I always use Redstone to link lights in my house. So what if I link all the light in the room and make it as a super Mario game. The light switch would become the controller and light become a interesting game.

Guided Movement

In this discussion, one student said that this technology can be used for pets. This is what I haven't thought of but really useful. It gives the possibility that pets can do things for people without so much training.

Another idea is about the emergency situation. I think technology can be helpful in extreme situations, as people are easy to panic.

What's more, this theme can be useful for old people. Especially people with dimension, they cannot remember what to do in daily life, easy to forget some normal things like taking drugs or brush their teeth. So guided technology would help them to remember the schedule. Also, it can help to track the lost elders.

Sassy Tech

The idea of shaking the hand door is quite interesting and a bit creepy. I mean, it is interesting to replace the traditional way to open a door, but if imagine that each door would have an arm on it, it's like the doors have become monsters.

Musical Things and Musical Metric

These two themes are all about music, so I put them together. My original thought is about music, so I want to see other ideas about music. Music visualization has become a hot topic. Many ideas are about how to make the music concrete.

I have contributed to one of the ideas, control an aline across a square city to trigger the music. I suggested allowing the aline not only to walk a straight line but also can walk through a curved way. What's more, the aline can walk upon the top of each building and give a solo.

Conclusion

I have tried world café in DECO7180, but this time, with more people and more space, I feel more advantages of this activity. I changed to different themes every 30 minutes and think about different questions each time. This requires me to think really fast. And also, when listening to other people, I have learned a lot of interesting ideas. I enjoy the moment when others agreed with me but in fact, I think it is the disagreement that could be most helpful. When came up with an idea, we discuss it, whether it is really that situation, whether is acceptable or some other problems.

However, for me, the activity is largely depended on who I was discussing with. Because I am not good at beginning a conversation in this kind of activity. But I would love to join a conversation. So, at two or three tables, I was stuck in an awkward atmosphere. And at other tables, where there are at least two talking people, I was more comfortable and quickly join the conversation.

Preference for the theme

My first choice is "Enhanced mundane space". At first, I just think this theme is meant for most people's life. We have high technology now. So, why not making life more interesting. But in fact, I don't have any idea about this theme right now.

I also chose the sassy tech as I can see the potential in this theme. In daily life, we always ignore things, taking them for granted. But actually, this theme could give us a chance to view the world from another perspective.

The last one I chose is the guided movement. I think this theme might be widely used in the future as it can replace people to guide others.

Reflection on My Concept

In fact, I didn’t get much reflection as I could only join the class remotely this week. But from the journal, I can see that at least some people are interested in my concept. The theme is music visualization, and the string is one form that I think could be suitable. But still, I believe there would be more possibilities.

My favorite point of this concept is that the shape of the string could match many things in nature, like the mountains, the waves, the forest, and the desert, etc. It not only makes the music visible but also makes the beautiful scene hearable. A bridge of our ears and eyes.

One thing I am thinking about is that the poster didn’t describe as much as I want of the concept. Actually, I didn’t think thoroughly about the concept. Many details were added when I drawing the concept. Thus, the poster might lose some of the detail and I didn’t realize it until I review it when presented. Luckily, I got a chance to talk more about the detail in my journal. Another thing about my concept is that I think it is idealized and hard for me to make it come true.

Other Interesting Idea

Melo Catcher

This concept has the same aim as mine, to encourage people to enjoy and create music. It allows more people to interact with it at the same time and the rotation generates different music. The interesting part of this concept I think is that it provides a chance for people, not two or three, I mean, a lot of people to create something together. This would be something they has never done before. And I could not stop but thinking about the possibility that this piece of music might be extraordinarily beautiful. Then the experience might influence their life.

However, I think it is important to provide people unlimited choices so that the creation would never reach the end. Thus, how could this concept give people choice as the only interaction is rotation? What’s more, the size of the box would influence how people would interact with it. The screen is also a part that we can do something about it. Like how the screen displays the music or maybe people can interact with it.

Running Hand

This concept really attracts me as I love 2d video games so much. Before I see the concept, I think the best way to play 2d games is the controller, but now I get something new to looking forward to. I would definitely try this if it can work. With a mini running machine, this concept would not require much space to play a game. But I am wondering how this would control the high of jumping.

This interesting point is that even this is just a simple beginning of control the game by a physical way, it can expand to many possibilities. In the game, there is not just running and jumping, players also need to fight, talk to NPC, operate some triggers. So, how these things can be interacted with could be deeply thought about.

BACKGROUND

Music is always connected with waves. Either in a music editor or music player, there are always waves or different height squares to show the music's key.

For instance, Microsoft media player was once the most popular player and it used many different colorful patterns to display the music in a visual way.

In the short film "Secret chord", the character is assessed by playing music. On the screen behind him, the music is displayed as waves. Considering the support from materials science, what if the waves can be out of the screen and tangible? What if people can actually touch the waves, play with it or create music by moving the waves?

This is how I came up with the idea of "Musician". People can just pick up a string or a wire to play music. Ideally, the material should be unlimited.

CONCEPT & INTERACTION

There are not many limitations of "Musician". People pick up a string, fix it on something, maybe the wall or the table. Then twist it to different shapes.

The shape of the string represents the melody of the music.

The fixture can be the beginning or end of the music, or it can represent a stop in the music.

different colors of the string represent different instruments. For example, the black string has the sound of the piano and the blue string sounds like a cello.

To interact with the string, there are three modes.

• play:

When people touch the string, it makes sound and the volume depends on how hard people press it, the speed depends on how fast people move their fingers.

• create:

Pick up a string, twist it to any shape, generate a piece of unique music by using the string.

• explore:

Users are encouraged to try different colors, different combinations, different patterns. They can even try to change the status of the string, for example, pour some water onto it or put the string in different height. There should be an endless possibility.

POSSIBILITY

To use it

Imagine some children are enjoying a birthday party and they want some music. So the grandma gives them some balls of wool. The children begin to play with the string on the floor. They use pins to fix the wool. It might be dangerous, so they decide to use stickers. One of the children fixed the beginning of the wool. Two of the children are trying to play the sound together. Another child is creating new music by using two strings, thinking about how music can be happy and enjoyable. The last child is bringing in a new color of wool. As the different color gives the sound of different instruments, the child is thinking where is the best place to let the sound come in.

Imagine another scenario, a person use the string to reproduce a piece of famous music for people who cannot hear. Through the shape of the string and the vibration, those people can feel how the music been played and they can even play by themselves. This can be a whole new experience.

To develop it

• As the string can generate vibration, there is a possibility that it can be linked to the artificial cochlea and help deaf people play or listen to music.
• What's more, music can invoke memories, so the "Musician" can also help people getting back special memories.
• There are many "waves" in nature, mountains, ocean, and horizon. The "Musician" can freeze the beautiful scene and shows the music generate by nature.
• As the color represents for the instrument, and color can also show the emotion, the emotion and unique sound of the instruments can be connected somehow.

POSTER

REFERENCE

music wave:

https://pixabay.com/illustrations/music-clef-background-texture-4682722/

windows-media-player:

https://winaero.com/blog/microsoft-ditching-windows-media-player/

https://www.needpix.com/photo/download/1768149/sound-wave-noise-frequency-waveform-sound-music-wave-audio-equalizer

Secret Chord:

Before the course

About me

This is my second year for master of interaction design. In the past one year, I have learnt something that I think would be helpful in this course, including digital prototyping, design thinking and HCI, etc. I have built some physical interactive things before, like a simulation game which is for hatching eggs, and a music installation which is collective and encourage people to generate music together.

Thus, I have some knowledge about how to use arduino, which I think would be helpful in this class cause we would use many sensors in the prototype. And, I also know how to gather the users information and know that the design should meet their demand.

My job experience

As I have a job in the summer vacation and I found that in the work, it is different from what we learn in university, especially when the work and university are under different culture background. When I design the application for my company, I cannot just say “I want to do a user research, let’s find some users”. Because they need to protect company’s information, most of the user researches and tests are done inside the company and this is quite different from what I have done in university. A large amount of design is depended on the data or paper given by my college.

My expectation

My expectation about this course is that I want to learn new skills that would help my job in the future. As I realized that the work place is really different, this time I would not looking for some specific skill. Rather than that, I would more willing to get the ability to create things, to learn things. It is always better to learn fishing than get fish from others.