DrumBeats

We have illuminating keyboards to teach us how to play the piano, so why don’t we have illuminating drums to teach us how to play the drums?

DrumBeats brings drumming to life through the use of a modular LED lighting and sound sensing kit. Although LED lighting kits for drums already exist in the market, none of these kits provide a learning feature to users, similar to what’s available for musical keyboards.

Synthesia is a popular piano trainer available on both desktop and mobile platforms, and teaches pianists how to play piano in a fun way. The users simply plugs their keyboard or piano into their device, and the application displays “falling” notes on the screen, much like the popular game “Guitar Hero”, but with real instruments. The users are expected to press the keys at the right time and for the right duration and are notified of their score and performance at the end of the song.

DrumBeats aims to bring a similar experience to drummers, to make learning how to play the drums more fun and immersive. Novice drummers are expected to develop their rhythm and timing when learning new songs. Seasoned drummers can also use this tool in creative manner by creating custom light shows to support their performances. DrumBeats could also potentially include light up drum sticks, which show the drummers which hand to use when hitting a particular drum, or as another lighting effect, further immersing the user in their drumming experience.

It is a well-known fact that music is probably the most popular thing in the world. This means that people from all kinds of backgrounds, and of all ages, are likely to enjoy the additional visual experience and feedback that DrumBeats provides when playing and/or learning the drums.

Poster

Inspirations

Synthesia - The Piano Learning Game

DrumLite - LED Drum Lighting Kit

A knife that is a social robot. Use it wrong, and you'll be chastised - becoming a Kitchen Kriminal, if you will, because you're breaking knife safety rules. The intent, the knife engages in a brief conversation with you depending on how you used it wrong.

An increasing amount of people have trouble learning to cook as the later it is that they start[1], and I believe one of the many opportunities to address this starts with the simple act of handling a kitchen knife safely.

From experience, there's at least three interactions are at the heart of using a knife safely - proper grip, a safe angle so the edge does not chip, and appropriate force to smoothly get through ingredients and reduce dulling.

To a lesser extent, a response to the topic of Human Technology Symbiosis from Week 1. A significant amount of smart technology simply expects to be let into your home, where it sits idly the whole time, until you tap a button to activate it.

I wanted this smart tool to be more engaging than that, even if it only has humourous retorts to you misusing it... It's a companion rather than a substitute. "You" are using the smart tool to get a task done, and it helps you do that, rather than taking "you" out of the process entirely save for hitting a button.

Project Inspiration

Modified from an idea in response to the prompt "design to enlighten in the kitchen using x with the property of disgust".

Additionally inspired by the idea of how in horror movies, the antagonist may be compelled by their tool of choice to chase down unsuspecting individuals. I didn't have a specific film franchise in mind... just the idea of it being very creepy to have a sharp object that talks.

References

[1] (Background reading on learning to cook)

F. Lavelle et al, “Learning cooking skills at different ages: a cross-sectional study,” International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, vol. 13, no. 1, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-016-0446-y

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.

What?

Kids Be Shh is a waterproof patch that attaches to the arm or hand of a school aged child. The patch remains a slightly, transparent green colour until the child should reach an unacceptable level. At this point the device will alert the user by turning the colour yellow. If the user continues to use an unacceptable volume, the patch will turn red and the offence will be recorded. Each time the ‘red zone’ was entered, it will be displayed on the patch. The data recorded can then be access by those required (such as teachers or parents).

Where?

The patch is designed for use in situations where children struggle to understand social etiquette and appropriate noise levels. The patch was designed with a classroom situation in mind; where there is an interactive activity taking place that requires the children to listen and respond appropriately thus using their “inside voices”. The patch could also be used at home in situations such as quiet time or bedtime as well as during family car rides. The children can be rewarded from low records, encouraging those to not enter the “red zone” continuously.

Why?

The aim is to encourage children to be cautious of their volume and when it is their turn to speak. By alerting the user when they are becoming too loud, it promotes awareness and thus actions on their volume level. Children are reinforced to listen to those speaking and learning when it is their turn to speak. It can also assist the user in learning different situations and their appropriate levels of volume. Learning proper social etiquette at a young age will help develop skills to assist with communication and social interactions later in life.

Inspirations

NIOSH Sound Level Meter App - https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/noise/app.html

Wearable Technology in the Classroom

https://www.techprevue.com/useful-classroom-wearable-technology/

My noisy nieces :D

Idea Explanation

Concept - SMART BEDROOM

Utilising the most recent AI and heat-mapping technology, it will allow the SMART BEDROOM to map emotions in the body.

The bedroom will respond to the human’s emotion accordingly. Responses by the AI incorporate all 5 senses to help better the emotion/situation.

CONTEXT OF USE: Retirement Home - BEDROOM

Motivation

In today’s society, there is a constant battle to help those who are battling with mental health, and in particular the emotions of the elderly and children. In today’s society, there is a contestant emphasis on ensuring the quality of life and healthy personal well-begin.

Emotions originate in the brain but can manifest as physical feelings throughout the body. Given the demographic, accessibility and university access is a major factor to consider. As a result, this does not require conscious human interaction, rather the AI will detect and action accordingly.

Affective computing is an essential part of current HCI. This technology allows for automated human affective behaviour recognition. This type of recognition is provided by means of the capture and analysis of implicit information about the user, such as vocal and facial changes, alterations of body movements and gestures, and so on. Recognition of affective behaviour is a part of effective interaction where a computer approaches the emotion, mood, attitude and personal preferences of the person. Adding the ability of emotional intelligence to computers makes them more coherent to the humans who interact with them. Light and colour are omnipresent environmental factors which influence the human being.

Light and colour are ubiquitous environmental factors which have an influence on the human being. Hence, light and colour issues have to be considered especially significant in HCI and fundamental in affective computing. Affective computing aims to integrate issues dealing with emotions and computers.

Inspiration

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OSCAR

OSCAR is a three part bin that tracks the amount and kind of waste produced by each person in a household. Giving people a way to see how much they throw away can help highlight unnecessary waste and make them think about finding a more sustainable alternative to things they buy.

How it works

OSCAR can be setup to have profiles for everyone who lives in a household. A display on the front of OSCAR shows the current amount of waste produced by each person from the start of the week. At the end of the week when the bin needs to be emptied, OSCAR will decide who must empty it based on the amount of waste produced that week. When someone uses OSCAR the items they have thrown away will be checked by OSCAR to see if they have placed it in the correct bin. If the wrong bin has been used, OSCAR will make a horrendous retching sound and throw the waste back out of the bin.

Inspiration

I came up with the initial idea for OSCAR during the brainstorming session with the playing cards, which gave me the sentence ‘Design to train in a kitchen using sound with the quality playfully’, the idea was then further developed within the group at my table. The other inspiration for OSCAR was Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street.

A3 Poster

Good Mem Box

Description Of Concept

The lives of many adults can be stressful and busy. People tend to forsake their wellbeing; they do not take the time to reflect on their day or week. When people do reflect; however, it is much easier to think of the negatives rather than the positives.

Consequently, the Good Mem Box was created for young adults, allowing them to take time each day and think of one good thing that happened that day, or to reflect on all of them at the end of the week.

How the users interact with the concept is through a three-stage process. In the first stage, a theme that their memory falls under is selected from 9 options by pinching a certain area of the puzzle piece. The next stage involves coming up with a word that summarises the good memory. From there, the user can input the first letter by pinching multiple spots on the piece. Each letter has a unique area to be pinched. The last stage comprises the displaying of a list of drawings/symbols which relate to the theme and first letter. How the users will select the option is by tracing the drawing on the puzzle piece. They also have an option to pick ‘Other’, allowing them to trace their own drawing by pushing their finger down on the puzzle piece and moving it.

Once done, each puzzle piece will be placed, face-up, in the box. At the end of the week, the display will show the drawings once all pieces have been connected and are in the box. This will not only allow the user to reflect and remember the things that happened, but also allow their family and friends to see them too and, perhaps, encourage them to share their good memories.

Inspirations

Hole Punching Tickets:

https://www.nytimes.com/1977/11/06/archives/long-island-weekly-the-lirrs-punch-line.html

Artificial Skin Phone Case:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2019/10/21/phone-cases-made-faux-human-skin-next-big-thing/4051017002/

Cloth:

https://www.fastcompany.com/1671684/a-piece-of-cloth-that-conjures-light-and-sound

Good Mem Box

The lives of many adults can be stressful and busy. People tend to forsake their wellbeing; they do not take the time to reflect on their day or week. When people do reflect; however, it is much easier to think of the negatives rather than the positives.

Consequently, the Good Mem Box was created for young adults, allowing them to take time each day and think of one good thing that happened that day, or to reflect on all of them at the end of the week.

How the users interact with the concept is through a three-stage process. In the first stage, a theme that their memory falls under is selected from 9 options by pinching a certain area of the puzzle piece. The next stage involves coming up with a word that summarises the good memory. From there, the user can input the first letter by pinching multiple spots on the piece. Each letter has a unique area to be pinched. The last stage comprises the displaying of a list of drawings/symbols which relate to the theme and first letter. How the users will select the option is by tracing the drawing on the puzzle piece. They also have an option to pick ‘Other’, allowing them to trace their own drawing by pushing their finger down on the puzzle piece and moving it.

Once done, each puzzle piece will be placed, face-up, in the box. At the end of the week, the display will show the drawings once all pieces have been connected and are in the box. This will not only allow the user to reflect and remember the things that happened, but also allow their family and friends to see them too and, perhaps, encourage them to share their good memories.

Inspirations

Hole Punching Tickets:

https://www.nytimes.com/1977/11/06/archives/long-island-weekly-the-lirrs-punch-line.html

Artificial Skin Phone Case:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2019/10/21/phone-cases-made-faux-human-skin-next-big-thing/4051017002/

Cloth:

https://www.fastcompany.com/1671684/a-piece-of-cloth-that-conjures-light-and-sound

Concept

Charlie is a digital eating assistant that helps promote healthy eating and wellbeing of children who are picky eaters. Charlie will live in a physical sphere that is connected to a placemat which can be placed under plates, bowls or cups. The intended use for Charlie is that after something has been lifted off the plate, the placemat detects this and tells Charlie, Charlie, then performs an encouraging emote or display something similarity to virtual cheering. This is intended so that children are inspired to eat all their food (especially greens). This is mainly focused on those children who refuse to eat their greens or certain foods whilst also implementing a no food wastage policy at a young age.

Charlie will have different animations that play on a display, these animations will vary for how much food is eaten, what kind of food is eaten, and if no food has been eaten after a certain time. Using these animations, hopefully, the children are encouraged to eat everything on their plate

Another Idea of Charlie was to use a dinner tray that corresponds with the dinner mat so that Charlie knew what food the child was eating. Each section of the tray could be set to greens, salad, meats etc. With these selected areas, depending on what was on the tray, Charlie could demonstrate specific animations.

What is cool about this idea as not only does Charlie help promote healthy eating but can help distract the child as the parents focus on getting ready for the day. Charlie is then used for both the child and parents needs. This also helps those parents who dislike placing their child in front of the T.V or an iPad at such an early age.

Concept Sketch

A3 Poster

Poster

Immersive Art Gallery

Immersive art gallery provides a new tend for visitors to understand the charm of paintings easily and create deeper memories about arts. IAG can enhance the experiences of enjoying paintings and improve the interaction between artists and visitors.

Inspiration:

My concept is inspired by a chinese animated movie, Nezha, the devil is coming. There is a magical painting created by the director of this movie which can allow roles to enter the world of the painting and live in it. Therefore, I came up with my idea from this painting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyYA9OLU1bY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac_WxA47CN8 this clip does not have english subtitle, but this moive clips shows the magical painting in tis moive.

Interactions:

Visitors should wear the sensing glasses in the front of the painting to enter the world of the painting. The glasses can trigger humans' senses, such as touching, watching, smelling, and hearing. Visitors can even enter the painting with friends to interact with the world of painting together.

Poster

The poster can be found here Secret Handshake Lock

Inspiriation

Smart Locks

Article Article

Smart locks are becoming ever more common, but are they safe? I've read some articles on their safety and where they are most vulnerable. What these articles agree on is that it depends on the user and how much care they take with their technology. The quote from one of the articles that had the most impact was the following from MIT professor Stuart Madnick “You may buy a stronger lock for your door, but if you still leave the key under the mat, are you really any more secure?” in other words, your home is as safe as the user makes it.

Cyberpunk 2077

The dystopian game Cyberpunk 2077 has granted som inspiration, here there are many technologies we, as of yet, lack. Some of the most prominent technologies are mechanical arms in the media that has been presented to the public thus far. In addition, a big part of Cyberpunk is hacking into different security systems, something this idea also addresses.

Secret Handshake Lock

The issue is that people treat their everyday home security with little care, thinking that their technology will keep them safe. This may not be the case, especially when people install different apps left and right not thinking what these apps may do to their home safety. The Secret Handshake Lock intentionally shows an obvious case of bad home security to understand that the handshake between your device and your door can be as secure as a handshake performed publicly for everyone to see. The hand itself can be programmed to know several handshakes that allow any user that knows the handshake to enter through the door.

The playful nature in this idea lies in the novelty and obvious ridiculousness of the concept and the novelty of creating especially fun or overcomplicated handshakes as a key for your door.

##Guide Shoes

(A wearable device for the blind)

Although the guide sticks have gradually become intelligent, I find that blind people are a fragile group as a special group. Not only are the young people in the blind group, but also some of them are blinded by various accidents in the later stage. They have difficulty accepting the blind's living habits for a period of time after blindness, and even feel that using a guide rod is a disgrace. Their emotions are richer and more self-respecting than the average person, and they do not want to be labeled.

Create a safer external environment for blind people in multiple dimensions and greatly improve travel efficiency. Have considered adding a warning light to the shoes [but not put it in the final design], although I think this can not only improve the convenience of the user but also warn others

When the visual senses are occupied, the stimulation of other senses will be more sensitive, so I choose to use the vibration in the sense of touch to deliver useful information to the user in time.

######How it works: (steps are included in the poster)

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###Inspiration:

* Microsoft bone-conducting headphone

https://newatlas.com/microsoft-bone-conduction-headset-for-blindess/34622/

The bone-conducting headphone allows blind people to feel specific directions through sound and summarizes specific situations to remind them.

My opinion on this design: Because I want to create multi-sensory designs, I hope their senses can combine hearing and touch. Instead of isolating them from the outside with headphones, this may miss some reminders of pedestrians, etc. (even the precise technology will definitely have an emergency situation)

* AIREAL: Interactive Tactile Experiences in Free Air

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaFBjUJj00M

Free Air Haptics display delivers effective and expressive sensations in free air, without requiring the user to wear a physical device. Users can feel virtual 3D objects, experience free-air textures and receive haptic feedback on gestures performed in free space.

The Smart Wardrobe

A wardrobe that keeps a record of how many clothes a user has and how many times each item is worn. It profiles each item with the composition of the material and an estimate of how many wash cycles it can endure. The mirror has an AR feature for users to see what they look like in different outfits before grabbing them out of the wardrobe which can save time. It can suggest outfits based on the time of day, activity and dress code. The wardrobe will help users to appreciate all the clothing that they own and alerts users if an item has not been worn in a long time to prompt them to either donate the clothing or sell it to someone else. The main goal of the wardrobe is to encourage the users to embrace slow fashion and work towards a circular economy. If users intend to throw clothes away, the wardrobe can educate them on the length of time it takes for their clothes to break down and users will move away from synthetic fabrics to more durable and sustainable fashion.

My inspiration for this wardrobe came from The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up (Kondo & Hirano, 2014), the Slow Fashion movement (Jung & Jin, 2014), and the Low Impact/Zero Waste Movement (Cleanlink, 2019). For the mirror AR example in my poster I used the Lily Story app on Android. There are already mobile applications out there that keep a log of different outfits, but it would be fascinating to explore this space with an environmental approach.

References

Franco-García ML., Carpio-Aguilar J.C., Bressers H. (2019) Towards Zero Waste, Circular Economy Boost: Waste to Resources. In: Franco-García ML., Carpio-Aguilar J., Bressers H. (eds) Towards Zero Waste. Greening of Industry Networks Studies, vol 6. Springer, Cham

Jung, S., & Jin, B. (2014). A theoretical investigation of slow fashion: Sustainable future of the apparel industry. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 38(5), 510-519.

Kondō, M., & Hirano, C. (2014). The life-changing magic of tidying up: The Japanese art of decluttering and organizing (First American edition.). Berkeley: Ten Speed Press.

Štefko, R., & Steffek, V. (2018). Key Issues in Slow Fashion: Current Challenges and Future Perspectives. Sustainability, 10(7), 2270.

Berggren, M. (2019, September 6). Fast Fashion Vs Slow Fashion – Difference & Advantages.

Retrieved from https://wearandsmile.com/blog/fast-fashion-vs-slow-fashion/

Cleanlink. (2019, November 23). Entertainment Company Sets Zero Waste Goals.

Retrieved from https://www.cleanlink.com/news/article/Entertainment-Company-Sets-Zero-Waste-Goals--23231

N.d. (2020) Ultimate 48 in. W - 96 in. W White Wood Closet System.

Retrieved from https://www.homedepot.com/p/Closet-Evolution-Ultimate-48-in-W-96-in-W-White-Wood-Closet-System-WH19/311040600