Multimodal Senses: SOS signal hand cover (Fabian & Zhou Yang)

The team (Fabian & Zhou Yang) is inspired by Morse code. It is a type of character encoding system used in telecommunication. It conveys information through two different signal duration called dots and dashes. Through the use of short and long duration of vibration produced from a vibrator which correspond to the dots and dashes of the Morse code, we hope to convey information to our users.

Basic understanding of Morse code. 

Concept sketch

References

We took references for the code of the vibrator from various sites to aid in our prototyping. 

http://www.learningaboutelectronics.com/Articles/Vibration-motor-circuit.php

http://www.learningaboutelectronics.com/Articles/Vibration-motor-circuit.php

http://www.limulo.net/website/coding/physical-computing/vibration-motor-test.html

Vibrator motor

We use the following vibrator motor for our prototyping process:

Problems

The following are the problems we faced during the prototyping phases:

  1. How do we gauge the complexity of the vibration combinations to not make it too complicated for the users?
  2. Can the users be conditioned to remember the vibration combination over a period of time?

Testing of vibrator motor

Code for the vibrator motor

Final arduino circuit

User testing

We tested out the final prototype.

We managed to condition ourselves to remember the different vibration combinations for the different functions. However, it took sometime for us to remember them. At the beginning, it was confusing to differential between the long and short vibrations. However, after some practice we are fine. 

Problems faced

The following are the challenges we faced while prototyping:

  1. Figuring and setting the delays between the vibrations to imitate the dots and dashes of Morse code.
  2. Adjusting the complexity of the vibration combinations for the user.

Kaboom! Concept development and prototyping (Fabian and Zhou Yang)

Project description:

The idea is inspired by the traditional game catching. The game will consists of two teams preferably equal number of people on both sides. Each side will be wearing slippers with LED lights of different colors to differentiate from the other team. (Red and Blue) The objective of the game is to turn the LED lights of the opposite team into the other color. (Red to blue or vice versa.) They can do it by attempting to position their LED light in front of the light sensors placed at the back of the slippers players are all wearing. The game ends when one side of the team had all their members’ LED light changed color.

Areas of changes/improvements in concept:

Since the start of the development process we had make the following changes /improvements to the prototype:

  1. We had changed the medium from shoes to slippers to create a more comical image of our prototype since it is designed for a game.
  2. Change in the sensors was also made as we realized the player catching another player has the tendency to “kill” himself/herself if he/she stomps his/her feet as it might trigger his/her own LED light. Therefore, light sensors are used instead of the players.
  3. The format of the game is changed as well. Before this, the game consisted of catch, healer and the rest of the players. However, we realized the structure of the game is not workable. For example, what if the catcher catch another player and he/she turns into the catcher. Does that particular person start catching people? If so how does the healer “heal” him/her. The conflict in gameplay caused us to change the gameplay into two teams of players. The two teams will try to change the color of the LED light of the opposite team.
  4. There will be a timing the led lights can be lighted up. It will be triggered preferably by a button the player can operate. It will have a cool down period. Therefore, the player needs to time when he/she wants to light his/her LED light when approaching a player from the opposite team. If time incorrectly, he/she will be at a vulnerable position to be “attacked” by a player(s) from the opposite team.

Process:

Testing out the blue and red LED lights.

Fixing the LED lights onto the slippers for testing.

Assembling the arduino set up on the slippers.

Major issues:

We faced the following problems while prototyping:

1. The LED lights were unstable. They were showing random colors and blinking in random manners.

2. The LED lights were not responsive when we interacted with it.

These are some of the issues we faced while building our prototype. After troubleshooting, we realized most of the problems were solved after we change some of the parts as they are aging and thus malfunctioning.

3. Due to time constraints and our lack of knowledge and practice in Arduino we could not get the light sensors to work. In the end, we created a button function for the set up to mimic the triggering of the LED lights when the light sensor is activated.

References:

https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Control-an-RGB-LED-Strip-Arduino-Tutorial/

https://create.arduino.cc/projecthub/gol73/innovation-lab-5-push-button-rgb-led-color-change-6f4453

Our code:

Project testing:

From the video, the LED lights are changing colors through the press of buttons to mimic the triggering of light sensors which will result in color change. However, we are having difficulty to make the LED lights response in a consistent manner.