Tag: anchorwatch

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009 / 010 – FYP Progress

What I have for now:

Ok the past 2 weeks I was busy with other things so I really apologise for the lack of progress 🙁 I’m finding it hard to cope with workstudy and side hustle, and I know it’s affecting my FYP. I’m making effort to reduce all these external commitments and focusing on FYP.

I have not followed through with making more prototypes, sketching, thinking about ideas, or even researching.

Anchorwatch

My only real progress was when I made 1 Anchorwatch prototype which I’ve shown on Wednesday. This was done last week.

Thanks Shah for allowing me to use his filament and 3D printer!

oops the part broke
the case for the Arduino Nano, which doubles as a cap for the part that houses the batteries
strap to improvise the lack of fitting

After building this, I think it won’t work because the results feels like it’s too direct to me, like it doesn’t feel impactful, doesn’t feel convincing enough. As mentioned early in the semester, I’m doing this just for experimentation. Wearing this for a while didn’t make me feel confident about it. It’s wobbly and its haptic feedback is weak. Even if it may work, it’s still a “copy” of Auger Loizeau’s Subliminal Watch. This definitely need more work to develop further, but I’m thinking of a better idea already.

Instead of continuing to develop Anchorwatch, I want to apply the same concept of internalising Chronoception through the “Sound Watch” as mentioned in my previous post. This is, to me, a clearer and more multi-dimensional device than the Anchorwatch.

I think this has more potential. Why:

  • I’m using bone conduction, which directly links the device to our body, giving a much more obvious feedback.
  • The device feeds more information (hour, minutes, seconds), and potentially has the same effect as Anchorwatch where the user can learn intervals, except the user gets more out of this with more information.

For now this is enough to convince me that this will be a better idea. I will use what prof mentioned about finding relevant research to back this up.

Some things I have to think about during my experimentation:

  • What does hour, minutes, seconds sound like? How do I make this sound natural to us, with almost 0 disruption?
    • Seconds should sound short, clicky. 60 different tones for 60 seconds.
    • Minutes should be more balanced, a subtle tone in the middle range. 60 tones that gradually change as the minutes pass.
    • Hours should sound long, humming, and always in the background.
  • What tech should I use? How do I build it? I need a proper blueprint and I need to look for the right components.

I should also consider the appearance. For quick reference, here’s the look of the device I’m going for:

Image taken from https://www.claytonbartonartist.com/?_escaped_fragment_=sci-fi-soldier-helmets.jpg%2Fzoom%2Fcx2j%2Fimage1qky
Image taken from https://www.designboom.com/technology/hiroto-ikeuchi-cyberpunk-wearable-technology-04-02-2018/?utm_source=designboom+daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=surreal,+yet+functional
Image taken from https://www.deviantart.com/edsfox/art/White-fox-sketch-560197326
Image taken from https://twitter.com/archillect/status/695210207601893377/photo/1
Image taken from https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qNBgL

Other things…

I don’t have anything else that is super concrete yet. I’ll spend more time this week to work on it. :’)

3-Week Plan Ahead

  • Week 11
    • First thing I’ll do this coming weekend is to reorganise all the accumulated research and consultations to make sense of everything. So when Monday comes I can immediately start refreshed. I’ll also update my FYP page (timeline, keywords, concepts, etc) for my own good.
    • Start getting hands dirty again with Sound Watch prototype, including trying to get the appearance to look like a proper product. I’ll be using buzzers first instead of bone conduction to get the feel of the sound first.
    • Research on the science that apply to Sound Watch and use them when describing my project next week.
    • Consult prof when I’m done (probably Friday)
  • Week 12
    • Start working on Weather Sensograph (or Third-I or Money Sense)
    • Going through the same process: do the appropriate research and not get overwhelmed by information
    • Start working on presentation slides for interim presentation
    • Consult prof when I’m done.
  • Week 13 (Friday 13th presentation)
    • Start working on 3rd prototype (doesn’t have to finish)
    • Finish all slides
    • Rethink about concept and progress to ensure things are sound and for clarity
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008 – FYP Progress

What’s done

  • First prototype of Anchorwatch (renamed cos vibrawatch sound weird) (very lo-fi)
  • 3D model of Anchorwatch (to be 3D printed)
  • 3D model of eye-to-eye periscope (to be 3D printed)
  • Very small amount of sketches to visualise Weather Sensograph, not enough concrete stuff to show everyone… :’)

Anchorwatch Prototype 1

Did a super ratchet prototype to test out and to quickly kickstart my work. I used a paper plate to cut into the shape of a watch, and used masking tape to put together the circuit.

Circuit consists of:

  • 1x Arduino Nano
  • 2x 3.7v 1500mAh lipo batteries connected in series
  • 1x switch
  • 1x vibration motor
  • 1x 220ohm resistor (to reduce vibration strength)

Code: just a simple if else statement with a millis timer. Also ignore the values I set for minutes and seconds, I was just testing and stuck with just 5 seconds for the variable “minutes” (just to prevent confusion (like every second is actually 2 seconds!))

This is definitely not gonna work, even though it works technically. Nobody wants to wear this, and it will definitely fall apart soon. I’ve made a 3D model and will start 3D printing tomorrow to make sure I have a stronger structure for the watch so I can start wearing it proper.

Not sure how it will fit my hand, will try it out asap. Also, I realised I forgot to include a part for the switch so I guess I’ll find a way……

Anyway, to recap the idea of this watch: It’s a watch that vibrates every 5 seconds (as of now, will adjust accordingly to see what’ll work during user testing aka myself), anchoring the user to learn the interval subliminally, allowing them to eventually time the interval without any aid or using of any tools like a watch.

Eye-to-eye Periscope 3D model

I’m gonna 3D print this as well so there is a proper and strong object to hold. I think I’ll just make a proper mockup of this so I don’t lose the idea even though it’s just a sensory experiment.

More ideas! More things to start…

Weather Sensograph

So I’m starting on a weather sensing device which I’ll call Weather Sensograph for now. The idea is to help us humans to have an innate weather-detecting sense, like how the Anchorwatch helps us in enhancing our chronoception. This is done through a wifi-connected device that uses weather API data (or any other reliable source of data pls tell me if you know cos I’ve only ever used API). The device uses information from the API and converts it into kinaesthetic feedback (the feedback I’m thinking will be appropriate… for now). This new sense will help us evaluate weather better, on top of just relying on our sense of sight, smell, hearing (which won’t be applicable when we are indoors which we are most of the time).

I explained the idea to Mark and he came up with a good point, that the device will help better if we can also detect information about weather that we won’t know about without the device, for example, where the rain is, and when will it rain. I think giving access to these information will be a more interesting approach to this device, but I don’t have much idea of how I can do this as of now as I’ll need to know the direction of the weather approaching the user’s relative standpoint and where the user is facing in order for this to work. So far, API (IF IM NOT WRONG) do not provide those info.

I think one way to do this is to have some kind of a seismograph type of feedback to weather to help us sense the weather’s intensity and direction. Mark suggests that I look up hair-tension hygrometer. (THANK U MARK U R GR8 HALP)

I think it’s this thing? Image taken from https://manual.museum.wa.gov.au/book/export/html/89

Sound Watch

The idea of this is to change the way we tell time with sound rather than visuals on a clockface. Recently I saw Aisen Caro Chacin’s Play-A-Grill and thought about bone conduction.

Play-A-Grill drawing. Image taken from http://www.aisencaro.com/play-a-grill.html

I’m thinking of mapping the hour, minutes, and seconds to different frequencies or sound cues, layering them, and using bone conduction to let us hear sound. This will help us in:

  • intuitively tell time just with sound cues
  • constant knowledge of time as the sound is always playing when one wears the device
  • Help the visually impaired

Imagine the application once everyone learns this new way of telling time. Clocks around the world can also be tuned to the frequency, played out loud so everyone can hear it (although this will be devastating to animals that rely on the sense of hearing as well as power supply)

Money Sensor

One of the more applicable ideas I have now is this. Money has become a necessity much like food. We can feel hunger and thirst but not how much money we have. This can be something worthy to explore, but I’ll work on the top few ideas first then I’ll come to this one once I’m done.

Third-I

Looking back at my Interactive Devices project, I think I can try to simplify it and make it part of this series of devices.

A common theme?

The ideas I have so far are only connected by 1 factor: A “I think they will be useful” statement. I haven’t linked it to the big picture concept which is the cyberpunk future. I think that will always be at the back of my mind but like I said before, I’ll just start making all these ideas a reality first and see what I can do afterwards. Actually these prototypes don’t take a long time to create so I can just keep making and think along the way.

What’s next?

  • Finish 3D printing Anchorwatch v2, finish second prototype and start wearing it; evaluate and adjust it along the way.
  • Work on Weather Sensograph, and then Sound Watch, then the money sensor
  • Continue ideating and read journal articles when I’m burning out from making. Also when I’m free or available to multitask, I’ll watch videos and sci-fi films.
  • Continue thinking about concept along the way and try to tie things together cos now everything feels very not unified
  • Start planning to interview people: I have this idea to interview or have conversations with people who wear implants or are interested in the topic of cyborgs, futuristic concepts, speculative design.