Experimental Interaction – Final Project “Anxiety Sensational”

This project “Anxiety Sensational” is to raise awareness of Society Anxiety Disorder (SAD) among Singaporean through the test by simulating the symptoms of SAD. SAD sufferers will be subjected to the symptoms of Dizziness, Chest and Stomach muscle tightness when they are in crowded environment. Thus our project is to get testers to wear the set up attire with the IR sensor and vibration motor, before being place within a cramp space with other participants. Their task is simple, crossing from one end to another. Getting into close proximity with the participants will result in the sensor to detect them, triggering the vibration motor to simulate the symptoms. Testers will feel the discomfort and they have to figure how to stop the motor, which is to get out of the space. But maneuvering across the cramp space will trigger difficulties and discomfort, which simulates how SAD sufferer feel in normal daily situation.

Our research

 

Design process documentation (intermediate designs, sketches, ideas)

These are the documentation processes.

Testing Prototyping model for Final project

 

This is the initial idea of the prototype, through attaching a DC motor to the cap, which triggers after the PIR sensor detect human activity movement to create discomfort to the testers’ head.

However, things does not goes accordingly to plan when the product is being tested out during storming process as the main feedback pointed out was that if we were to simulate the idea of SAD, it should come with a stronger triggering sensation and discomfort to the testers than to the head as classmates who observed feedback that it is just simulating headache. 

After the general feedback, researches were done to enhance the wearable in sync with the symptoms of social anxiety and these were what we had found.

  1. Dizziness
  2. Chest Tightness
  3. Stomach Cramp

The three most common symptoms were the vital body parts of SAD sufferer, which calls for the use of a hoodie or jacket. There were many complications as per how the use of wearable is selected as we have our list of concerns to choose the wearable.

Initial idea is to target the neck of the tester but we have decided to swap “A” from neck to head we felt that we should go in line with the symptoms of dizziness and also make full use of the hood

 

Hoodie (I realised that there is no opening to attach the IR sensor unless I sew it to the Hood or the collar, but this will cause the IR sensor to come into contact with the user face/neck, causing the motor to trigger)
Jacket (The main concern is during the wearing of the jacket, there is a high probability that the wires will be dislodge during the wearing by testers)
Thus we have decided to choose the next best alternative, a uniform attached with a hood! This solves the issues that we faced as above.

This is a demo testing of how the product works in the actual context of a crowded or narrow environment with high human traffic.

Observational documentation for user tests

Overview floor plan of the test site
Boundary of the room set up with masking tape

Slide presentation and product explanation.

Tester one – Daryl

Tester one – Rui Hong

Observation critique from audiences and testers

Instruction manual

The Coding file is in Arduino language and 3D is in STL file.

Material check list A – 4 x Vibration motor attached with long wire at least 1m long to connect Motor, Arduino and Bread board B – 1 x Male to Male jumper wire C – 1 x Bread Board D – 1 x IR (Infrared) Sensor E – 3 x Male to Female jumper wire connect to IR Sensor
Step 1, 3D print the capsule, there should be 4 capsules.
Before proceeding, check and make sure that the vibration motor can be fit into the capsule.
Vibration motors fitted into the capsule.
Step 2, after choosing your shirt, place the Arduino and Bread board into the chest pocket if there is, if not, sew a pouch to put.
Step 3, this should be the product placement in the shirt
Step 4, place the motors in the hood
Step 5, Sew the motor, sewing method is the criss cross and round the capsule
Step 6, Sew a new stomach pouch for the power bank, as well as to put the other 2 motors – One at the chest, One at the stomach pouch
Step 7, Similar sewing technique for motor
Step 8, sew the IR sensor
Step 9, Finalised model

Voila! Your product is able to work now!

Before going through the manual, I have attached the Coding and 3D Printing File in this link. The coding file has input of the connection of the ports in more detail.

Final thoughts from us.

How do you feel during the process? Do you even still want to cross across the space or just want to turn back and walk away?

References

Unknown. (n.d.). Social anxiety disorder (social phobia). mayoclinic. Retrieved April 20th, 2019 from.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/social-anxiety-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20353561
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/social-anxiety-disorder-more-than-just-shyness/index.shtml
Richards, Thomas. (n.d.). Social Anxiety Fact Sheet: What is Social Anxiety Disorder? Symptoms, Treatment, Prevalence, Medications, Insight, Prognosis. Socialanxietyassociation. Retrieved April 20th, 2019 from.
https://socialphobia.org/social-anxiety-disorder-definition-symptoms-treatment-therapy-medications-insight-prognosis
Higuera, Valencia. (2016). Social Anxiety Disorder. What Is Social Anxiety Disorder? Healthline. Retrieved April 20th, 2019 from.
https://www.healthline.com/health/anxiety/social-phobia
Unknown. (n.d.). More children and teens are stressed out – Department of Psychological Medicine. nusmedicine. Retrieved April 20th, 2019 from.
http://nusmedicine.nus.edu.sg/pcm/2017/03/14/more-children-and-teens-are-stressed-out/
Unknown. (n.d.). Anxiety Disorders Among the Young.adelphipsych. Retrieved April 20th, 2019 from.
https://adelphipsych.sg/anxiety-disorders-among-the-young/
Subramaniam, Mythily. (2017). Stigma among Singaporean youth: a cross-sectional study on adolescent attitudes towards serious mental illness and social tolerance in a multiethnic population. ncbi. Retrieved April 20th, 2019 from.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5652546/#
Ng, Charmaine. (Sep 9, 2018). Many still steer clear of people with mental illness: Poll. They agree on need to reduce stigma but harbour misconceptions. Straitstime. Retrieved april 20th, 2019 from.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/many-still-steer-clear-of-people-with-mental-illness-poll
Choo, Cynthia. December 11th, 2018. Mental illness more prevalent among young adults, OCD one of top disorders in S’pore. Retrieved april 20th, 2019 from.
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/mental-illness-more-prevalent-among-young-adults-ocd-one-of-top-disorders-spore