Slut fan
Final product
PROCESS
Initial ideas:
1) Fan that has a sensor and it stops when users want to use
2) A scissor that beeps when it is being held
3) An alarm clock that doesn’t ring at the right time to create a nuisance
Sketches of initial idea are seen below:
We decided to focus on the fan as we felt that it a more interesting and unique idea and wanted to experiment with sensors as well.
Object: Fan
Original function: Fan spins/blows wind for the person in front of it
Disobedience: Fan moves initially but stops spinning when a person comes near it
We created a prototype using Arduino materials, a sensor photocell, and a DC motor
Video is seen below:
Problem: the fan only stopped when the sensor photocell was covered almost fully thus was not effective as in a normal circumstance, people would not go that close to a fan.
Thus, we switched the sensor photocell with a PIR motion sensor, which can detect motion up to a 7 meter 360 degree radius
Problem: the DC motor could not start spinning again as it uses too much current
After consulting with Ms Lei, we realized we needed a H bridge. The H bridge could help to improve the current flow
Concept: since the concept is about “blowing”, we decide to add a quirky message as above “sorry I don’t do blowjob” when it stops. From there, we came up of the idea of a fan as a slut, trying to seek attention as it is spins initially. To complement the idea, at first the LCD will say “Come try me ;)” and when the user goes towards the fan and the fan detects motion and stops, the LCD will show “Sorry I don’t do blowjob”.
FINAL PLAN
Materials: Arduino materials, LCD, H-bridge, DC motor, PIR motion sensor
FINAL PRODUCT
Situation: At any open place with passerbys
Example: outside MRT
The final concept is to bring a life to the fan, thus we designed human features towards the fan to make it seems like a living thing that is seeking attention but it is being shameless to even tell the user that it is not interested to serve the users.
USER TESTING
Situ Video
REFLECTIONS
- How does your hacked object behaves in a way you least expect it to?
CP: The original idea is to let the sensor detect an approaching movement which directly cause the fan to stop moving. However given that we purchased a motion sensor and not a proximity sensor to detect the distance, this resulted in the sensor to become very sensitive to surrounding movement, and the sensor is 360 degree based, this causes the sensor to detect movement in the whole place which resulted in the fan to stop every time when something or someone moves within a diameter of 7m. The product became disobedient on it’s own against us by not complying to what we are going to let it become, i guessed that we did not tamed it well.
LX: The fan’s basic function is to spin and blow wind for people in front of it. However, we made its function opposite where the fan stops moving and does not blow wind as it senses someone coming near it. Thus, people are attracted by the spinning fan from afar with the the LCD saying ‘Come try me ;)’ and go towards it expecting to be blown with some wind. However, the fan stop instead and stubbornly does not move at all while the person is in front of the fan. The person is only left with the LCD saying ‘Sorry I don’t do blowjob’.
2. What are some reactions you observed from your participants when they interacted with the object?
CP: For the classroom environment setting, they were very confused as they does not know what is the purpose, especially when they saw the drawing of the “slut” attached to it, it was until they saw the LCD description which made them realised. They pointed out that this became a distraction as they do not know what whether the attention is on the slut drawing or the fan function. But upon seeing the message on the LCD, they managed to understand the purpose of this product to realise that this is more of a project that deals with kinkiness by adding a twist to the disobedient object, by doing a literal translation of the actions into quirky words.
LX: They were confused by the design of the fan initially. Because the PIR motion sensor is very sensitive, thus sometimes the fan already stopped before the person walked towards it and they just thought the fan was not supposed to move at all. However, in successful occasions where the fan was moving and only stopped when the person approach, the person went over and understood the project properly after reading the LCD screen that said ‘Sorry i don’t do blowjob’.
3. What are the challenges involved and how did you overcome them? What problems still exist? How might you overcome them eventually?
CP: Firstly, the sensor is too powerful and a slight movement of me bending my head has resulted in the fan to stop. This causes many times when people try to use, it actually stop even before they realised what they had done. I have to hide it against the 3d printed wall and instruct the users to walk in the opposite direction of where the sensor is pointing to shows a more accurate result. Only issue is inaccuracy of knowing the product works as the sensor is too strong. The test is not accurate as the fan will stop working as long as the sensor detects movement. This is partly the fact that the sensor is able to sense 360 degree around the whole environment. Thus to look into this issue, I could have cut a cardboard to cover around the sensor thus movement around it will not be detected as the only movement is from the front.
Secondly, the LCD is not obvious, the volunteered testers could not see the message due to the sheer size of the LCD and even a sheerer words on it. Eventually we have to get the testers to stand beside the LCD first and then instruct them to move forward to be captured by the sensor for product to function and produce a new message. However the issue is that since the LCD is on the other side of the product, they have to walk backwards to see the new message. This became a double effort for the testers. If i can overcome this issue, I will make a longer wire by extending the wire through combining male and female jumper wires to place the LCD at an obvious position. Example in front of the product that is visible from a distance, in conjunction with the over sensitive sensor, as long as it sense a slight movement when the tester is about to walk nearer to see the fan, it will stop and display the new message. This would allows the tester to know what is going on.
LX: During our process, one of the problems we faced when using the sensor photocell initially is that, the sensor photocell was not sensitive enough and the whole sensor motor had to be almost completely covered for the fan to stop moving. This was not feasible for our final as people naturally would not go that close to the fan in a normal circumstance. We tackled this problem by switching the sensor photocell to a PIR motion sensor, which effectively detects motion up to a 7 metre 360 degrees radius.
The next problem we faced is that the fan could not restart itself after stopping as there was not enough current supplied to it. To alleviate the problem, we had to buy a H-bridge which could improve the current flow. However, we did not know much about it and had to read up/watch tutorials on it. Thankfully, it alleviated the problem allowing the fan to start after stopping upon sensing that there is no more motion in front of it.
In our final project, a problem that still exists is that the PIR motion sensor is too sensitive, and picks up motion even from rather far away. Thus, people might unknowingly stop the fan, without intentionally going towards it, and this happened when our classmates were experimenting with our project. To make the project more effective, the fan should be placed in a more isolated/open area where people are not constantly around it. This would allow the fan to move before attracting people towards it.
Additionally, the LCD is very small and so are the words. Thus in our experiments, people could not really see the initial message “Come try me ;)” and did not really know what to do. Many of them only saw the message “I don’t do blowjobs” when they walked towards and stopped the fan. In order to solve this problem, we should switch the LCD to a bigger one, so that it is more visible from further away, and directs the audience well.
Lastly, Wen Lei commented that the design stole away attention from the small fan in the middle, as it was not directly complementing the fan, but drawing attention to the kissy face emoji at the top. To solve this, we should change the drawing to a place the fan as the mouth of the face in the drawing, which would help to convey the idea of a blowjob visually.
References
https://www.robomart.com/blog/1125/https://www.reichelt.com/de/en/arduino-shield-base-shield-v2-ard-shd-base-v2-p191204.html
Lcd Wiring Diagram Fresh Fritzing Project – Lcd Screen Setup Tutorial
https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-electric-motor-icon-symbol-image27014494