Team Blank

Some photos from last night.

The first weeks we had to wrap our minds around the criteria for the project, which were quite difficult - it seemed at first that we had to solve the worlds energy crisis! This was of course not the case, but it was a challenge to figure out, in what way we would be able to integrate both self sustainability, robotics, urban space an lighting. In these weeks I think I learned a lot about working in a group, with people that had very different ways of going about a process, learning how to communicate, when to stand your ground and when to compromise. Along the way we each found our place in the group.

Together we came up with a general idea, and from then on I mostly worked on the shape. We started sketching, and Jeppe having done a great job in the overall design, I added some finishing details to his shape. After we started on the 1:1 model, I must say I learned a lot. I certainly was confronted with my shortcomings in model building - It was fun to try and work with the fiberglass, but also really hard, once we discovered how much extra work it actually was. For me personally I would probably hesitate on building such an ambitious model next time, because without Jeppes skills in the workshop it would have never been finished. I particularly learned that, for me, it is also really important to have a good time schedule and a realistic view on what is actually achievable by deadline.

I’m very proud of my group members who all did amazing jobs. They worked really hard and really long hours. And I learned so much from this project, so it was quite a disappointing presentation day, as I did not think the work was properly rewarded - but I guess that has already been adressed on the blog. It was a tough project, with a steep learning curve, as Isabel put it, so I guess something did come out of it. Finally thank you Team Blank: “Computer says: YES!”.

The first course when I came on exchange here in September was Making Sense of Complexity. However, making research about the complexity of a trivial product didn’t teach me even a fragment what this course did (which was the last one on the exchange). You see how complicated (and time consuming!) the things are when you are thrown into deep water to learn swimming yourself.

In the prototyping process I worked with the sound part of the robot. In spite of the IM background I got my hands “dirty” in the workshop: welding, sanding, painting … which was definitely educational. Due to the time limitations we went for a minimalistic (a kind of form follows function) sound solution. But I reckon it would be fun to develop the robot into some kind of analog sound system with a help of sound experts – however, this goes beyond the assignment.

This everything-but-simple project taught me much more than just model building skills. I learned how important careful planing in such a big design task is. I bet that if we had to do it over again we wouldn’t miss the deadline.

Thanks to the teachers for all inspirational words and to the group members for the team spirit.

When we found out what kind of product we wanted to do, I was the one as an Industrial Designer developing the shape.
One of the things I learned through the process was working with 4 other people in a group. It was very giving and challenging at the same time.
The model is made of fiber glass witch is a new material for me, the material was both difficult and interesting at the same time. We where looking for a sponsor and had 4 companies really interested in helping us with the material, witch was really positive.

Looking at where I was placed in the group after the first weeks. I was the one taking care of all the electronics and the programming part. From these 2 parts I have definitely learned most about electronics, Understanding the different factors with many of the parts and how to use them with each other.
How this knowledge could be used in the future for different installations that have something to do with electronics, interaction and lighting.
This basic understanding is definitely going to make me use electronics with more confidence for future projects.

Another thing is something I and others learn more and more about, group work. How to plan things out and who does what in the group. Also how important it is to have good communication inside the group for better work atmosphere and getting the most quality work hours from each and everyone.

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Thanks for the teamwork guys. Go Team Blank

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The first weeks was similar for all group members, with research and brainstorming.

As the project started to shape up, my main responsability was doing documentation and graphics. In between I have been moslty helping the industrial designers with the design and building.
Most of my learning have been in the creation of documentation films - Learning when, where, and what to film - and editing it. It has also been very interresting to work with the industrial designers, learning how one goes about making all the pieces that wind up to be a finished product.

The timeline for the project has ended (as of Thursday June 5th). We did not finish the product within that timeframe. Here is a movie that wraps up our product for presentation, and the process of making it (5m50s).

The industrial designers are working adamantly on the final stages of the build, and it will be completely finished by the end of this week (Friday the 13th by the latest). The timeframe for the programming is similar, but considering the intrecate nature of the microphone - only time will tell.

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THE PROJECT

The task given by the school was to create a self sustainable robot with the emphasis on light. –For a public space.

Balancing the 3 [robotics, self sustainability, and lighting] was a big challenge on its own. Breaking the challenge up: 1. Lighting is intangible, and therefore difficult to imagine how to look, and how to be intelligent. 2. How on earth to combine lights with robots – within the energy limit of a self sustaining power source.

We eventually chose to work with the bottle recycler, as seen in Copenhagen.

Translated from the newspaper, Politiken:

In Denmark, every 8^th aluminum can never return.

The Danish Recycling System (Dansk Retursystem) has 2 theories as to why:

Lack of return money (pant) on cans from Germany

Lack of habits for recycling aluminum cans.

Based on this we chose to create an aluminum can recycler.

Source: Politiken

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PROBLEM DEFINITION

How can we create a self sustainable, intelligent lighting can recycler that gives awareness to recycling, and that makes the task of recycling more rewarding?

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THE CAN RECYCLER

Studying our footage of the guy using the recycler in Copenhagen, we made the following observations:

• The shape of the recycler is large, chunky and unattractive. Such a large object looks a bit daunting to use. It is anonymous in the cityscape, hence uninviting.
• Due to the holes being vertical, the user can only put in one bottle at the time. For users with several bottles, the process is both long and boring.
• Right now, the bottles disappears into a black hole. While it is cool to hear the sound of the bottles squashing in the bottom, we find that the overall responsiveness could improve. Especially, when doing aluminum cans, which does not makes as much sound.

The solution we came up with is graphically explained both 2 posts below this one, and in the video above.

DESIGN CHOICES

With the problem definition at hand, let us discuss some of the reasoning for our choices.

On: How it works

Awareness: The motion detector lights are meant as a subtle reminder to people who pass by. It is inspired by a resting dog that gets excited by any attention it gets.

The task of recycling: Inspired by the “flip flop” coin machines (where coins bounce around) the ring light and percussions are meant to give a more visible and audible feedback to the user of the machine accepting the can. The fun of it is a balancing act. We want it fun enough to eliminate recycling being a “task”. But also, we want to avoid it being so fun that people will toss anything in it.

On: The physical design

Awareness: The translucency makes the whole shape light up, and visible from a long range. “This is something that looks interesting, and I would like to go close to have a look”, was Isabel’s (the course leader) remark.

We wanted the shape to be noticeable, but subtle. -There are a lot of demanding distractions in a cityscape already. The size is thought of as a small person that does not seem at all scary.

The task of recycling: The hole is made so the user can come with a bag, and empty all their cans at once. This could have been easier without the “roof” above the hole, but then there would be problems with rain.

A recycler is an object that will potentially get filthy, so we chose to avoid having any features that involved touching.

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CRITICAL STANDPOINT

After the last presentation, our counselors gave us some critique. Here is a summary, with responses:

Quote: “The product is not finished! In the business world, that would be game over” Reply: The ideal would be to be finished. However that is the risk of choosing to work with new things (both with the building, and the electronics). The alternative would be to forsake learning new techniques, in order to safe a finished product. We chose the former.

Quote:”The product is boring, and should have features such as:”

A. “A more exciting sound effect, such as a speaker saying “blob”". Reply: –We agree that the sound is not very rewarding at this point. The ideal option would be to work with sound technicians on that one. However, we certainly see some opportunities in doing some “guerilla” improvements on it while finishing it up this week. Be alert for updates!

B. “More spectacular light behavior”. Reply: –Ok. Let’s get the one we have fully working first, though. We will then have a base of lights that will allow for fairly easy modifications and improvements. Was there a follow up project, we would like to do user testing on the working product, and enhance it from there –If enhancement was needed.

C.”A crank to crush cans” Reply:–This is a topic of which our counselors have different opinions. While part of our sketch process for a long time, we discarded it because: 1. we would need engineering help for it to actually work. 2. It would not make crushing cans easier than doing it in ones palms. Additionally, it would bring plenty of problems concerning the use for old/small/handicapped, as well as potentially getting filthy.

Some problems we see on our own:

Foreign objects being tossed into the recycler. –We would need more time and research/experiments on this one.

The “inviting” part is not very effective during day. – Off the top of our heads, it could be cool to have a vibrating metal stick inside, vibrating more as people came closer to the recycler – as inspired by the dog, waggling its tail.

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LASTLY

To sum up, our problem definition was:

How can we create a self sustainable, intelligent lighting can recycler that gives awareness to recycling, and that makes the task of recycling more rewarding?

Self sustainable – Was the recycler full on at all times, it would use the energy of about 1 square meter of solar panels. It will not be sunny all the time, but neither will the lights in the recycler.

Intelligent lighting – The lights does behave responding to the user.

As for awareness and task reward, we’ve chosen to work with subtleties in both lighting and aesthetics.

Thanks, seeyoulaterbye

Team Blank

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It’s the last day of May, and the project is moving forward. The next video will probably be the final video, summing up everything and showing off the product. This will be due on Thursday June 5th, as it will be part of our final presentation (the same day).

In the meantime, heres a fast visual progress report:

[BELOW]Powersupply finished, and LED cluster el- and heat tested, ready for implementation.

[BELOW] Styrofoam model done, as a mold for the fiberglass, which is also done molding - ready for shape-tuning, smoothing, and paint.

It struck me that we haven’t really showed how our recycler is going to work. Hence, this:

The bottom motion sensors will notice people passing by, and make the bottom LEDs light up. They will light more the nearer the movement.

The sensor in the ring will trigger the ring LEDs if the recycler is being used (or if hand is put into the ring).

The acustic percussions will make [fun] sounds when a can is dropped down. These sounds will be picked up by the microphone which will, and in turn light the LEDs up acording to the bouncing sound.

Thus, the interactive elements of our cration is the sound of the percussions and the lights in the bottom and in the ring.

Last week we finished up the design, and started building. Also, with the help of Jamie, we got sorted what electronics we needed, and orderd it. Here’s a short video, showing how it all went down (2m30s)