Unit 61 Interactive Media Design

Unit 61 Interactive Media Design 

In this first task I will be choosing several gadgets that can ether influence my idea or is interactive, then answer a few questions on them

Gadget 1:

This device is a working mobile phone. It has been created using all recycled materials, the case has been made out of hay, the rest of the phone has been built out of older phones. The phone its self has got a 2 year life span then it will start to degrade. The components like the screen etc will be reusable so its possible to create another phone after the first one is over. The device its self requires batteries to run, however it is unlisted whether it used a socket to charge, or it just changes the batteries.
This device its self is very environmentally friendly, the case has been made out of hay, so its biodegradable, the other components like the number pad are recycled and even if the device breaks or fully decomposes, you can reuse the parts to remake another phone.

Gadget 2:

This device is a piano. It has been created out of coca cola cans some wires that are attached to the bottom of the can to an arduous then to a laptop. This device meets the brief very well, seeing as it is very environmentally friendly, it requires no batteries apart from the device your plugging it into. It is very reusable because you can just grab some other used cans if they break or need changing. Overall this hits the brief well. 
This can influence my idea a lot because taking ideas from this is making me want to build something along the lines of a game using multiple cans or something to navigate around the work, or cause led lights to light up. 


Gadget 3

The aesthetics of this device are very good. The device is very clean built and appealing to look at but it would require a lot of materials that are not so much reusable. 

This device unlike the other ones are not so much environmentally friendly. The device its self is a tetris game that uses led lights and many other components that are not very renewable. Meaning it does not hit the brief very well. However this idea can influence my idea a lot because I would like to build a working game like this but I will try mixing it with with a similar style as the piano above.

Gadget 4

Out of the devices above this is my favorite one by far. The device its self is very simple, but its very entertaining to mess around with. The overall aesthetics of the device is not very appealing, but it also sticks to the rule where the person using does not have to think before using it. It also making the person want to come back by making the device do something different each time the button is pressed. 

Does this stick the the aim of the brief? First I dont dosent relate to global warming in anyway, however it could be made out of recycled materials, apart from the leds etc. This device uses batteries to run, and can be reused to ether remake another one or used a parts for something else. Overall it does not hit the brief very well. How does this influence my idea? This device shows that very simple idea are very effective to mess around with, this makes me want to some sort of very simple game. 

Gadget 5

This is the final gadget I will be looking into. This device is mainly for insperation for my product. This is a pinball table, the overall look of the device is not very appealing to look at, the way they spice it up and make it appeal to more people is by adding subject matter to the project. The way they have done this is by adding some graphics all of the device, most pinball mechines will have this,  it to make it appeal to a certain audience. I could do something similar to this for my design. I could choose a subject matter that hits a certain target audience and put the illustrations over the prototype. This will increase the popularity of the device a lot more and just make it more appealing to look at.

Looking at this device also give me an idea of how I could change my design for the prototype. Instead of sticking to a box like design, I could change it to more like a screen with a pannel coming off the bottom with the button on it there. I could also stick with the pinball design and put it on legs so it stands up. It will take some time for me to decide on the overall look of the device, but I feel like to could look very good by changing up the design style a little.

My idea

My overall Idea of what I want to design is a game. The game is going to consist of a constant moving light passing over several led lights, the aim of the game is going to be for the player to press a button to stop the light at a certain point to gain points. The speed of the light will increase the more times they score a point, however if they hit the wrong light their score will reset and so will the speed. The led lights are going to be two different colours, so its easy to determine what is the colour to score points. The place that tracks your score will be above the leds and the button to stop the light will be below them.
How will this idea will hit the brief?
First, the overall product will be made out of mainly recycled materials, the only part that wont be recycled is the arduino. Next the device will be reusable, I will make the device so that is can be taken apart and reused. The device its self will run off of batteries, no mains will be required to charge it. This materials that it will be made out off will raise awareness of global warming.

The image above is a very basic design layout for the product I want to make. Overall I really dont like the shape of it, and I could possibly change the position of the led lights. I will also need to include an on and off button which is not displayed on the above image. Apart from that, I am really happy with the overall idea of the product just not the style of it.


Objects I will need or to salvage:

-Arduino
-Led lights (x3 green x6 red)
-Wood/Cardboard
-Calculator screen or something similar
-Resistors
-Buttons
-Switch
-1/2 AA batteries
-Breadboard

 Software skills/Electronic skills/manufacturing skills required:

For one of my prototypes I am planning on creating an interactive prototype using unity. I will need to do some simple coding/scripting and also very basic modelling to be able to achieve this. I will be planning on getting people to test out this device and I feel that this is a good way to test out any bugs with the game and also test out the usability of the device. The programme I will be using for scripting/coding will be Dreamweaver.

Paper prototype:

This is the first initial design of my product. During the design of the product I had to think a lot about the positioning of the buttons, power etc to increase the usability of the device. The power button I have decided to place it in the top left side of the product, this is because comparing it to a lot of other devices, the power button is located usually in the left side of the device. Doing this will allow the user to find the on/off button with ease rather then placing it somewhere unusual. With the button on the bottom of the device I decided to place two rather then one. The main reason for this is because of comfort while it is being held. If the button was near the center it would be awkward to hold and press the botton.

Legal, ethical and moral issues.

Before I even consider making the product I need to think about the legal, ethical and moral issues that may arise with the creation of the device.

Some of the issues that I have to look into is how it fits into the health and safety guide lines, laws etc to see if its acceptable. I think that I will need to put a small parts hazard some where on the device to warn people of a possible choking hazard. I need to also list somewhere that the device must be kept away from water. The reason for this is because the device will most likely break if placed in water and there is a possible chance of getting a shock.

This device is going to be very environmentally friendly. I am planning on making the product almost entirely out of recycle materials, I will be using LEDS gathered from devices from around my house, I will be trying to get the screen to track the score from something like a calculator or something similar to that. The container will be made from wood.
 If this device was to be produced on a larger scale that where some of the moral issues will arise. A lot, if not all of the materials will require some kind of manufacturing to produce them and can damage the environment. If I was to go ahead with the desire to build it out of wood, the product will require the chopping down of trees to gather this material. If this device was going to be produced on a larger scale I think I would need to change almost a lot if not all of the materials being used. I would change them to something like...



Cardboard Prototype:

This is my cardboard prototype. What I will be doing with this is getting someone to test it out. The main reason for this is to find out if the user can understand what the product actually is at first, also to find out if anything will need changing or moving around. I will be recording my results from this test.  

Testing the Prototype:



From the feedback I got from these questions that I asked I think are very helpfull in the future design of the project. The device its self was easily picked up, the person testing it was able to know it was a game fairly quick. This is very good becuase one rule of creating a device is for the customer to not have to think while they are using it. There was one slight problem. It took the person testing longer then I thought to find the power button , this causes me to think if I should changed the position of the button to make it more clear. I could move it to the front of the box. One thing I am very happy about is that the person testing was able to pick up on the idea of the game very fast, he was able to understand what the device was supposed to do with one or two slight differences. From his feedback I was able to understand that the device will appear to get boring fast, so I will have to change this up by adding multiple objectives or something. Also I was able to pick up that I need to change the style of it. I am planning on doing several sketches to have a better style for the device. Apart from that I am very happy with the feedback I got from this device.

Creating a working circuit:

Below is my first two circuits that I made. The first circuit is a simple led flashing. This is the very first step in the process of the game I am planning on making. What I did was change the code in the arduino, the code is:

int ledPin = 10;
void setup() {
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
delay(1000);
digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
delay(1000);
}

Under the void loop, the HIGH option affects the time that the light stays on, the LOW option affects the durration between each flash. Every 1000 I add on increases the time by 1 second.

The main reason I decided to do this was to allow me to start to use an arduino in a circuit so I can get used to editing the code to make it word. I will be using an arduino in my final product.

The next circuit is a simple on and off button that triggers the led to turn on and off. The way this circuit works is the battery at the top is connected to the positive and negative side of the breadboard. I then connected the row that the LED is on to the positive row, then placed a resistor in line with the left part of the LED. After I then placed a button in line with the left side of the resistor, then completed the circuit by attaching the button's row to the negative row. Now when the button is pressed the led lights up, when its pressed again the light goes off This circuit is currently in development and is part wat to being complete for my idea. To view the code that I used click the code edit. At this current stage I still need to make it so that when a button is pressed the lights stay on and they stop in there current position. Next I will then need to make the light bounce back and forth rather then going in one direction. After this I will need to make it calculate score when the light stops on the green section. Then finally I will need to make the speed of the lights increase every time it stops in the green section and reset if it stops in the red.  Testing the current Circuit


Some of this video might be hard to hear, so I will write the feedback here.

"Is the product interactive?"

No. I am planning on adding two/three more buttons. One will turn on and off the circuit. The other two will cause the lights to stop in there current position.

"How could the circuit be improved on?"

First, one of the lights is always on, I will need to change it to move with the circuit. Next when the lights hits the end of the LEDS it stops, I need to change it so it carries on moving. The circuit its self will need some kind of button, to make it interactive.

 "How long will it keep these age groups entertained? Between 4 and 9, Teenagers and retired people."

Seeing as the circuit at this current stage is not interactive, it will not keep the anyone entertained for very long.


              

Overall I the feedback I got was helpful in some ways. I was able to find out the my circuit have several problems like certain LEDS staying on and others not working properly. However I did not find the rest of it too useful. The main reason for this is because of it being incomplete, I will be making another video in the future of the completed circuit to get more accurite results. To answer the final question about if the product will be able to keep the certain age groups entertained. The first group between 4 and 9, I see that the younger end of the group will be bored quick of it, but the older side of this group I feel it will be able to keep their attention for a while. For the teenagers group, I feel that the device its self will be able to keep hold of their attention for a while, because of competition between friends and trying to beat your own score. Also the game its self will constantly increase in difficulty so it wont be to easy for people to play. For retired people, I think that they will lose attention very fast to the device.
 
Changing the design 

After the interim deadline the feedback I got was similar to what I had in the video. My tutors recomended that I change up the design style and try moving away from the controller approach and go for something more like a pinball table. At this stage in time they seemed to like my design idea and think it could work well. They also recomended that I do some more research into similar devices to get an idea on different aesthetics I could use for my device.

Different design.

 
This is the first design, it will probly be the most easy to make. Its similar in some ways to my first design and shares some resemblance with a pimball machine. I think out of the two I will most likely choose this design, I feel I could achieve this with the time I have left.






This is the second design, I prefer the overall look of this, however I dont think that I would be able to achieve this design seeing as I will need more materials I would not beable to get hold of in the short space of time I have left. I feel like this one is just more appealing to look at and is most likely better to play on.




After getting feedback from some people I was able to find out that they prefer the first design above. This is good news for me beacuse this will be the easier style to create and this is what I initially thought. Now I just need to finish the circuit and then start to design the final prototype.


A different Circuit

There is one problem that I am still having and thats linking the score pannel, button and the circuit all together. I cant get the button to stop the leds and keep them on. I think once I achieve this the rest will be easy. I have managed to get the arduino to be powered by a battery and also use a switch to turn the circuit on and off. One thing I manged to solve is that the led now bounces back. Its hard to explain, but before the lights would continuously go from left to right. Now it goes left and bounces back, to do this I completely changed the code.

This is the circuit at the current stage, I did not include all of the leds, or the buttons, but at this current stage I am happy with what I have. I also made a few changes, the leds will not increase in speed over time. Now it will randomly increase and slow down, this will throw the player off while playing to make it slightly different each time they play.

















Code:

int timer = 100;           // The higher the number, the slower the timing.

void setup() {
  // use a for loop to initialize each pin as an output:
  for (int thisPin = 2; thisPin < 8; thisPin++)  {
    pinMode(thisPin, OUTPUT);     
  }
}

void loop() {
  // loop from the lowest pin to the highest:
  for (int thisPin = 2; thisPin < 8; thisPin++) {
    // turn the pin on:
    digitalWrite(thisPin, HIGH); 
    delay(timer);                 
    // turn the pin off:
    digitalWrite(thisPin, LOW);   
  }

  // loop from the highest pin to the lowest:
  for (int thisPin = 7; thisPin >= 2; thisPin--) {
    // turn the pin on:
    digitalWrite(thisPin, HIGH);
    delay(timer);
    // turn the pin off:
    digitalWrite(thisPin, LOW);
  }
}


At this current stage I am slightly worried about getting the circuit to actually work. I am unable to get the button to work the way I want it to, this pretty much will make my device not work. This will make the prototype only able to be turnt off using a switch. I feel like im just going to have to try and include the button in some way even if it just stops the circuit by tuning everything off, at least it will have a little bit more interactive then before. 


Final Prototype development

This is the first stage in the creation of the container for my product. I first cut out all of the sides needed for the container. After doing that I then moved onto marking out where I want to make the cuts, this will allow me to roughtly understand how much to cut out and where to cut out. Next I cut out the first place, this is where the switch is going to go. Then I placed the switch, then attached the wires to it. The wires go from the center pin, to GND, I will then have to other wires coming from the other pins leading to the positive and negative side on the breadboard. The reason for this is because, the GND will supply the power to the circut, then the other wires are linked to the on and off button on the switch, so if its on, the wire will be attached to the positive side of the breadboard, if its off its on the negative. What I will have to do next I attach a battery into the circuit before the switch, this will make the whole circuit run off of a battery rather then the mains, like the brief stated.

For this part of the circuit, I took apart a calculator, i then used the battery holder parts then made my own battery holder. I then replaced the middle wire that was attached to the switch and connected to the GND. I placed the battery inbetween them, attached the negative side of it to the GND then connects the postive side to the middle of the switch. What this will do is supply the whole circuit with power from the battery rather then off of the mains.
Also while taking apart the calculator, I took the screen, this will be very helpfull for displaying the score for the game.
Next I will have to start to put the LEDs onto the breadboard, with the resistors and the code.

After several attemps to create the circuit, I was unable to do it. For some reason no code was able to get uploaded to my arduino. I have tryed useing allready made codes in the programme, aswell as my code and just and empty set of code. But for an unknown reason, an error message would appear as I attempted to upload it. One reason for this could be that my arduino might be broken, if its not that, then I am very unsure on what it could be.
Seeing as I could not complete the circuit, I am going to go and comeplete the container for where the rest of the components are going to go. 

This is once the front of the project was added. I make a little slit in the front of the box, this is for the score. I then would attach the wires to the rest of the circuit from behind it. Next I would have make a little rise in the container for the LEDs to sit, this would be slightly below the score display. To attach all of the components together to make the circuit would be fairly easy.

The image is where all of the components will sit. There is a lot of room to work with. To make the LEDs be close to the top I would have to make a small area for the breadboard to sit below the top.
If the code was able to work, I would then have to upload the code then the circuit would almost be complete. All I would have to do is add two buttons, link them up to the circuit. Then close of the box, but make sure I still had access to the circuit, I could do this by making another pannel to cover the bottom by make a little slit so I was able to pull it down.

The video below is all I could get to work for the circuit.

                            

This video show the LED flashing, I am able to incluide a switch into this circuit, this would power on and off the circuit. I would have to just connect GND to the center on the switch, then connect the negative side of the switch to the negative row on the breadboard, then repeat this process for the positive side.

Overall I had a lot of fun in this unit. I was very different from anything that I have done before. It was unfortunate that I was unable to complete the circuit with the device, but that problem was because of an unknown reson, ether the arduino was broken, or something else. I think that my idea for the project was stong and achieveable, I made sure that I did not create something to extream, like a car or something. This was beacause I had no experience in this topic, so choosing a easier device make it possible to create. Looking back at the final design process, I am very dissapointed with the overall outcome. I think that if I was to do it again I would need to try testing out the circuit in different ways or just completely change the code for the circuit. This was my main problem and casued the project to be incomplete. When I come across the error, I had asked several people for help including my tutor, but they were unsure on the cause of it too. I had also tryed using someone elses arduino at one point, but I still had no luck. If I had more time and the circuit was complete, I would paint the overall container of the box to make it more appealing to look at, and possably give it some subject matter.