Musical Hoodie Functional Prototype

We finally completed our functional prototype for the Musical Hoodie, and thought we still have some improvements to make, including the name, I am quite proud of our progress.

The first task was to get the BeatWrite program working on the LilyPad Arduino instead of the Arduino Uno. The LilyPad is an Arduino that is meant to be sewn onto cloth, and therefore it was ideal for our project. However, the transition from Uno to LilyPad was not quite as simple as we thought it would be. It turned out that we had not installed the right drivers to connect the FTDI board that connects the LilyPad to the computer. It was somewhat difficult to debug because we were not sure if it was our sewn circuit, the LilyPad itself, or its connection to the computer that was not working. But we worked incrementally and finally got a single LED to blink when connected to the LilyPad, and from there we were able to use BeatWrite to make the LEDs flash to music.

Then we decided to implement a temperature sensor on the sleeve. The idea was that when someone touched the wearer's sleeve, attached LEDs would light up based on an increase of temperature from the touch. However, because the temperature sensor we used senses ambient temperature, it was difficult to set an appropriate range of temperatures. In the future I would use a different kind of sensor, such as a pressure sensor, to detect a touch. However, unfortunately we had not ordered other kinds of sensors and had to work with what we had.

We also tried to create a knit stretch sensor by integrating conductive thread into the fabric of a knit elbow patch. We wanted LEDs to light up when the user bent their elbow, stretching the fabric. However just using conductive thread was not enough. We realized that we needed to use conductive yarn instead, and decided that this would be a project for future implementation. 

My embroidery skills really came in handy when it came to sewing conductive thread into working circuits. It was exciting to use both my experience crafting and my knowledge of programming to create an interesting object. I plan to continue exploring soft circuits in the future. 

To continue to improve the Musical Hoodie in the future, I think the first step would be to disconnect it from the computer and allow it to be run using multiple songs from an iPhone or iPod. It also would be interesting to create multiple Musical Hoodies and create an interaction between them.

Overall, I think the Musical Hoodie was a successful project. The result was both novel and aesthetically pleasing, and our classmates seemed to respond well to it. The website that we created to showcase our project is at: http://musicalhoodie.wordpress.com/.

The Design of Everyday Objects

My grandma taught me how to knit when I was ten, and since then knitting needles have always been an object that have held importance for me. While there is not a specific pair of needles that has a deep meaning, or a specific sentimental value, knitting needles are always something that I have with me. To me they represent the possibility of making new objects, and spending time doing something that I find relaxing and enjoyable. Unlike the yarn that I knit with, they can be used almost infinitely to make hundreds of different objects. As I have continued with knitting I have developed preferences for using bamboo needles instead of plastic or metal because of they are light and the yarn moves over them smoothly. The needles themselves are tools that are used to produce objects, it would seem that their importance may be secondary to the objects that they produce. However, I find that I am more interested in the process of knitting than the objects I produce. In fact I usually end up giving my knitting to friends and family members.  But using a specific set of needles can remind me of past projects that I had made with them and also remind me what I was thinking about, watching or listening to while working on that project. and why I was working on it. Learning to knit is about training muscle memory in your hands to perform the sequence of actions required to make a stitch. Once you have learned how to knit, you no longer have to think about knitting, because your hands do the work. But having a familiar set of tools helps me to increase that memory. While knitting needles are fairly universal from pair to pair, it seems that the more I use a specific set the more meaning I place in each pair. Knitting needles are relatively inexpensive and similar from pair to pair. However, each time I use a set it is imbued with unique meaning about past objects I have used them to create and possibilities  to create future objects.

A Poorly Designed Object

Water faucets with two handles, one that changes the controls the hot water and one that controls the cold water are difficult to use. It is hard to control the temperature of the water because there is no way of knowing how how far you have turned the handle corresponds to the temperature and pressure of the water. There is no immediate feedback to tell you the temperature of the water because it changes as it flows longer, so you are often left waiting for the water to heat up, and wasting water in the meantime. But then the water will quickly get too hot. I often try to turn on both the cold and warm handles to obtain a moderate temperature of water, but then if I have both handles on I get confused about which handle I need to turn to stop the water. This is especially confusing if the handles turn 360 degrees and I cannot remember which way to turn them to turn it off. One single handle that controls both the cool water and the hot water is much more intuitive because there is a visual representation of what the temperature of the water is based on how far the handle is turned.

A Well Designed Object

Scissors are example of a generally well designed everyday object. Usually one end is plastic to differentiate it from the sharp end used for cutting things. The plastic ends have holes that indicate that you should put your fingers to grip the scissors, and they can only move apart in one way. The way that you move scissors corresponds directly with how you cut something, like a piece of paper or fabric. Furthermore, when you hold scissors with the right end, it is most natural to hold them so that the blade points away from you and you are at less of a risk of cutting yourself. When you are not using the scissors the blades are together and are meant to stay together so that they will not accidentally cut you.

Feasability Prototype

We have just finished our feasability protoype, and I am excited to keep working to complete our project. Our goal for the prototype was to find a way to sync music to lights, and to create a soft circuit. 

We found a tutorial on Instructables that gave us a way to sync music played by the computer to lights connected to an Arduino. While the tutorial seemed simple at first, it was difficult to begin to understand how to use Arduinos and Processing, which is an environment for programming Arduinos. Eventually we were able to complete the tutorial, resulting in three LEDs on a breadboard that light up to the beat of the music.

 

The next step was to understand how to build a soft circuit. Originally, we planned on using the LilyPad Arduino, which is a light weight Arduino that is good for soft circuits. However, we realized quite late that we were missing the part that connects the LilyPad to the computer. So we decided to use the Arduino Uno for our prototype. We will order the part for the LilyPad so that we can use it in the next phase of our project. Creating a soft circuit was quite simple. We just had to sew lines from the positive and negative sides of our LEDs to connect them to our Arduino.

Finally we added another LED to our circuit to test how it would work with more than just three LEDs. While the fourth LED blinks at the same time as another one of the LEDs, it makes more of a visual impact to have more lights.

I am optimistic about the next phase of out project, and excited to see how it turns out. 

Conceptual Design

As we continued to develop our project over the last month we have made many decisions about its design. In order to make these decisions we had to create a clearer picture of who are users are and what situations they would use this interface in.

The typical user would be a teenager or young adult who is familiar with technology and uses it daily, but does not necessarily have specialized knowledge of computing. They would use it as they are running errands or walking from one place to another, during daily life. The sweatshirt will provide a visualization of the music that a person is listening to through their earbuds, therefore allowing others to learn more about the person and their musical tastes without being distracting or annoying to others.

Because we picture our interface being used on a daily basis as the user goes about their regular life, we choose to make our interface be a sweatshirt because it is a practical and functional object of clothing. It also has pockets, which can hold the speaker and the user's phone or mp3 player. By placing these objects in the pockets, the user can have their hands free while wearing the interface and  continue with other tasks. We chose to put the lights on the front of the sweatshirt so that the user can have a face to face interactions with other people who are drawn into conversation with them because of the visualization of the music.

We now have a solid conceptual design, but I believe that it will continue to evolve as we receive feedback from the other members of the class and work on developing it.

Project Proposal

For my project I will be working with Athena and Sasha. We wanted to make a TUI that deals with the visualization of music and after some brainstorming we decided to make a wearable electronic hoodie that the user can plug her phone or ipod into and listen to her music using the attached speakers or earbuds in the hood.

Often when people listen to music in public they are cut off from communicating with the rest of the world by their earbuds. Some may want to share the music that they are listening to, but cannot because the music may be disruptive to those around them. By creating a lit visualization of the music that they are listening to on their hoodie, they are able to unobtrusively communicate with other's about the music they are listening to  during everyday situations, such as when they are traveling or running errands. The hoodie could also be worn in social setting as a portable speaker and a way to add visual interest to the music.

We want to create a very visually engaging project, because we are all very involved in visual art classes. I am also interested in learning about soft circuits and wearable electronics, because I have always loved crafts such as sewing, embroidery, knitting and crocheting. I think that this project will be a good use of the skills that we already have, while also allowing us to learn things that will build on them.

Evaluating FluidPaint Using the TAC Paradigm and the Reality Based Interaction Conceptual Frameworks

FluidPaint is a user interface that allows users to create digital paintings using real wet brushes that would be used by a traditional painter on a digital canvas.

The TAC Paradigm is a conceptual framework used to evaluate TUIs based on tokens and constraints. A token is a physical object that a user can use to manipulate digital information. Tokens are often used to update variables. A constraint is a limit on how the user can manipulate the token. A TAC is the relationship between a token, and its variables and constraints.

FluidPaint is representative of the tokens and constraints and interactive surfaces categories of tangible user interfaces. The tokens in FluidPaint are the brushes that the users can manipulate to create realistic painting effects. Similar tokens are fingers or tissues that the user can also use to digitally paint. The variables associated with the these tokens are location, speed, pressure and wetness of the brushes.  The constraints are the dimension of the digital canvas, which the user must paint within, and the fact that the token the user uses to paint must be wet.

TUIs can also be evaluated using the Reality Based Interaction (RBI) framework. The RBI framework compares a TUI's interface to real world interactions based on the user's knowledge and understanding of Naive Physics, Body Awareness and Skills, Environmental Awareness and Skills, and Social Awareness and Skills. The RBI Framework also describes tradeoff associated with TUIs including expressive power, efficiency, versatility, ergonomics, accessibility and practicality.

FluidPaint takes advantage of the user's environmental awareness skills and body awareness and skills because the user can judge the location of the brush to apply digital paint directly where she places the brush. FluidPaint also takes advantage of the user's body awareness and understanding of naive physics when she judges the amount of water on the brush and adjusts the speed and pressure of the brush based on the effect she would like to achieve with her digital paint. FluidPaint has an efficiency trade off because in order for the image to display at a rate of 25 frames per second, the image resolution can only be 70 dpi. Therefore efficiency of the displaying the image is prioritized at the expense of image resolution. However, in user testing the participants did not find this to be a major problem.

Sources:

1.Jacob, Robert J.K., Audrey Girouard, Leanne M. Hirshfield, Michael S. Horn, Orit Shaer, Erin Traecy Solovey, and Jamie Zigelbaum. "Reality-Based Interaction: A Framework for Post-WIMP Interfaces." CHI (2008).

 

2.Shaer, Orit, Nancy Leland, Eduardoh. Calvillo-Gamez, and Robertj.k. Jacob. "The TAC Paradigm: Specifying Tangible User Interfaces." Personal and Ubiquitous Computing 8.5 (2004).

 

3.Vandoren,, Peter, Luc Claesen, Tom Van Laerhoven, Johannes Taelman, Chris Raymaekers, Eddy Flerackers, and Frank Van Reeth. "FluidPaint: An Interactive Digital Painting System Using Real Wet Brushes." The ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces (2009).