Day 3 – From Concept to Implementation

On the third day, we needed to further develop our concepts that were come up with yesterday. So in the morning we were busy optimizing the ideas and consulted with Bernhard and Felix on technical problems.

 

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At around 10 o’clcok, we started presenting the concepts in turn with the help of posters on the wall. It is evident that  many groups had made much progress after careful and thorough analysis.

Group 1

When it comes to the concept “Rescute”, a more detailed explanation was given about the 3 steps to scare the attackers. As the first step, a kind of scaring light comes from the eyes and the bear turns the head. If it does not work, the police siren goes off as the 2. step. The last step will be sound like dogs’  frightening snarl.

 

 

Group 2 

The determination of final concepts seems to be a bit complicated for group 2 due to the technical difficulties encountered before.

However, the primary concept about toy railway was picked up again in the end. Some improvement was done such as the self-making shell of the toy train using laser cutter instead of refitment of an existing one, and oval Easter egg instead of round shaped Ping-Pong ball etc.

 

Group 3

The conccept “Togebear” of group 3 kept almost the same as one day before, The so-called Togebear can smell, listen, spreak and give light to interact with the person one speaks to.

 

Group 4

Group 4 had already done a lot so far, the emphasis was put on the technical aspect while the idea kept unchanged. Details on functions, challenges to be overcome were explained.

 

Group 5

 

Group 6

Group 6 decided for the concept “Ghost Polaroid”. Except for showing some ghost-related effects mentioned on the second day, group 6 were concentrated on the technical aspects including the  transfer of photos from the camera to the computer, image processing program, a print-out program and establishment of a big shell.

 

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After the lunch break Felix made an introduction to the laboratory and laser cutter, during which we got familiar with the electronics and tools for prototyping, as well. Then some groups begun directly with the implementation. Other groups might be inspired by the inconspicuous but fairly useful tools and improved their ideas accordingly. The whole afternoon was really very flexible for all groups to arrange themselves. Group 5 went to the shop on the Türkenstraße in search of springs which are not available in the lab.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some interesting experiments to test the feasibility implemented by Group 2.

Paper prototype made by Group 2:

Day 3: Sun is shining, brains are storming

After gathering ideas over the weekend, the today’s session was all about designing and developing our project concepts. To optimize this process, we divided the day into three phases:

Phase 1: Preparations

Each Team discussed their project proposals and wrote them down for a following presentation. Together we gave some advice and tried to help finding proper projects.

Fully automated ventilator

Physical dropbox

Phase 2: Brainstorming

After succeeding in picking the best project concept each team started to brainstorm and develop their ideas. Therefore we formed larger groups and helped each other. After lunch we presented our results as you can see in the following pictures.

Team 1: Midi toaster

Team 2: DJ Teddy

Team 3: Walkman remote

Team 4: The oscillograph

Team 5: Physical Dropbox

Team 6: The unnamed orb

Phase 3: Technical aspects

At the beginning of phase 3 we got a first look at the lab. That helped us to figure out what we are able to build from the technical point of view and if we need to order some additional pieces. Finally the long-awaited moment came, the teams started to construct the first parts of their project.

Day 3: Concepts

This was the last vacation day for laser cutter, soldering iron, drilling machine and all other tools that will have to work tremendously hard till the end of the week.

The day began with the presentation of each groups first vague ideas followed by a short discussion which idea should be realized and how it could be improved. We heard about vuvuzela traffic lights, unhittable footballs and computer mice, that force the user to ride the bike.

Armed with post-its and whiteboard markers each team spent the next hours with brainstorming and elaborating their most promising idea.

At the second presentation in the afternoon most vague ideas had become concrete concepts.

So, let’s make some noise!

Day 3: Brainstorming

The results of the brainstorming as .pdf:

GLOWWORM LOVE

BLOWFISH

LIKE A BIRD

AMBILEON

FLY TRAP

Brainstorming

The third day’s topic was all about the means to come up with awesome ideas: Brainstorming!

Having received some basic guidelines on “proper brainstorming” each team was equipped with a poster-sized sheet of paper, some magic markers and post-its. Given this starting situation there was nothing that could keep us from diving into a world of crazy, creative, fantastic – heck, sometimes even a little deviant – ideas and scenarios.

After assembling piles of ideas onto our posters, each team presented their concepts and gathered some feedback to finally be able to face the brutal truth: There can only be one!

So this is what might become real in the foreseeable future:

• A dice that is thrown by sound
• A “spheric plotter”
• A cannon aimed by a sensor glove
• A multimodal metronome
• A wall-mounted, circular music controller

 

Feeling Inspired

A little homework bridged the gap between the second and the third day: To gather some inspiration, we searched the web for interesting hardware projects to share with our fellow students. The next morning, we presented whatever gadgets were lucky enough to find our approval – or sometimes maybe even awe. It was quite interesting, to say the least, to see what others are up to with custom hardware hacking – and that some people might even have a little bit too much spare time on their hands to feel comfortable with. Let’s just say that the world seems to be home to some more (evil?) genius tinkeres than the rather sparse appearance of new Frankenstein movies lately suggests. The following list contains our findings, including links and videos. Enjoy the show!

Keyless Entry Prototype

Dual-Servo Laser Pan

Bend Sensor contolling MaxMSP via an Arduino

DIY-3D-Controller

Video

Step by step instructions

LED Color Organ

Polargraph

Project page

“Enough already”

The Useless Machine

…and another one. Ok, just one more.

Laser Harp

Project page

The Weatherclock

Project page

The Imaginary Marching Band

Project page

Keyframes

After lunchtime we had almost two hours to continue developing our idea of a project which can be found under the topic of “communication”. Each team continued working with one idea of the brainstorming phase. It was important to draw six sketches about one user scenario.

 

The Results:

Group A:

Anna Follmann, Beatrix Vad

Keyframes Group A

Group B:

Johannes Preis, Chadly Marouane

Keyframes Group B

Group C:

Verena Lerch, Frederick Brudy

Keyframes Group C

Group D:

Maraike Stuffler, Robert Rödler

Keyframes Group D

Group E:

Kyun-Jing Park, Lorenz Schauer

Keyframes Group E

Group F:

Verena Hillgärtner, Bernhard Hering

Keyframes Group F

 

Brainstorming

Brainstorming, an Impression

The Results:

Group A:

Anna Follmann, Beatrix Vad

Brainstorming Results Group A

Interactive Wardrobe – Screaming Handbag – Enhancing Privacy (Phone / Door)

Group B:

Johannes Preis, Chadly Marouane

Brainstorming Results Group B

Group C:

Verena Lerch, Frederick Brudy

Brainstorming Results Group C

Coffee Brake – Interactive Mailbox – Interactive Music Wall with Ball Game

Group D:

Maraike Stuffler, Robert Rödler

Brainstorming Results Group D

Group E:

Kyun-Jing Park, Lorenz Schauer

Brainstorming Results Group E

Group F:

Verena Hillgärtner, Bernhard Hering

Brainstorming Results Group F

Day 3, Introduction

The Agenda for day 3:

• Presentation of Homework:
• Theoretical background of brainstorming technics
• Brainstorming
• Presentation of Results
• Lunch
• Continue to develop the Ideas of the Brainstorming
• Presentation of Results

In the morning, the students were asked to present their homeworks to the others. Each group had to find a Youtube Video which shows a good or funny arduino project. So all of us saw 6 videos about projects which already had been realized and which served us as a motivation to create our own projects during the next days. The presented videos are linked here:

Squeezebox

Tabletalk

Arduino + Lego NXT

Cheap Thermocam

Arduino und Gmail

Eyewriter

With that great motivation we were ready for the brainstorming phase. For that purpose, the lecturer gave us a short introduction about techniques of good brainstorming.

Each team (one team consists of two persons) had more than one hour to collect ideas for their project and to write them down on flipcharts. The topic of these projects is Communication. They have to be finished until friday, march 18th at one pm. For more information about that brainstorming phase, see our other post “Brainstorming”.

Before lunchtime, each team presented their charts and choosed one of the ideas to develop it more in the afternoon.