A complete version of the inputs vs outputs for the interactive bus stop.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Interview with a person who is blind
As a group we interviewed a blind man waiting for a bus, and asked him his opinion about some of the main points of interaction with the bus stop. He actually thought sliding your finger down the bus stop to find where the bus is in relation to the bus stop was arbitrary, and believed that an audio message might be more appropriate. He also told us typically what happens to him when he is waiting at a large bus stop with multiple busses passing through. Usually each driver will stop and ask what bus he needs to take. Because of this, he said, an audio message should communicate what bus is entering at any time.
He also raised an issue we hadn’t considered earlier which is how blind people know what stop they need to get off at when they are already on the bus. This could be solved with another audio message when the passenger in on the bus. The system would already know what stop he needs to get off at. These audio messages will only sound when the ‘priority seating’ button is pressed.
He also raised an issue we hadn’t considered earlier which is how blind people know what stop they need to get off at when they are already on the bus. This could be solved with another audio message when the passenger in on the bus. The system would already know what stop he needs to get off at. These audio messages will only sound when the ‘priority seating’ button is pressed.
Flowchart
This is a finalised version of a flow diagram that explains the sequence of events if either push button is pressed. Basically if Push Button One is pressed, the left row of LED's will go through a basic sequence to show a typical bus coming down a route and stopping at the bus stop. If the second Push Button is pressed the right row of LED’s go through a simular process to the left row aside from getting delayed half-way down the route.
The Diagram shows white circles next to the LED’s which are light sensors. We decided to change from a membrane potentiometer to light sensors, for quite a few reasons including price, accuracy and manufacturing ability. Their will now be an extra layer of MDF sandwiched between the acrylic layers which has squares removed only around the groups of LED’s/Light sensors. This will form a box around the light sensor so when a finger is placed over the tiny box (~8mmx8mm) all light is omitted and the sensor will produce a signal.
This signal will be used to power a vibrating motor, so people that are blind can feel down the route and know where the bus is in relation to their stop.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Week 12 Tutorial
Drawing inspiration from the lecture Yasu gave about distributed, locative and sociable media, Patrick and I came up with the final mode of interaction between the passengers waiting at the bus stop and the passengers already on the bus. When we received feedback from the tutors that we needed more interaction between these two groups of users we automatically started thinking about a sociable communication method, which we had a lot of trouble coming up with. So we have now come up with a final interaction which would fall under locative media.
The input is a button located on the bus stop that can be pressed by passengers waiting to get on the bus who require to sit in the priority seating area. The button will activate a ‘priority seating light’ on the bus, adjacent to the existing ‘bus stopping light’, which will notify passengers on the bus that a passenger requires to sit in the priority seating area, and when the bus comes to a stop at the next stop, able passengers currently sitting in these areas should vacate to another seat or stand in the aisle.
With this final interaction in place, we set out to draw a flow diagram of all the interactions between all inputs and outputs. We found this to be quite a challenging process, as we had to tie up and confirm every last detail in all network interactions. Tim came along to give us some feedback at this stage. He agreed on the final interaction we had just come up with and liked the broadness of our network. He did however express concerns regarding the manufacturing of the bus stop. We originally decided on a welded aluminum U-Bar construction, which Tim talked us out of due the expensive nature of this manufacturing technique.
So we have now changed the look of the bus stop slightly as it now will have a flat front face and a curved Polycarbonate rear. (For more information see Patrick’s blog as he is covering object).
The input is a button located on the bus stop that can be pressed by passengers waiting to get on the bus who require to sit in the priority seating area. The button will activate a ‘priority seating light’ on the bus, adjacent to the existing ‘bus stopping light’, which will notify passengers on the bus that a passenger requires to sit in the priority seating area, and when the bus comes to a stop at the next stop, able passengers currently sitting in these areas should vacate to another seat or stand in the aisle.
With this final interaction in place, we set out to draw a flow diagram of all the interactions between all inputs and outputs. We found this to be quite a challenging process, as we had to tie up and confirm every last detail in all network interactions. Tim came along to give us some feedback at this stage. He agreed on the final interaction we had just come up with and liked the broadness of our network. He did however express concerns regarding the manufacturing of the bus stop. We originally decided on a welded aluminum U-Bar construction, which Tim talked us out of due the expensive nature of this manufacturing technique.
So we have now changed the look of the bus stop slightly as it now will have a flat front face and a curved Polycarbonate rear. (For more information see Patrick’s blog as he is covering object).
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Approaching the design freeze
We have reached a point were we are very close to a design freeze. Patrick has begun work on making a working prototype of the model, we found that he and I need to be working together quite frequently at this stage of construction as the electronics will be supplied by me. On that note I have finalised the inputs and outputs for the behavior of the bus stop. The two inputs are firstly: the buttons located on every stop along the route, so the user can select their destination and also a slider sensor for blind people, which I will explain in a few sentences.
The two outputs are the lines of LED’s along the bus route that show where the bus is in relation to the stop and also a vibrating motor which is activated by the slider sensor. Ideally the lines that represent the bus routes would all be slider sensors, so as you slide your finger along the route the motor will send a vibration through the whole bus stop informing a sight impaired person where the bus it along the route. But due to construction limitations we will place the slider sensor adjacent to the bus routes.
The next step, from a behavior point of view, is to communicate with Yasu regarding the electronics and the best way of approaching the coding.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Week 10 Round table discussion
Press Destination
We presented our scenario video to the tutors in today’s tutorial, followed by a round table discussion. The main issue presented by the tutors was the social networking link that our design addresses is too weak, and that greater social interaction needs to occur between passengers waiting at bus stations not just passengers interacting with the bus driver. One possibility Patrick brought up with the tutors was the bus stops having the ability to be updated immediately with a ~20sec delay if people are getting on or off at any bus stop along the route. For example if you are waiting at the fifth bus stop along a route, for every stop before yours that there are people waiting to get on or off, the bus stop will show a progressive ~20sec delay to give the bus driver time to stop and pick up/drop off passengers.
We presented our scenario video to the tutors in today’s tutorial, followed by a round table discussion. The main issue presented by the tutors was the social networking link that our design addresses is too weak, and that greater social interaction needs to occur between passengers waiting at bus stations not just passengers interacting with the bus driver. One possibility Patrick brought up with the tutors was the bus stops having the ability to be updated immediately with a ~20sec delay if people are getting on or off at any bus stop along the route. For example if you are waiting at the fifth bus stop along a route, for every stop before yours that there are people waiting to get on or off, the bus stop will show a progressive ~20sec delay to give the bus driver time to stop and pick up/drop off passengers.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Week 09 Tutorial
In the meeting today, Patrick, Kane and I had many detailed discussions about the aesthetics and behavior of the new concept for the bus stop. The main issue we discussed was the amount of LED's we would use for each bus stop. Originally we were to have one line of RGB LED's which would represent all the bus routes and individual bus numbers would be identified through colour. My argument against this interface was that people may get confused when they can’t see where their bus is going to end up at the end of the route. Also, during peak times only having one strip of LED’s might not be enough to handle the added routes during these times.
One solution was to represent each bus number along a route with separate lines and separate LED's along each path. This concept was good for showing people where they need to go, but it used four times as many LED’s as one strip. We compromised as a group as we liked the usability of have separate lines to show each bus number, and we liked the simplicity and elegance of having a single strip of LED’s to show busses on route.
To be continued…
One solution was to represent each bus number along a route with separate lines and separate LED's along each path. This concept was good for showing people where they need to go, but it used four times as many LED’s as one strip. We compromised as a group as we liked the usability of have separate lines to show each bus number, and we liked the simplicity and elegance of having a single strip of LED’s to show busses on route.
To be continued…
Impromptu meeting
Last Thursday Patrick, Kane and I had a meeting to further develop the bus stop flagger. The meeting mainly covered a new aesthetic for the design, and also new ways to interact with it.
The bus stops will now be personalized with the bus route actually being the shape of each bus stop, which you can see with the picture. In terms of behavior we decided to integrate LED’s into the surface of the bus route which gives users feedback about the locality of their bus.
The two parts sprouting from the top of the bus stop serve separate purposes. The part that would be over the gutter, facing the road will show the driver what bus needs to stop at that particular bus stop. The inward facing piece will contain a light and possibly a speaker if we decide to incorporate audio messages into the design.
The bus stops will now be personalized with the bus route actually being the shape of each bus stop, which you can see with the picture. In terms of behavior we decided to integrate LED’s into the surface of the bus route which gives users feedback about the locality of their bus.
The two parts sprouting from the top of the bus stop serve separate purposes. The part that would be over the gutter, facing the road will show the driver what bus needs to stop at that particular bus stop. The inward facing piece will contain a light and possibly a speaker if we decide to incorporate audio messages into the design.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Behavior of the bus stop
Our design took on a new look and slightly new system after the group meeting we held after the Week 08 tutorial. As the user approaches the bus they have several ways of finding information.
Note: At the moment the design uses the inbuilt GPS in a bus coupled with twitter (each bus number has its own twitter page) which send tweets every time it leaves a stop on-route.
Firstly they can scan and slide their GO Card down the bus route, to their desired destination, which is lined with RGB LED’s (a different colour for each bus number). The quickest route will be shown by the LED’s along the route and the bus number will be displayed for the driver so he/she knows if to stop or not. The LED’s along the route will then go through a flash sequence followed by a new measuring system that shows how far the soonest bus going to their destination is away from their stop. The bus stops are represented by push buttons along the route which is another way for users to choose their destination.
Using the GO Card systems users can also gauge how full a particular bus is with the bus icons on the right of the interface. The squares are backed with LED’s and indicate how full a bus is in increments of 25%. The interface also houses a twitter feed of the busses on the particular route, which will work along with the LED’s to give a more accurate system of tracking busses.
We Endeavour to design a universal system which is why we are including multiple variations of interaction. Brail is already going to be included on the bus stop buttons, so a blind person could flag down a bus driver quite easily. One concept we discussed was to give blind people as much information as a visually able person by placing a dynamic texture above the LED’s along the route so they could feel how far away the bus is by feeling down the route (along the lit LED’s and raised the texture) to the position of the bus (to the last lit LED and the beginning of the low texture) in relation to their stop.
Note: At the moment the design uses the inbuilt GPS in a bus coupled with twitter (each bus number has its own twitter page) which send tweets every time it leaves a stop on-route.
Firstly they can scan and slide their GO Card down the bus route, to their desired destination, which is lined with RGB LED’s (a different colour for each bus number). The quickest route will be shown by the LED’s along the route and the bus number will be displayed for the driver so he/she knows if to stop or not. The LED’s along the route will then go through a flash sequence followed by a new measuring system that shows how far the soonest bus going to their destination is away from their stop. The bus stops are represented by push buttons along the route which is another way for users to choose their destination.
Using the GO Card systems users can also gauge how full a particular bus is with the bus icons on the right of the interface. The squares are backed with LED’s and indicate how full a bus is in increments of 25%. The interface also houses a twitter feed of the busses on the particular route, which will work along with the LED’s to give a more accurate system of tracking busses.
We Endeavour to design a universal system which is why we are including multiple variations of interaction. Brail is already going to be included on the bus stop buttons, so a blind person could flag down a bus driver quite easily. One concept we discussed was to give blind people as much information as a visually able person by placing a dynamic texture above the LED’s along the route so they could feel how far away the bus is by feeling down the route (along the lit LED’s and raised the texture) to the position of the bus (to the last lit LED and the beginning of the low texture) in relation to their stop.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Above and beyond
After formally joining my team with Kane Henderson and Patrick Ford, we decided to continue our design development of the bus tracker. To fit into the constraints of the new brief we decided to change the tracking network from a GPS system to live Tweets on Twitter. Each bus in the city will have its own twitter profile, and will send automatic tweets when leaving each station on route. The driver will also have the opportunity to manually tweet passengers in case of an emergency etc. The bus stop will have some sort of tangible interface where passengers choose the destination they wish to travel to and receive information about the next bus going to that stop.
This got us thinking about what people do at a bus stop. It’s boring, it’s frustrating, it’s a real pain when you don’t know where the bus that was supposed to arrive ten minutes ago is. So a tangible interface that gives passengers something to do while they’re waiting for their bus, like playing a game, has been the main focus point in the design process this week.
http://dornob.com/spill-espresso-in-style-clever-coffee-cup-saucer-maze-set/
I found this saucer that gives users something to do with their hands while enjoying a cup of coffee. Cool stuff.
I believe the scenario facet of this project will be a major contributor to this design, as users are in many different situations when they are using a bus stop. Kane is handling this side of the process, Patrick is focusing on the object and I am studying behavior. Although we have branched off into these sub-categories we will continue to meet up and work through the whole process as a group.
This got us thinking about what people do at a bus stop. It’s boring, it’s frustrating, it’s a real pain when you don’t know where the bus that was supposed to arrive ten minutes ago is. So a tangible interface that gives passengers something to do while they’re waiting for their bus, like playing a game, has been the main focus point in the design process this week.
http://dornob.com/spill-espresso-in-style-clever-coffee-cup-saucer-maze-set/
I found this saucer that gives users something to do with their hands while enjoying a cup of coffee. Cool stuff.
I believe the scenario facet of this project will be a major contributor to this design, as users are in many different situations when they are using a bus stop. Kane is handling this side of the process, Patrick is focusing on the object and I am studying behavior. Although we have branched off into these sub-categories we will continue to meet up and work through the whole process as a group.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Into the future
As the design continues to develop I’m investigating the possibility of making a micro version of the positive displacement pump. I plan to make the housing of the pump circular as opposed to square so it can fit inside a bus stop pole if it were laying flat. The manufacturing process would be quite similar to the pump seen in the final concept presentation, with the exception of smaller bearings on the ends of the windmill arms and possibly some skinnier tubing. I believe the friction will be substantially less with the smaller sized pump plus we have identified high friction areas that would be addressed with the new design. So using the step motor will again be considered.
We would like to combine some of the elements each person presented in the concept presentation. A large scale sculpture/timetable/map where all the bus lines are represented by clear tubes and the buses by the water slowly draining down these tubes, is one idea that we have played with. I think before we proceed any further into the design process a clear context needs to be established, as there is a lot of difference between the bus stop at the Cultural Center and the stop two minutes from your front door.
We would like to combine some of the elements each person presented in the concept presentation. A large scale sculpture/timetable/map where all the bus lines are represented by clear tubes and the buses by the water slowly draining down these tubes, is one idea that we have played with. I think before we proceed any further into the design process a clear context needs to be established, as there is a lot of difference between the bus stop at the Cultural Center and the stop two minutes from your front door.
Final concept
I went to the presentation with the positive displacement pump which I worked on collaboratively with two class members, and the container which the water would flow into from the pump. To represent the container being inside a bus stop pole I used a glass alcohol bottle wrapped with a piece of acrylic. I had the stops laser cut out of the flat piece, then heated it under elements and wrapped it around the bottle. Originally I wanted to use an opaque plastic, so the water would only show down the line I had cut down the piece, but due to time restrictions I could only get hold of a clear piece, which turned out fine to show design intent.
In terms of manufacturing, the base I constructed to house the bottle was poor construction which showed when it leaked everywhere during the presentation, this I could have done better. When I was heating up the acrylic sheet with the help of a workshop guy, and stared draping it around the bottle, it was a lot harder to get a clean mould than I thought. In retrospect a prefab acrylic tube may have been the better option.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Pump Working!
As you can see from the video Patrick and I finally got water to pass through the pump, aided by a power drill as the two motors we assigned to turn the pump failed. My trip to three hobby stores yesterday in search of sprockets to connect the step motor and drive shaft sprockets yielded zero results, so we couldn’t use the step motor. We foresaw this problem when we decided to use this specific drive shaft so we saved the 12v electric motor from the remote controlled car to use as a back up. But there was always the question of the smaller motor having enough torque to turn the pump. Turns out it didn’t, even with two 9v batteries and a variable resistor, the motor would simply cut out when we gave it surplus power.
For the final design we would like to use the step motor running via a program so we can accurately measure the water going through the pump. I was recommended a great online store from one of the guys from Hobbyrama http://www.smallparts.com/ where we should be able to find the sprockets we need to do the job.
So for the concept presentation we are going to use the power drill to turn the crank which will pump water via spaghetti tube, from a syringe, into a bottle wrapped in acrylic which shows where the bus stops would be.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
The Pump: nearly pumping
Here are some shots of the latest model of the water pump. The gears were taken from a remote controlled car and we have left them in the chassis so we don’t need to make a new housing, that is if the gears are even used, which is dependant on my trip to a hobby store tomorrow. Basically the teeth on the sprocket fixed to the step motor are too thin to mate with the sprocket on the drive shaft. There are a number of options that are open to us which include: making our own gear system with laser cut or bought gears, a chain drive or if worse comes to worse cutting new windmills for the pump with an alternative female drive hole.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Step motor
Last week Patrick and I bought a step motor kit from J-Car, and have been working on it until last week when we got it to work. At the moment the motor is running off pre-programmed sequences via the circuit board we soldiered. Later in the design process we would like to program a suitable sequence with the included software, to make the design feasible.
Lasers
I got some windmill attachments for the displacement pump laser cut during the week. They turned out great!
As the second picture shows, two are going to be used with three skate bearings pinned between. This should give us even pressure and flow over the silicon tubing.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Collaborative design
Up until recently I have been working on the bus tracker design with two classmates Patrick Ford and Kane Henderson. For our individual initial concept presentations we are presenting the same mechanism that could be used in three separate scenarios. We have justified this collaboration on the complexity of the mechanism we are trying to create. Once we have finalised the mechanism we will then branch off and explain our individual concepts. As the bus tracker was initially my idea so I am keeping the concept.
Arcs and routers
The following picture describes the latest concept for the bus position monitor. It involves using a stream of water slowly filling up a cylinder to show the progression of a bus on route. The mechanism would work using a positive displacement pump driven by a programmable step motor to regulate exactly how much water passes into the tube. So we went and bought a step motor.
As of yet the step motor remains un-programmed due to software issues but construction of the positive displacement pump initiated in yesterdays workshop tutorial. The clear 12mm hose that Patrick brought to the tutorial was a good tool to visualise the pump and decide what materials would be best for this design. But we later realised (after consultations with tutors and workshop staff) that the hose was too thick and the arc we routed out for the pump to turn in was too large.
After this hurdle we decided to use a smaller diameter hose (about 3/4mm, made of silicon/similar) and route out a smaller and more accurate arch using the drilling press/router machine in the workshop. We finished the session with a much more accurate and feasible pump housing and a clearer idea on resolving this design.
As of yet the step motor remains un-programmed due to software issues but construction of the positive displacement pump initiated in yesterdays workshop tutorial. The clear 12mm hose that Patrick brought to the tutorial was a good tool to visualise the pump and decide what materials would be best for this design. But we later realised (after consultations with tutors and workshop staff) that the hose was too thick and the arc we routed out for the pump to turn in was too large.
After this hurdle we decided to use a smaller diameter hose (about 3/4mm, made of silicon/similar) and route out a smaller and more accurate arch using the drilling press/router machine in the workshop. We finished the session with a much more accurate and feasible pump housing and a clearer idea on resolving this design.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Bus stop map
I came to the workshop with an idea for a bus map that shows with LED’s the position of the bus in relation to the stops along the route, so users know how far away the bus is from their stop. Due to the limited resources available to us we needed to simplify the traditional bus map into its most simple form. We brainstormed alternative ways to communicate time, which is essentially the primary function of the design.
The solution was simplifying the bus map to something linear, in this case suspending a strip of LED’s on a chain inside a translucent piece of PVC pipe which, when lit up, represent the position of the closest bus. The stops are represented by outer rings along the length of the tube. The design is self sufficient and is powered by pulling down on the chain connected to the LED’s which feeds off a spring loaded rotary generator at the top the tube. So when the chain is pulled down by the user, (the chain is spring loaded so would then travel back up the tube) the generator sends power to the appropriate LED/s showing where the bus is in relation to the stops along the route.
A scenario for this design would be:
Jim Davies catches the bus to work every morning. He catches the 8:45 bus from Stop 16 in Ashgrove. Before he catches the bus, Jim buys a coffee from the café across the street. As he is a regular they give him a good deal and they know his name. This particular morning Jim is running five minutes late, which is the usual time he allows to cross the street and buy his coffee. The design concept has been newly installed at the stop 16 bus stop, so Jim pulls down on the chain and is able to check where the bus is on-route, and how much time he has until it gets to his stop. If it’s running late, as he was this morning, he still may be able to catch his coffee.
The solution was simplifying the bus map to something linear, in this case suspending a strip of LED’s on a chain inside a translucent piece of PVC pipe which, when lit up, represent the position of the closest bus. The stops are represented by outer rings along the length of the tube. The design is self sufficient and is powered by pulling down on the chain connected to the LED’s which feeds off a spring loaded rotary generator at the top the tube. So when the chain is pulled down by the user, (the chain is spring loaded so would then travel back up the tube) the generator sends power to the appropriate LED/s showing where the bus is in relation to the stops along the route. 
A scenario for this design would be:
Jim Davies catches the bus to work every morning. He catches the 8:45 bus from Stop 16 in Ashgrove. Before he catches the bus, Jim buys a coffee from the café across the street. As he is a regular they give him a good deal and they know his name. This particular morning Jim is running five minutes late, which is the usual time he allows to cross the street and buy his coffee. The design concept has been newly installed at the stop 16 bus stop, so Jim pulls down on the chain and is able to check where the bus is on-route, and how much time he has until it gets to his stop. If it’s running late, as he was this morning, he still may be able to catch his coffee.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Introduction to interaction design
The first workshop exercise required us in small groups to come up with five different materials and list out methods to utalise each material as input and output interfaces to communicate ten different messages. As the final design criteria for this subject requires us to design an interaction interface for a social context our team of three kept the messages purely arbitrary with phrases like: ‘What are you doing tonight?’ and ‘Can I come over?’.
The team came up with a few simple material input-output methods before quickly moving onto brainstorming various design concepts for different contexts within a social network.
One interesting idea from Patrick was a pair of pendulums for two users wishing to communicate with each other. Each user would have one of the identical pendulums which have a series of messages arranged as pie shapes on a circular base that the pendulum, if tilted the right way, can point to. The two pendulums mimic each other via some sort of wireless system connected to step motors in the base so both users can interact with the messages at any given time.
Another idea helped along by a tutor Tim, was the virtual handshake experience. We discussed observations regarding giving and receiving handshakes and the importance the handshake has on social interactions, particularly when you meet someone for the first time. From these observations spawned the concept of the handshake booth, where a user could give a virtual handshake to another user anywhere in the world and receive the same pressure and style of shake on their hand as though they were shaking the users hand in person. This was a purely conceptual idea and to construct a prototype would mean all sorts of restrictions on ability, and also technology availability that would be needed for the final design.
Staying on this subject, I endeavor not to restrict what designs I put on this blog. I intend to communicate a variety of design ideas, concepts, thoughts, etc. no matter how comical or fantastical they may seem, for I believe the most simple and thoughtful solutions can be inspired by absolutely anything around us.
The team came up with a few simple material input-output methods before quickly moving onto brainstorming various design concepts for different contexts within a social network.
One interesting idea from Patrick was a pair of pendulums for two users wishing to communicate with each other. Each user would have one of the identical pendulums which have a series of messages arranged as pie shapes on a circular base that the pendulum, if tilted the right way, can point to. The two pendulums mimic each other via some sort of wireless system connected to step motors in the base so both users can interact with the messages at any given time.
Another idea helped along by a tutor Tim, was the virtual handshake experience. We discussed observations regarding giving and receiving handshakes and the importance the handshake has on social interactions, particularly when you meet someone for the first time. From these observations spawned the concept of the handshake booth, where a user could give a virtual handshake to another user anywhere in the world and receive the same pressure and style of shake on their hand as though they were shaking the users hand in person. This was a purely conceptual idea and to construct a prototype would mean all sorts of restrictions on ability, and also technology availability that would be needed for the final design.Staying on this subject, I endeavor not to restrict what designs I put on this blog. I intend to communicate a variety of design ideas, concepts, thoughts, etc. no matter how comical or fantastical they may seem, for I believe the most simple and thoughtful solutions can be inspired by absolutely anything around us.
Hello and welcome
This blog is a resource to let me exhibit my activities, reflections, ideas and concepts from brainstorming and workshop investigations for DNB 601 Industrial Design. Comments and discussions are welcome.
Ned Raines
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