This Experience - Redefining Definition of Prototype

After this semester I still hold on to the idea that a prototype is a systematic beta construction of a future product/entity. It is a semi-developed and semi-deployed idea.

 

Below are editions to what prototypes and prototyping means to me.

What form can a prototype take you ask?

• A spark of ingenious in one's mind
• A design
• A plan
• Incomplete but cohesive information in a physical manner 
• A sketch
• Digital artistry
• A listing of functionality and features
• A scenario of interaction

 What are the needs for a prototype?

• A brain
• Something physical to visualise the idea
• People, to admire it and make it fruitful with C&C (comments and critisisms)
• Experiences for analysis to evoke

What is a prototype used for?

• Visualisation
• Testing new ideas or iterations of an existing product/entity. 
• Modelling concepts
• Listing out abilities and functionality

What is a prototype's purpose?

• To access the validity of an idea
• To lower or increase self-esteem
• To see if the world has thought of everything already when you hear your idea is not unique.
• Acceptability and usability in the public forum

When do you create a prototype?

• When you think you have a fruitful idea or concept to show and convey to others and yourself. 
• Before starting any physical design process

Interactive Prototype III (ITERATION) - SOD

The Late Excuse Watch

Is a compact technology delivering a means to avoid messy confrontations
when you are late for a meeting or event. Using a GPS, the watch calculates whether the wearer will
be late and generates a non-cliché excuse if so. Read the full article about its concept here:
http://deco2300-43213263.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/late-excuse-watch-video-prototype.html

The Purpose

The purpose of this final step in the prototyping of our social intervention device is to improve and
upgrade upon our final prototype idea and make it so it resembles what a real-life implementation
would be – as much as possible. In this latest iteration (I) have coded it to act as an interface that
gathers outside data for example Google Maps API along with user-programmed calendar events
that correspond to a date and location. The underlying purpose of this final piece was to incorporate
as much feedback as possible in this static interface, and – as aforementioned – resemble a real life
model.

The Form

The form of the prototype is the same as the other interactive prototypes in this chain of design.
The interface has been polished and the class based code relies off online web apps to function
(Google Maps API). The MaKeyMaKey can be tied into its operation using the arrow keys of the
MaKeyMaKey, with key binds to run the different functions and return to menu. Below is an image
of the newly added GPS screen.

The inner interface time and date scale has been increased, excuses now have their own screen, GPS
is now full screen and displays a traffic style Google API map with the name of the calendar location
(Event/Meeting name – e.g. “sister’s house”).

The Testing

The testing phase will be more relaxed, and focus on how effective and efficient the choices for
improvements were.

The below Agreements and Questions will be solicited:

• Now that the Time and Date have been increased in size, would this current size be able to be viewed more easily or does it require enlarging further?
• The interface is simpler to use, with excuses being on their own separate screen. Does this square metro style and easy navigation add to the appeal of the device as a go-to method of remembering not to be late?
• If a real model were to be created, what size specifications would fit you best, personally, to be happy to wear one in public?
• Now that this is the conclusion to the DECO2300 stream, do you think this concept is worth of carrying on outside of the course? (Interesting question!)

The Decision

The decision was made to iterate rather than Dark Horse The Late Excuse Watch, this way I could
draw a conclusion to what I started instead of gallivanting off to a completely new turnaround use of
the watch design.  Using Interactive II’s review participant video where I asked questions and got
good answers throughout the design process, I only decided to take to this iteration a handful of
suggestions and ideas. Primarily I decided I would load calendar data from an online JSON document
– thus mimicking an online cloud based upload platform where users of the watch device did not
have to plug their watches in or set the calendars on the miniscule interface itself. Much like iCloud’s
Contacts database system works; to sync across devices.

This proved too tedious with online servers being temperamental in that I required pure JSON only, so I created a 3 part array list where the location name and their co-ordinates were stored.

Overall, the final product works well and I am happy to where the interactive aspect has come with the use of the MaKeyMaKey. Hopefully in the future this idea might even take off to a complete physical prototype - even if that means loading an android app onto a Samsung Colour LCD Watch!

Thank you.

Theremin Pugh Matrix

Theremin recording device setups

• Infrared LED Panel Distance recording
• Its ability to calculate distance is very accurate and is used in other appliances world-wide. Being on an x and y axis enables it to tell where the object is on in reference to the panel's height and width as well as the speed at which the light is received - thus the depth.
• Xbox Kinect
• Used for capturing 3D gestures and direction with 180% view arc. With the open-source ability it is able to be used for many things ranging from animated bone meshes in 3D games design or even in just monitoring the 3D location of gestures on a Theremin.
• Orientation Sensors
• These are built into most smartphones these days  and can record acceleration and orientation enabling a semi-accurate depiction of which direction in 3D space and how much force is applied to each gesture. It is lacking in its ability to detect the correct distance in 3D space however.

•  GPS
• Global position systems are almost useless in such an application, we added this device to set a baseline standard of calculating location. Due to relativity and inaccuracies due to distance of triangulating signals, this method of detecting location within a 1 metre cube is rather poor if existent at all.

Criteria is the following:

• Movement Speed Detection
• Usability
• Set up difficulty
• Portability
• Accuracy / Precision
• Cost