Design Development Process!

We have gotten quite a bit done with our teacher inTUItion interface since my last post!

• Look

Appropriate materials to create the box

At first, we wanted to 3D print the box with a white filament such that the LED lights would shine through. However, we were worried that the Maker Replicator 2X tends to warp flat pieces when printed and we were worried that the size of the box was too big for the printer to handle. This being so, we decided to try laser cutting! Kathy sent a bit of time with Larry in the engineering lab, but they both ran into unfamiliar issues with scaling. With our time constraint, we decided to quick revert to 3D printing. 

To avoid most of the issues of warping and size, Kathy and Veronica aptly decided to print the box with the top and bottom half. This fit our form well, because we needed to fit the arduino and wiring in the box in a clean and hidden manner. In printing the bottom half of the box, we were able to implement Kathy and my designs for a shelf to cover the arduino.

Size 

The box ended up a bit larger than we wanted because of all the wiring and the size of the slider. I worry that the height of the box is now perfect to hide a cellphone behind...

Slider

We are happy with the design decision to change to a slider. It will be an analogy students are more familiar with (emotions as a continuum, rather than discreet pieces).  

Hinges

Rather than using a hinge with a pin, we decided to use a hinge I found on Thingiverse that clicks together. We iterated through printing a few times for size and scaling, but it turned out fine.

Buttons

The buttons work well with a cardboard base layer underneath (soft enough to press, but strong enough to support).

• Feel

We have all the interactions we wanted! The students can input academic and emotional information (through the button press and sliders), while the teacher can receive it and sent LED actions to the students (she added the LED lights). 

Veronica also did an amazing job with the implementation of the GUI for the teacher! The most familiar with NodeJS, she really took on this piece and did well. Because we only have one cube, we have the interface as a teacher would see the information for a particular student in a profile. The button presses translate as a level of understanding and the emotional slider is constantly being monitored.  In this same interface, the teacher can control the LED lights with simple clicks. 

• Depth

Personally, I am most proud of my work in the design of the box and the soddering/coding of the initial arduino workings with Veronica. We are very deeply into the design with our functionality and look. 

Conclusion

We were one of the few groups that explored new uses for hardware and we thus ran into new and frustrating problems. However, with this functionality, I am more than happy with what we have created. Although our interface includes simple interactions, our teacher inTUItion interface really challenges and would improve the way teaching happens in classrooms.

Wishes
That we had studied more product design!