Research : Cultural Probes

More than half who gave responses had an activity involved with the outdoors, walking their dog or gardening, and several of those were through friends. Only one of our eight responses used the internet to search something up, the rest completed the task either through a friend, or self taught. All in all, especially after a two year pandemic, the older generation wants to get out and do something fun.

Research : Brainstorming

In the brainstorming phase, both of us were looking to help the masses jump out of the virtual world and into the social streets of society. We tried mapping this concept to be social, robotic, and for the older generations. This lead us to buzz bot.

Research : Brainstorming Cont.

For our exterior robot design, our goal was to make our little guy as approachable and cute as possible.

Thesis Statement

"Buzz Bot" is a project that aims to, well, put you into social situation. Ever since the start of the pandemic, it has been rather difficult to interact socially. As social life adjust back towards normality, it can be difficult to re-adjust from the life you have lived the pass couple of years. The "Buzz Bot" is meant to boost the learning curve process by being your "wingman" to picking up conversations.

Iteration 1 : Paper Prototypes

Iteration 1: Mapping Socialization

Iteration 2 : Model Development

Iteration 2 : Translating Interaction

Iteration 3: Sensory Components

Motors

Motorshield

Ultrasonic Sensors

Arduino

Breadboard

Iteration 3 : Final Build

Final Render

Erratic Movement (Video)

Following Objects (Video)

Thank You For Listening!

Thank You For Listening!

Thesis Statement

Sunshine is a robot designed to provide a positive interaction to the elderly early in the morning. Sunshine mimics the behaviors of a barista, as well as provides a positive slip to read while the user enjoys their coffee.

• Many elderly folks read news in the morning
• This can often be an upsetting way to begin the day

Thesis Statement

News Receipts combines the physical media of news papers with digital informations streams of online news websites to create a physical, dynamic source of content. Designed for the aging population, News Receipts gives people access to a source of content that they previously may not have had or been comfortable with. Elderly people often have difficulty using touch screens and computers due to a myriad of factors, News Receipts helps provide that functionality without the limitations.

Cultural Probe

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News Consumption Habits

• Generally at the same time
• Often through newspapers

Sketches

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Videos

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Relevant Supporting Research

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Thesis Statement

The Tray Friend is an assistant for caretakers who need to make care of multiple bedridden people. This tray can speak to the user and ask them questions to keep them occipied while the caretaker is away. If need anything like food or mecial attention, they can ask the Tray and the Tray will contact the caretaker if needed.

Cultural Probe

• How do you use technology to be social?
• Logging your social interactions
• Hobby Exploration



Hello! I am your Tray friend! let me know if you need anything from me!

Can I please have butternut squash soup for lunch tomorrow?

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Here is your lunch!

The next day...

Final Prototype

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Evocative Image that relates to the activity or the problem you're addressing.

Thesis Statement

Loki is a robot that will be able to sense when someone falls and then will go over to help them. The robot will ask them questions and will even call for help if asked too, it will also be able to check a persons heartrate. This product is inspired by life alert but but instead this would come to you if you have fallen.

Prototypes

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Videos

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Thesis Statement

Real world advertising is highly invasive, forcibly occupying our community spaces. The response, of course, is real world ad block. We plan to build a robot that utilizes computer vision to detect billboards and other forms of invasive physical ads, and places a card in front of them with the fitting replacement '[Citation needed]'.

Brainstorming

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• Fully flesh out the idea and confirm that it is possible within the time frame
• Put together a basic schedule for the next week or so

-What improvements to the idea can be made?

-How does this benefit the elderly?

Evocative Image that relates to the activity or the problem you're addressing.

Cultural probes

A theme noticed in the group of cultural probes sent out in the second studio week to generation X and older was the dissatisfaction with interacting online. Users felt more content meeting with people in person and specifically felt even better if it was a routine meeting. Users enjoyed having set times and dates they knew they would see someone, and having an understood routine to follow. Contrary to this, users had reported trouble using digital routine trackers or calenders due to their complexity or the fact they weren't always present like a calendar on the wall would be. This caused conflicts and issues for socializing in the users.

Thesis Statement

Leap Planner is a helpful, approachable organizational tool that reminds the user of events and activities in their life. Leap Planner features an analog calendar, as used by many elderly people, as well as a stylized frog robot that reminds the user of the current date and makes Leap Planner more approachable.

Brainstorming

Sketches

Prototype 1

Prototype 2

Diagrams

Final Prototype

Thesis Statement

The Memory bowl is a way for elders or those who are bedridden and or have memory problems to be able to reconnect to their childhood. This soup bowl can show and speak to the user to help them reconnect to their childhood memory and experiences.

 Cultrual probe

Brainstorming

 Idea

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What was your favorite lunch food growing up? Do you remember what it tasted like?

Chicken noodle soup with carrots and ground pepper.

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Here is your lunch

 Sketch

Next Steps

• Brainstorm a prototype
• Build a prototype
• See what we can change to make it better

Areas for Feedback

• What is something we can change to make our bowl easier to talk to
• What is something we can change to make our bowl function better