Project Description: The Easy Com Armband is a device built for special military operations that transmits emergency signals through simple and secret vibrations from one armband to another.

The Easy Com Armband is a device, designed to help the U.S. Marines in secret and dangerous operations. When the U.S. Marines or Military Special Forces go into a highly dangerous combat operation, their lives on the line. Specifically, in hostage or kill-list operations, often less than ten soldiers are assigned the task to enter an unmapped building in order to find their target. One of the militaries challenges is communication. Radios and face to face communication are mainstream in these operations; however, these methods are not always the most effective. Our goal in this project was to design a device that made communication easy but secret, so highly sensitive information can be transmitted to save a life.

The Easy Com Armband transmits emergency signals through simple and secret vibrations from one military style armband to another. In special operations when a soldier becomes injured or captured by the enemy, their chances of survival are slim. Emergency radio communication is often ineffective because the enemy witnesses the same transmission and can respond to the military's actions. With our device, a soldier in need of aid can simply tap their armband and transmit a code to fellow soldiers who receive the same code through a series of vibrations. If the U.S. Marines could transmit emergency information in a fully secret manner, imagine how lives could be saved.

The military uses hand signals and short vocal commands to communicate in the heat of combat. However, these forms of communication are limited in the range, versatility, and time required to send a message. Therefore, Zack and I created the Easy Com armband to streamline and expedite communication between soldiers on the front lines. The Easy Com works by connecting two mini arduinos over the internet where they would be able to send and receive binary messages. Users would have to simply press down on a button to activate vibration motors on other devices. Because the Easy Com communicates through vibrations, it is silent. It allows for messages that can be felt instead of audible commands that could get drowned out in the chaos of combat. In addition, the Easy Com is capable of much longer ranges than hand signals or auditory commands. It is capable of using wifi or bluetooth signals to connect devices which would allow for hundreds of feet of range. Our device is also incredibly versatile. Using a vibration based communication system would allow soldiers to create their own coded messages or use a more universal binary code system like morse. Lastly, the Easy Com armband can double as a normal military armband where soldiers can attach badges for their ranks and unit. This offers an additional  level of concealment for communication devices and would also allow for wear out of combat. 

Coexistence is a device to make communication between people in a long distance relationship feel more natural. It simulates the feeling of sharing a home for those who are geographically separated.

Coexistence sits in a room that would typically be shared. When the users enter their rooms at the same time a motion sensor detects their presence and they are automatically connected. This leads to the experience of living together, allowing for a more natural feeling of cohabitation. Unlike a phone call, there isn't pressure to speak the entire time. It can be left on when the users are in their chosen rooms, and they can talk whenever they feel like it, or just exist in the same space. if the user is in the middle of a conversation they can bring the device with them to another room. The user can also pick a "home base", like a bedroom, to keep their device more permanently to set a shared area within the home.

In this studio, students will design and build responsive objects that can be connected through long distance. These objects will be used by people to connect and communicate thoughts, moods, and emotions to their families and their loved ones in an abstract or tangible form.

Keywords: Internet of things, long distance, responsive, node.js, Linux MPU, OpenWrt

Image source: https://themirrorofmysouldotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/photo-5.jpg

Slide 1: Over the past two weeks, Alex and I worked on the Easy Com Armband. The Easy Com Armband is a device that allows for easy and silent communication between military personnel in combat or veterans on the homefront. 

Slide 2: This is our context image. Many veterans struggle with PTSD and have a difficult time communicating about their conditions with family or friends outside of the veteran community. People experiencing PTSD often experience flashbacks that can last for minutes or even hours. 

Slide 3: As said on the slide. Problem/Solution.

Slide 4: When first designing this product, we explored the many ways we could use interface to improve the communication between military personnel and veterans. Anyone can use a telephone, however, the Easy Com Armband is a device personal to the military that explored a new realm of vibration-powered communication.

Slide 5: When we began researching, we found that the most common form of communication in the military is via radio. We liked this product but wanted to make something unique.

Slide 6: This image is of two military patches, a sense of pride and communication for many veterans or active military personnel. Often veterans will wear their patches after they have returned from war. We wanted to ensure that we incorporated the aspect of pride and customization in our final project.

Slide 7: This is another one of our precedent images of morse code. Since we wanted to make our device communicate in a manner specific to the military, we decided that morse code could be an interesting approach.

Slide 8: This is our first prototype made of cardboard. Notice the three layers.

Slide 9: Here is the outside of our second prototype. We used hot glue to make the comfortable felt layer and the slick khaki layer.

Slide 10: Prototype in action.

Slide 11: This is an image of our third prototype with the brown khaki layer on the outside, plastic for waterproofing on the inside, and felt for the side next to one's arm.

Slide 12: Prototype in action. Notice the laser cut U.S. Marines Patch.

Slide 13: Here is a diagram of two armbands communicating.

Slide 14: Here is our electrical diagram.

Slides 15-17: Final images.

Slide 1- This is the emotional Seesaw, an emotional communication device interface.

Slide 2- My evocative Image here is a seesaw with too people looking at eachother and this represents to people communicating their emotions over a long distance

Slide 3-Challenge and Solution Slide

Slide 4- Scale Precedent

Slide 5- lego seesaw Precedent

Slide 6- initial sketch

Slide 7- My first iteration out of lasercut cardboard, servo, and force sensor.

Slide 8-Perspective view of first Iteration

Slide 9- Skecth of side view stand for second iteration.

Slide 10-Front view sketch for a new idea of having a semicircle be attached to the servo.

Slide 11-Second Iteration out of Cardboard

Slide 12-Side view of second Iteration

Slide 13-Designed in Rihno and lasercut out of thin wood are the pieces i used to creat the scale. 

Slide 14-Final Product during construction being woodglued

Slide 15-Electronic Diagram

Slide 16-Construction Diagram

Slide 17-19 Final Images

Many people sit on the T miserable, alone and starring at their phone. Our idea is a mug that would help prevent people from feeling so lonely while on their commute to or from work. This mug would be a fidgeting tool that could help prevent people from looking at their phone while creating a sense of community on your ride into or from work. If you twist a ring on the base of the mug one way it would represent a positive feeling and if you twisted the ring in the opposite direction it would represent a negative feeling. The representations of these feelings would be collected from every person on the train that has given input and displayed in some manner in the train so that there is a visual representation of how people around you are feeling. This creates a sense of personal importance but also a sense of being part of a community. Dylan and I made the mug from 3D printing and we made the display out of thin wood.  Hopefully this product will make rides on the T a little less lonely and individual. Eventually, the positive or negative representations could contribute as feedback about the experience while riding the T and is a fun approach to surveys.