Description of the Product:
The product is supposed to be a take on virtual reality, but it uses the idea of memory. We got our idea from Ray Bradbury’s The Veldt. The idea was based around reliving the good times. Special memories is something that each human can relate to, and the idea of reliving them seems like something that would profit and entice mankind as a whole. That itself makes it interactive for the user. It uses their previous experience, and it can only rely on the user to operate. We were thinking about how it could be somewhat realistic in today’s near future, so we made it look like a virtual reality headset. The glove was used to control it. It was like a gauntlet where you could control the memory that would play, or that one would want to view again. I think the only downfall would be the idea of addiction. Addiction to only wanting to live in a simulating world is something that can easily happen, so I thought this would probably be the only downfall.
The Crafting Process (Description):
We first started with a basic headset, but then we realized it looked like something a scuba diver would wear if they were low on funds. We put this mess of an idea off to the side, and decided to work on the glove. I designed the glove, and I was thinking of the Nintendo glove which could control the game, but I wanted to make it look somewhat more sleek, and somewhat futuristic. The idea of having a retro yet futuristic feel to it helped the direction where we wanted to go onward. I thought the idea of wires coming out of it would make it seem more futuristic, while the idea of the gauntlet would balance it out. I assisted in building the glove as well. Afterward, we decided to go back to the visor. After even more designing by yours truly, we decided to paint it a very bright color because it would give a retro feel to it, but the shininess of the actual visor part would keep the feel of the future. The crafting and design process was simply a give and take of retro and the future. Communication was generally pretty good within the team. We didn’t have any problems that arose from this, so teamwork came rather easily as well. Overall, I have no complaints about our group and work distribution either.
My comments about Exploration:
I found the project itself to be very interesting and applicable to the world we were in because of Covid. I, personally, found the first idea much more interesting than the second idea because it was more realistic, and it gave people more protection from viruses that could actually be extremely useful. I thought because of this, it was extremely relevant to the fictional story. I thought the first half had the build up with this, but the third act kind of lost me. I think this was solely because I was so focused on the opportunities of the first project as opposed to the ladder invention. I thought the design was a little big, but I understand the limits of cardboards, so it looked good for the materials used. I thought, overall, this meets the criteria of the assignment beautifully. The only suggestion I would have would be to somehow connect the two ideas in the story better. It just felt a little rushed, and I couldn’t process the information quick enough.
