A. PROJECT TITLE
Warning: Beware of the DOG!
B. PROJECT STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
For my final project, after I did some research about robotic pets and had some discussions with my partner and instructor Rudi, I decided to make something creative, novel and intriguing. Instead of a physical furry pet, I want to make a digital puppy which we can interact with by real-life actions. However, this exciting idea does face some challenges. For instance, it’s hard to make smooth animation by Processing, which means we need to find an alternative; What’s more, in order to get a precise range of data when it comes to users’ real-life interaction, we need to conduct multiple user testings. My intended audience of this project are whoever wants to raise an electronic pet or just simply curious about the “warning” and wants to explore!
(my sketch for proposal)
C. PROJECT PROPOSAL PLAN
For the next week (11.25-12.4), we need to learn how to use Adobe Character Animator in order to create smooth animation. After that (12.5-12.9), we need to do digital fabrication, prepare some props (a dog leash and the lawn), draw the background and basically finish the animation. During the user testing on December.9th, more users should be asked to pull to leash and collect more data of the forces, so that we can have a more precise range. The rest of the time before presentation is for us to perfect our code and animation. More details can be created during that period of time. For example, in order to create a more vivid sense of “raising an electronic pet” and guide our audience to conduct further interaction, we can create “hunger value” and “happiness value”, which are in accordance with the interactions made by audience.
D. CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
During my preparation for this projects, there are two successful interaction projects which serve as inspirations.
The first is “PARO Therapeutic Robot”, an advanced interactive robot developed by AIST to have a psychological treatment on patients. This project is one of the initial inspirations for me because it’s my long-term wish to build a pet-related project, since I am personally a cat and dog person but sadly allergic to them. Besides, the interactions of PARO is feasible to achieve by using Arduino sensors.
The second is “the World’s Deepest Bin”, which can make bottomless sound effects whenever someone throws rubbish into it. I’m impressed by its creativity and the idea of “real-life action affects the virtual world”, so I decided to implement it into my own project by adding some interesting elements.
I do believe that my project proposal is align with my definition of interaction in some aspects. In my preparatory research, I mentioned that interaction is Humans interacting THROUGH technology, rather than humans interacting WITH technology itself (Edmonds 2011). In the case of my project, I would try to create an immersive environment for the audience. i.e. covering the table with fake grass, putting vivid props and hiding the motors and wires. In this way, the presence of technology can be weaken. I hope that the technology I utilize is just a means of interaction, instead of the interaction itself. The real interaction happens when my project encourages them to find the pattern by subtle prompts without directly informing them what to do.
The significance of my project lies in my goal of building this project, which is by taking real-life actions, users can influence and receive feedbacks from a virtual world, and the virtual feedback can encourage more actions to take place. I want to present a creative but challenging way of interaction. Instead of following the old-fashioned method of interacting with a physical puppy, I want to building a “bridge” to connect the reality with the virtual world.
Speaking of what special value my project can bring to the intended audience of my project, I reckon that at least for students and faculty members in NYUSH, many of whom are far away from their own countries and far away from their pets at home. Whether they’re exhausted after a long day of work, or just simply missing their pets at home in their own country, the puppy can serve as an emotion reliever.
If I have the chance to build subsequent projects, I would definitely add more functions to the virtual puppy. For example, with a distance sensor, the users can throw a ball to the puppy to play with it, optimizing the experience of interaction. Besides, a variety of forms of interaction can be flexibly added. The value lies in the fact that the more vivid the virtual puppy is, the better interactive experience the audience will get, and stronger the “bridge” of connecting the reality with the virtual world can be.