WALL-E – Aspen Saechao – Gottfried Haider (Rudi)

B. CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE

From the reading response in the beginning of the semester, I defined what I thought ‘interaction’ meant. “Interactivity should have a broad and inclusive consideration to many types and forms of interaction between two actors able to process an input and output”. During previous lectures and recitations, I learned how to build towards this definition. In the kinetic wearable project, I was able to learn how to expand on my ideas to create a product. For this, we created voice activated cat ears, which includes two actors that react with each other. Although our cat ears were heavily inspired by one of the samples given, I was able to put a twist on it by connecting it to a vibration sensor. We chose to use a vibration sensor because I had previous experience with it during the sensor’s recitation. By using a pre-existing concept (moving cat ears), we were able to focus our attention on combining previous knowledge to create a new product with a unique interaction (voice activation). In a similar way, we chose to use the concept and design of WALL-E as a springboard for the rest of our midterm project.

C. CONCEPTION AND DESIGN

Since we were using WALL-E as our main concept, we wanted to create a cute, friendly robot that would help drive users to interact with it. To achieve this, we knew we wanted to code a series of cute movements and put emphasis on its appearance. The easiest way to do this was to create the model out of cardboard and paint it. Cardboard was both in abundance and easy to manipulate while also being sturdy enough to create a robot. Our main issue with the conception of our deisgn was giving significance to the interaction with WALL-E. Since the theme and message of the original movie was based around overconsumption and the importance of nurturing life, we originally wanted to do something with plants. This option fell flat, however, because we were unable to come up with a logical, natural interaction with WALL-E that would fit into the context of real world usage. Using the downfall of this idea, we took the concept of ‘real world usage’ and built on this. From that, we came up with an encouraging trash can. WALL-E would sense trash entering the bin and react accordingly. We didn’t know what to use as our trash props because we didn’t know which sensors were sensitive enough to detect trash. The most obvious option was crumpled pieces of paper, but we were afraid they would be too light to be detected. In the end we found that an infrared sensor was our best option for this, because it was easily triggered with the large mass of paper. We also made sure to include all of WALL-E’s defining features (eyes, arms, wheels), to maintain his cute and friendly persona.

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D. FABRICATION AND PRODUCTION

During the production process, we mostly had three different categories of fabrication: cutting/assembling, painting, and coding. We started with the important parts by creating WALL-E’s body, which would act as the trash bin, and eyes, which are the most iconic parts of WALL-E’s design. To make things more efficient, I marked the box dimensions and my partner cut them. While she glued the body together, I worked on the eyes. While she painted the pieces, I coded the basics. This division of labor allowed us to work quickly and efficiently, which allowed WALL-E’s model creation to go very smoothly. This gave us more time to focus on the coding, which had gone less smoothly. When we presented for user feedback testing, WALL-E looked great and had been pretty functional throughout the whole session, albeit a little basic. At that point, WALL-E could only flash his eyes and flap his eyes. Most of the feedback we got was based upon improving our code and deepening the complexity of our interaction. Based on this new direction, my partner and I decided to add a variety of reactions to make WALL-E more companion-like.

After creating his arms and wheels, and thus completing his look, we began scripting his reactions. One of the pieces of feedback we got was to use an RGB LED, which would give us more freedom with expressions. Because of a malfunction during user testing where WALL-E seemed to ‘get mad’ at one of the users who tried to touch WALL-E, we were inspired to include an angry expression. It was endearing to us that WALL-E seemed to have developed a personality and sense of personal space, so we coded a similar effect when shaking his hand and activating a touch sensor. Triggering this would cause the inversion of his eyes and flashing red instead of green. Along with these visual cues, we also wanted to add an audible reaction to make him seem more lively. We had planned to use an mp3 module to play his iconic ‘WALL-E’ sound, but this was much too complicated for our understanding of coding and the amount of time we had. Our alternative was to use the buzzer sample code from the arduino basics recitation. This lets us manipulate different notes to make a happy-sounding noise. We struggled with the coding the most, because while during recitations we could code singular reactions without much issue, for this project we had several different reactions happening at once. 

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E. CONCLUSIONS

The goal of our project was to create an encouraging trash can made to look like a friendly robot that would help drive users to interact with it. This aligns with my definition of interactivity because there are two clear actors that can both give each other an input and process an output. For example, the user throws some trash away (input), and WALL-E reacts positively to this (output). Similarly, if the user touches WALL-E’s outstretched hand (input), he will get angry (output and input for user) which will prompt the user to stop touching him (output). I think within the scope of this assignment, however, this interaction can be proved upon. Rather than creating an interactive WALL-E trash can, it’s more like we created a WALL-E trash can that you can interact with. If given more time and knowledge of what is possible to make, I think we would be able to develop this idea into a true companion. Ultimately, I would count this project a success, based on the reactions of our final product and the growth of my skills throughout the process.

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F. DISASSEMBLY:

We removed and returned all the wires, sensors, and tape on WALL-E and just took him home 🌏.

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