Author: Qingyi Dou

In this class, we first conducted the activity of building blocks. The person sitting on the right first built up an object with small blocks, then we are randomly grouped, and the person sitting on the left should build the same object as possible according to the instructions of the person on the right. My partner is Robin, and in this process, both of us need to close our eyes without looking at the objects in our hands, so communication is very important. Robin clearly conveyed how to build that object, and I often asked her when I didn’t understand, so in the end we made almost exactly the same thing.

After that we also shared ideas about our respective final projects. Robin gave me several good suggestions and inspired me to have some new ideas for my final project. It is not easy to clarify your thoughts to people of different backgrounds, but it is quite essential. These two activities made me see the power of communication, and many new ideas and thoughts will spring out during the brainstorm. Moreover, others can also see problems that I’m not aware of, which is very helpful for the development and improvement of my project.

Agenda: Discursive Agenda

Goal: Performance

Framework: Enchanted Objects

Project Title: Auto-cleaned Cat Food Bowl

For this project we were assigned with the agenda, goal, and framework, which at first I didn’t really get the clear definition. But as we work more into the project, I get more clear about these words.

We first decided what our project is about – cat. We all raise cats so it is part of our daily life, and it does bring us some problems. We listed all the problems we encounter and picked one as the problem we were to solve, that it is troublesome to wash cats’ food bowl every time after they eats. So we brainstormed together and reached a solution –  we can design a machine that holds the bowl and it can wash/clean the bowl if someone press the button. But when making the machine, we found that it would be more convenient if the bowl and the machine were integrated as one-piece. Because the mechanical arm will hit the bowl in the former case, and we need a notch on one side to make sure the arm can lift up.

We used two servos to respectively control two rotation. One is at point (a), it controls the lift up and put down of the arm. The other one is at point (b), it controls the rotation of the cleaning cloth. 

We also have word instructions under two buttons which clarifies the function of each button. The red one is “wash”, and the yellow one is “up”. The “wash” button controls the rotation of the cleaning cloth. Press once, the cleaning cloth rotates 180 degrees clockwise, and if press again it rotates backwards, also 180 degrees. The “up” button enables user to lift up the arm by 90 degrees, and if you press it again, the mechanical arm will come back to vertical position. 

In terms of the agenda, I think the discourse is the balance of relationship between humans and pets. By using this auto-cleaned bowl, human can save labor but still keep a close relationship with pets. You can still feed them, take care of them, but let machines to save you from the endless washing work. 

The material of the cleaning cloth also matters as it is a significant part of our goal of performance. It should be able to clean the bowl easily, and in my vision, the cleaning cloth can also be glued together layer by layer. When used, people only need to tear off the dirty layer, and the rest can be used next time. So we chose to use cotton and waterproof paper as the material for the cleaning cloth. But according to the feedback from class, it is also expected to be environment-friendly and reusable. I do think this is a good and important suggestion. The performance can be improved in this way.

 

I do think our project is a good showcase of enchanted objects. According to David Rose, enchanted objects are “ordinary things that have extraordinary capabilities“. So here cat food bowl is an ordinary thing, but it has the extraordinary capability of cleaning itself.

Working demo video:

During the class we learned about Enchanted Objects, which is our group project’s framework, and for the workshop we worked with problems regarding cats. Our group came up with the problem that It is very troublesome to wash the dishes every time after the cat eats. After each group had a problem, we were required to switch groups, and to think of a solution to another group’s problem. We switched to a group whose problem is to feed cats on time. Aiming at this problem, our group came up with an idea that we can design a machine that automatically feed the cats. People can set the weight of food fed per time, and also the feeding frequency on the machine or on a connected app, so cats will no longer starve, and get into a healthier dairy. Then, we switched again to a different table, and tried to make a model or tool according to last group’s solution. This time the problem is about the communication between human and cats. It is really hard to think of a thing that can strengthen communication, the only thing we can think of is to build a cat <-> human language translation app. I think this workshop is very meaningful. It opened up our minds and offered us a chance to think and work together, and also trained our ability to complete tasks based on different ideas with in a very limited time. It is also very helpful to the construction of our own project.

For the persuasive design framework, we had a six hats workshop, which is very interesting. We were divided into groups, and each group were assigned to a different color. Our group was white hat, which means we had to present all the facts about Eric, the character in the video, who wanted to meditate more but never realized. According to the video we can see that Eric does not have a regular routine. He absolutely wants to meditate more, and has several apps about meditation in his phone. He has more time in the morning than in the evening, so he wants to have meditation in the morning. Our group’s task is relatively simpler, but it is also very interesting to listen to other groups’ ideas, solutions and feedback. Actually at first I thought every hats are separated and only need to do their own job, but after the discussion I realized that although these hats represent different steps, they are all connected and based on each other. So I think it maybe better if some groups can discuss together first and then separate to focus on their own task.

Agenda: Discursive Agenda

Goal: Problem Solving

Framework: Speculative Design

In today’s society, going to bars or nightclubs is becoming more popular among younger groups and this group is getting younger . We believe that this phenomenon may become a social trend. Due to the characteristic of alcohol, as well as the immature development of the minds of young people, it becomes possible for some people to do bad things, resulting in serious consequences. Therefore, we hope to attract the attention of the society and appeal to young people to learn to protect themselves.

For final project we are going to make a device that can connect to your phone to show the composition as well as alcoholic strength of your drink. It can be a ring or other small accessories. By simply touch the liquid with the device,it will quickly sense and analyze the composition and alcoholic strength, then send the result to your phone. In the notification (shown at the Lock screen), you can clearly see the alcoholic strength, and if there are some dangerous compositions, it will alarm you! If you click to open the app, you can see the detailed list of the analysis results. 

From the moment I started using the electronic payment method, I began to blur the amount of money I spent as well as the balance of my account. Especially the WeChat wallet, since it will not prompt me how much money I have in my wallet, sometimes not until I see the prompt for payment failure, I realized that I was running out of money. This situation is a bit dangerous. Although there is still financial support from parents, this won’t continue after work. So now at least there should be some preparation.

The tiny habit I would like to develop is to transfer 10 Kuai to Yu’e Bao every time I brush my teeth, and my motivation for this is to prevent me from encountering such dangerous and embarrassing situation. The ability to do this is kind of between middle and high. Although the behavior to transfer ten Kuai to Yu’e Bao is easy, but it is not a routine yet and I may forget to do this. In order to help me remember, I decided to set the trigger as brushing teeth. Brushing teeth is something I have to do every day, so as long as I connect these two things, transferring money also becomes something I have to do every day.