Digital interactions

Week 4 – Concept Development

Since the previous workshop I have worked to develop my own concept, firstly I had to choose from the themes given previously. The problem is I wanted to do both the Personal Security option and the Digital Doctor option. In the end I opted to incorporate both into one idea.

Relating back to the previous workshop the tutor showed us an example where a couple of men developed software which allowed them to link the Xbox Kinect to a pc which used to track the movement of the human body. This was then transferred to a smartphone live over the web where the results would be rendered out by the phone.

Now if this is possible who is to say what it could be used for?

 

This is where the ‘Smart Home’ concept was created by myself to aid the effortless lifestyle of not having to worry about many aspects of your home. Below is a brief description of Smart Home:

With modern technology why should home owners have to do simple tasks when computers could do it for them? This is where smart home comes into play. Anything in your house should be computer operated.

The concept at the moment is based on the current home motion sensors which are connected to home alarms.What I am proposing is to expand on the motion sensors which will be placed in each room of the house with extra sensors built in for example:

  • Ambient light sensor – To cut out the need of light switches and constantly turning them on and off. with light sensors in each room the lighting will automatically be changed depending on the ambient lighting detected. With the ability to completely turn them off via smart phone apps.
  • Moisture sensor – This touches on the digital doctor aspect by preventing your home from being to humid by controlling dehumidifiers inside the home depending on what the user needs.
  • Thermal camera – Another digital doctor aspect by controlling the temperature of each room depending on the core temperature of the user or users. This allowing the elderly people who may forget to turn on the heating to relax knowing they don’t have to change / turn it on.
  • Xbox Kinect sensor  – If you relate back to what was mentioned above I want to use the Kinect camera to track members on the home whilst analysing what they do. If they go to grab the TV remote the compute turn on the tv so it’s ready for them, heading towards the oven with food? the computer starts to pre-heat it for you. overall making everything in a home smoother and quicker.

And this is only the start. If this was to become a prodcut then many more in depth features can come from it.

 

As a whole I’ve enjoyed his project, like come on I’ve been able to visualise my own product.

Week 3 – Brief 2 – Digital Interactions

What are digital interactions? Is it simply one playing with an electronic device such as our handy smartphone? Or is it much more?

Within this brief the idea is the look at the way other people have took existing technology from either the modern day or the past and use it for another purpose.

This can be seen with the upcoming ‘Smart Watches’ such as the Apple Watch which claims to monitor the health of the user with sensors to monitor your heart rate this could be classed under the ‘Digital Doctor’ theme. Previously we had smart bands which would do the same role without the screens. However, the sensors used are adaptations of past technology.

Along with the heart rate sensor it also uses an accelerometer and Wi-Fi, gps to monitor distance and speed of your activities, all of which have been around with different uses.

By the end of this workshop the task was simply to create a concept of which surrounds the theme chosen:

  • The death of newspapers/books
  • Personal security
  • Making simple music
  • The Digital Doctor

At the moment I’m drawn towards the digital doctor theme.

For the purpose of the task we have to put down our ideas into a two page PDF to be presented to the class next week.