How the project is going
After weeks of work the prototype is finally ready. This weekend it will be presented at the Volvo Ocean Race, the Hague.
First heartbeat sensor prototype
Mariana and Joacim have finished the first prototype of the
heartbeat sensor PCB. It has been printed, assembled and tested.
The design of the PCB was made as a shield. The sensor for reading the heartbeat is placed on top and the rest of the circuit is on the bottom. The rationale behind this design is that the sensor has to be as close as possible to the finger of the user.
We used the atmega328P to program the sensor, which is the same microcontroller that is on the Arduino Uno.
The first communication and readings of the BPM test went well.
ACE workshops
We started a new partnership with "Ace ingenieurs- & adviesbureau". ACE provided us with workshops during which we have learned a lot about the producibility. With new insight gained, we decided to reconsider our whole design.
We all went back to the drawing table and ended up with a simple but solid design.
Prototyping
Designing a bench
After a thorough consideration, we decided to make the heartbeat bench our project. There was just one problem, none of us had any experience designing furniture. So we needed some help and therefore we posted a message on the Facebook page of the Industrial design students of the Technical University of Eindhoven. Soon responses of interested students that wanted to help were flowing in our mailbox. We got into contact with one of them and set up a meeting.
The week after we met with the design student for a second meeting and discussed her ideas. We were very happy with the outcome and swiftly had a favorite in mind.
After the design was chosen, it was drawn in 3D. It turned out to be a lot more work than expected, but we are satisfied with the result.
Possible concepts
After the brainstorm sessions we started to elaborate on a few of the most liked ideas and created these 7 concepts.
DNA STRING
The idea of the DNA String was to have a row of individually addressable LED tubes, that could all be separately rotated.
Hereby we could recreate a moving, glowing DNA string, apart from other movements and visual aspects.
Inverted zoötrope
The inverted zoötrope is a play on the original. Where with the original zoötrope you can see a primitive animation by looking into it, our inverted one has a strobe inside and projects the animation on the walls as a shadow.
Robot-arm beam
The name says it all. A robot-arm with a beam of light shining from its end. The wow effect was meant to be created with the show that would be given, preferably with two arms.
Fog projection
For the fog projection we planned to fill a space with a layer of low hanging fog (about knee height). This fog would function as a screen for a beamer. In this way we wanted to create a new environment; for instance a lake with fish swimming around the visitors. Unfortunately, we could not project a clear image on the fog.
The Night Sky
With the Night sky project we wanted to illustrate the power of light pollution. The idea was to have a room with a small model of Eindhoven emanating light and when the lights of Eindhoven are turned off, the starry sky on the sealing would be illuminated.
Nordlys (northern lights)
With this project we wanted to recreate the northern light using sheets and colored light.
The Heartbeat bench
The bench will be a representation of the user's life force. When somebody sits down and puts his/her hand on the scanner, the bench will start to pulsate light on the rhythm of the user's heartbeat.
The Brainstorm
The project started with a long and thorough brainstorm session. The brainstorm lasted for more than a week, gathering all kinds of inspiration and concepts. everything was hung on the window for a overview.
