Continuous activity. What does offer activity that allows us to do it without thinking about it? How can a situation or an object to express affordance, feedback or feed forward? As part of module II, we need to figure out a way to express those requirements, with the usage of motors. The motors we are working with this project are Servos! They spin and then spin some more.
To being with we started by brainstorming for possible ideas and interactions we can create with the servos. At first we tried to think of things that offer feedback and feed forward. From the lights which give feedback when we turn them on and off, to the sound of the keyboard when we type on it. We had an basic idea of tracking the way we type on the keyboard without being aware how our fingers do this continues action. We sketched out a basic hand sketch which might detect a finger movement when we press down.
The first day we tried to brainstorm as much as possible which eventually continued towards day two. We decided to work from home. The goal was to sketch-out the ideas we had, and connect the servos to the json – serial bridge.
Sketch of idea #1
First idea was the detection of the finger movement when we type on the keyboard. We imagined ring – like attachments that will move the servo and can detect of when we press a key depending on the height we place our fingers. The product was supposed to be in a bracelet shape which will hold the servo and will hold the strings that connect the fingers and the servo. When sketching out the idea, we mostly focused on the continues activity of typing, where one rarely thinks of how we type. We also may wonder which fingers we type the most, and once we become aware of the way we type it becomes more difficult to type faster as we are stopping and thinking about it.
Sketch of idea #2
This sketch was mostly focused on the way we express feedback with leds. Even though it was not connected to coping, we decided to sketch it out since it presents continues feedback as it is being used. To create input we were supposed to use a servo that can detect movement. This sketch did not inspire or make me come up with interesting questions. I think the sketch was mostly focused on the input rather than how we are supposed to present the outcome.
Sketch of idea #3
The servos allow spinning motion. We were wondering what exactly can be done with it. This is how we thought that the mechanics of the servo can be used to turn pages of a book. Reflecting on it, I realise it has nothing to do with expressing feedback or presenting a state of something. It is not connected with coping or continuous activity that we do without thinking. At the moment we were only focusing on getting more ideas out and just brainstorming.
Pink Prototyping 