I changed my project recently, I’m not doing the cigarette box. Instead, I decided to design an interface for a child to communicate with somebody he loves over distance. It will be in the form of a plush toy.
I have an advanced level ideation of the final design, however, I might not get all the functions working at the end of this time period. I don’t see it as a problem for now, because the minimum will be achieving the goals of the project, hopefully.
Here are the prototypes:
Look&Feel
Role
The starting point is conveying emotion over distance through physical output. However, when I thought about it more I realized that I want to turn this into an interface specifically designed for a child to communicate with his loved ones that are far away.
My nephew loves to show me his drawings, or his new toys, he always has something to show me when we Skype. So, I thought maybe this toy should have a camera that records images when he pulls the hand of the octopus. Similarly, he can record his voice by using pulling the arm. I am not sure how to transfer this information yet but I think I can figure it out.
The head will glow when the other side is holding the complementary toy out there. It will give pulses whenever the other person hugs the toy.
The built in LEDs will be a sign of the hugs before, when the child was not there but he was hugged. He can reset the toy and the LED by pulling another arm of the octopus.
Thus, the toy will convey both real time and saved information.
Implementation
This is what I think the implementation could be but I have tons of questions about the technic to use. I haven’t built a working prototype yet, it’s really hard to tell if it’s gonna work with the XBee’s and Pachube without testing.
Domain Mapping
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