On Wednesday morning we had this workshop which was about Tinkering & Prototype, given by Loes and Tamara. We were introduced to the definitions of tinkering and prototyping, as well as how they play a vital role in design. They can be very helpful in exploring, understanding, and testing your project in a design process. Also we had a discussion about the relationship between tinkering and prototype and each group came up with an very interesting idea about it.
We had a lot of fun building a paper prototype for an idea of our project. This involved a bra with liquid bags for pressure detection, a 3d scanning machine, a model displaying system which could give user an accurate measurements and also analysis of bra pressure on the body. An online shopping system was the HMD( everything was made of paper except the bra).
During tinkering, we encountered a fun and easy-to-use tool —little bits. It is a group of electronic components which can only be correctly connected due to the magnetic sides. It’s both playful and educational.We tinkered with it and managed to make a simple circuit using power, wires, a pressure sensor, a bending sensor and some indicators. The thing we tried to build is a detector which can detect the pressure that a bra caused on the skin, and the bending extent of a supporting wire inside the bra. It’s an interesting and inspiring experiment which shed much light on our project.
Through other groups’ reports we were also introduced to many other matertials/tools like littlebits. We were excited that there are so many possibilities and approaches for us to explore our capabilities and generate more interesting ideas for our project.