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Here and There

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Team

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Description

summary sprint 1 to 5

Sprint 1

We kinda had a difficult start of the project; we didn’t have a partner to coöperate with and we had to find a relevant problem to solve during our project. The first sprint our sprintgoal was:

Visualising a synthesis of motivational theories (for varying age groups), drawing parallels with present tech in therapies.

We did a lot of research to motivation, gamification for therapy and technology used for physical therapy. After a few days of research we all came together and shared our findings. We tried to find parallels between motivational theories and existing tech in therapies, but we couldn’t really find clear parallels.

Trying to find parallels between motivational theories and existing tech for therapy

The findings on motivational theories and sources we used are presented on a website we made: https://hnt.soaringnetwork.com/

 

Sprint 2

The sprint goal for sprint two was:

Identifying the target group, it’s surroundings, and the current applied therapies for it, translating the same into a visual synopsis.

The biggest task this sprint was to find a problem. We still didn’t really have a partner during this sprint, but we had contacts with Antoinne, a movement scientist from the HvA. He tried to help us with finding a problem and took us on a tour through the HvA movement department. The problem we had in mind was to help children with a temporary physical disablement, like a broken arm. However, we found out (thanks to Antoinne) that this isn’t actually a problem, since those kids see improvement of their injury quickly and thus are really motivated to do their therapy exercises. We felt stuck, because we were already nearing the end of sprint 2 and we still didn’t have a problem to solve. Luckily at that moment our coach Tamara came to us with the good news that she found us a partner! From that moment on we are working together with Simba, a project from the HvA that’s trying to develop a game to make asthmatic kids move more.

After we found this out we did some research to why asthmatic kids don’t move and we also got research results from the SIMBA team that were really useful. We also did some research to Nintendo, since they are trying to make gaming more physical and we are trying to achieve kinda the same.

Nintendo is making games more physical on a whole new level with Nintendo LABO

Sprint 3

This sprint we really wanted to start making something and start thinking of a concept for our prototype. The goal of this sprint was:

Designing a concept-prototype game to motivate kids to move outside.

We spent our time mostly on brainstorming about what we want to prototype this project. We came up with a lot of idea’s!

 

One product that was the major inspiration of our idea, were the shoes that light up when you move. From that idea we came up with the idea to make a bracelet that lights up with colors you collect when you move.

The hand wearable acts like a bright mediator in this delightful interaction between the digital and the physical
world — run for colors, share and play.
The wearable gives visual feedback on the progress and the bright hues motivate in want of more!

The wearable intends to become a part of a kid’s everyday life, adding meaning and richness to movementAn artifact he/she falls in love with and prides in the collection of hues.

Next to the bracelet, we would have an app. Whenever the kid would come back at home, they could share their progress with the companion app, which would register the collected colors on a day.

The companion app should extend the outdoor experience, collecting, mixing and using colors in
a stimulating workshop environment.

 

The progress cycle would look like the following:

1. The kid moves to collect colors

2. The bracelet collects colors and lights up.

3. The phone would show the progress and allow you to spend the earned colors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sprint 4

In this sprint we further wanted to define our product, what it does, how it does it, and why. Our goal was:

Designing and testing the ecosystem of a hand wearable with a companion app.

After working on the idea a lot, we decided we weren’t completely sure on the execution on the idea, and tried to go in a different direction.


We brainstormed an idea where instead of creating a fun game on the phone, to show off the reward. We instead have a lamp that lights up with the colors you had collected during the day. While parents would be able to check statistics off their kids on the app.

One major flaw we however realized was that by doubling the feedback from the bracelet, it could end up turning repetitive.

 

By clearly splitting deliverables into the three users, children no longer use the app, thus reducing
screening time.

However, doubling the same feedback possibly results
in a redundant experience. Furthermore, investigating and testing the lamp’s likability for children at this point of the project is unlikely feasible.

 

And so we went back to our idea of app + bracelet, this time however we were were gonna stray away of the idea of doing too much in our app. We wanted the app to be a constructive reward for their movement, not a distraction at the end of the day that would result in sitting around for hours.

Thus we came with the idea of Chasing Colors as it is right now. Instead of playing a game at the end of the day, the colors you’ve collected throughout the day would collect themselves inside of a digital painting. This painting would slowly fill up over time, creating a nice experience where you can see your progress over the course of a few days or even weeks.

Moodboard for the Digital Paintings

 

The movement is mapped would be based on how vigorously the kid is moving, where the colder colors would be earned by lesser movement while you’d get shades of red for moving vigorously.

 

Sprint 5

In sprint 5 we further developed our idea, and start work on a prototype.

Creating a physical prototype of the color collecting bracelet with a companion app and test the components.

During this sprint we 3d printed a bracelet prototype and drew up a painting to be used in the app. Next to working on the User Interface & Experience for both kids, parents & therapists.

Now it is upon us in the last and 6th sprint to finish up our bracelet prototype, the User Interface and prepare for the expo.

Creating the bracelet

In the last two sprints we’ve been working on the realization of the bracelet prototype. For the technology inside of the bracelet, we use an arduino trinket, accelerometer and arduino neopixel lights (and a battery). The prototype bracelet lights up when you move and changes the colors of the lights the longer you move. We decided to change some variables, so you don’t have to move for over an hour to change the colors of the lights. This way people who try out our prototype can get a quick visualisation of the process of the bracelet’s lights. Currently, we’re soldering the parts all together.

For the casing of the bracelet, we’re still not sure what we’re gonna do. We firstly tried to 3d print a case. On a forum we found a 3d model for a bracelet where lights fit in. We edited the model a little to personalize it more, by putting the text ‘chasing colours’ on it. However, during the process we had some difficulties with printing the bracelet; the bracelet got loose from the base, so the print didn’t turn out too well. Still, although it’s not perfect, we might still be able to use it.

We started thinking about other possibilities for the casing. We found out about using silicone to make bracelets. We bought silicone at the Praxis and mixed this with cornflour and oil. We used the 3d printed bracelet as a mold, as well as different other objects like bottles, paper cups and lego. The only problem with this material is that it’s really breakable, and not as stretchy as we thought it would be. It was also really hard to make the bracelets smooth nicely.

It might be so breakable because we used a lot of corn flour, so we might want to try it again in a different way. We used a lot of corn flour because the silicone was really sticky and it was therefore hard to shape it. In the meanwhile we’re gonna use cloth for the casing, so we can put all the parts together nicely and have a working prototype. We can try to make the bracelet more pretty later, but we’re getting close to the deadline…

 

 

Mic Drop: Jasper Wognum

A brief wrap up (one-point perspective) of the first DSS talk.

The title on the poster was intriguing enough to attend the talk at the end of a working day. The Mic Drop was by Jasper Wognum, founder of Braincreators.

Jasper was one of the first academic students of Artificial Intelligence in Amsterdam, when the term was in its very nascent stages of evolution in early 2000. His experience in the domain now spans over 20 years.

The talk was an overview of the realm of Artificial Intelligence, meandering from specific project showcases in varied domains to the core nature of AI rooted in math, and not magic!

The domains Jasper has been working with range from using data to make for a better radio content experience, to delivery of posts/couriers at correct addresses in Amsterdam. The eclectic mix of the possibilities with technology seemed promising. His approach of working in collaboration with the diverse companies was inspiring. The respective companies took the role of domain experts while his team intervened through a systematic solutions approach aided by Technology/Artifical Intelligence.

He stressed on the relevance of technology/AI aiding humans achieve the task efficiently and not necessarily replacing them.

The questions raised by the audience towards the end shifted the talk to the larger questions of right and wrong—the overlap of ethics and design/technology decision. Jasper had an interesting point to make about this—somebody will do it eventually, better to intervene when you are confident of making more informed decisions, aware of your biases.

p.s: I might have missed many key points.
p.p.s: There was a video documentation by Bauke of the same, so please request him if you missed the same. 🙂

Bloom open space: a poetic wrap-up 

what: here goes there
when: 23 feb 2018
why:
why not, 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hues of pink and blue on screens in a tall dark chamber; the first sight was promising.

Being ushered in the dark to plug a seemingly alien device onto the eyes was portent of what was to come. We had before us folks already plugged to the alternate reality, mediating their ways using fingers.

We joined them and made our own colourful bubbles, hues of orange, blue and pink…Bubbles merging with each other, colliding to form bigger vibrant wholes.

What lasted for 15 minutes was scanning the visual space with altered eyes, and snapping fingers. A seemingly simple act, laden with a lot of possibilities for future.

Technology for altering our perspective and engagement with spaces?, please more. 🙂 

p.s: we headed to tun tun club post this and had ze fun on the arcade, post drinks, corurtesy pavel.
p.p.s: much thanks to pavel for organising this and media labs for making it a part of our academic learning.
p.p.p.s: image credits, joao.

Short overview of how things are going in the first sprint

Our first sprint is already almost over! The goal of this sprint was to visualise a synthesis of motivational theories (for varying age groups), drawing parallels with present tech in therapies. We thought it was good to start off with doing research about what it actually is that motivates people to do the things to do and how this can be used for tech in therapies.

We started with a full day of deciding on the sprint goal and planning the sprint. It was really good to see how everyone had different views on what the end goal of the project should be. The days after we spent just on finding, reading and summarizing articles, mostly about motivational theories and technology and gamification for physical therapy. It was really interesting to do this research, but after those days I couldn’t read any more words. After we increased our knowledge and gathered enough information, we started to share our findings with each other to get even more knowledge of the different fields (motivation and tech). We tried to find some parallels between the motivational theories and tech in therapies but there wasn’t much to find yet. Currently, we’re almost done with the creation of a website that shows different motivational theories. So far it’s all going well!

Team H&T

Entrepreneurship College: Good Health and Well-Being

A small wrap-up of an impact-full talk.

Venue: Amsterdam Venture Studios – Amstelcampus
Date: 08/02/2018
Time: 16:00—18:00
Issue: Sustainable Development Goals #3 Good Health and Well Being

The critical issues pertaining to health were brought to notice by two folks—one of them works with Red Cross and the other has a virtual reality medical startup. (pardon my inability to grasp names, because of difference in the accent of English here—soon will understand faster :D)

Without going into the nitty-gritty’s of what was spoken, I will try to sum-up what i took back from the talk.

The talk started with “why should we care?”. This question just triggered my mind, and it was stuck in there for the 90 minutes to follow. Both the speakers put stress on the importance of looking at opportunities rather than the constraints. As well as, when releasing any innovation to the market, it is important to be aware of the timing. Because of the technological advancements of the last few years and years to follow, we can now bridge the gap between here and there much easier. This way we can share knowledge from all across the world—working local, seeking global.

While the Red Cross works with a plethora of volunteers (+ the resulting domino effect: an act of one person inspiring others). Helping bring change through the power of numbers. The Virtual Reality start-up wished to empower people in the field of medicine. Doctors, nurses etc. can with technology driven information, render their services more efficiently—making use of the available data in different ways. Both the speakers stressed on the critical issues pertaining to health that lie ahead of us, mediating the issues in their own ways.

There seemed to be no right solution, but multiple solutions to navigate the challenges that confront humanity as a whole. The larger climate of politics and policy making, can seem overwhelming—we could perhaps all do one small step.

We are all part of the same fabric and are connected with one another. Integrating the right kind of resources (information/knowledge/data) with relevant technology, can perhaps help bring small changes to the bigger world. 🙂

……………….
p.s: thanks to tamara for sharing the link for the conference.
p.p.s: super thanks to dylan for quick edits.
p.p.p.s: will try to have a more visual wrap-up (with images) next time around.

 

Falling in Love with the Problem

We made something to stimulate discussion about how different it is for blind children to play with toys and the challenges they’re facing. We made a puzzle where people have to fit pieces into holes with the same shape while blindfolded. When the puzzle is finished the pieces form the sentence ‘taken for granted’. This is to make people aware about that they take their eyesight for granted, but that it isn’t for everyone. This is doable when you have sight, but when you can’t see it become’s a lot harder to finish. We want people to experience the frustration about being blind. We hope people will start discussing about the challenges afterwards.

falling in love with the problem: visual update

few images from the day at the maker lab today.
details on the process via text soon…

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Here & There

Hi, we are are four of us from different parts of the world, co-creating and learning with the mediaLABS.

We are: Lisa, Dylan, Joao and Kshitiz. We call ourselves H&T–Here and There.

We will try to be more proactive on this space; you  will hear more from us, 🙂

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