Assembling the Pieces

This week we head to the Fab Lab one more time to assemble the pieces of our motion detecting watches that we have been building over the past few weeks into a final product. To start of the class, we once again got our hands on the Arduino with the objective this time being to write the code for our watches. Due to the fact that I have had prior coding experiences, the activities assigned in class were not too difficult for me to follow. I think that one feature that stands out from the Arduino is the fact it has pre-packaged codes in the software so even inexperienced coders can create electrical products with ease.

Following the activities on the Arduino, we then come to the final stage of our watch making process, to assemble the pieces. It was a very joyful movement for me as I got to see the work I’ve put into the last few weeks coming together into one functional piece. Due to the constraints on material and time, I was not a hundred percent satisfied with my product so I’m hoping to improve on it in the future or even remaking it.

After the creation time in class this week, we were then back to the usual brainstorming session for the latter part of class. This time, the activity Mehmet had for us was draw story boards on how users would be able to find our products, the reasons for using it, and how other users would be affected by it. I thought it was an very interesting activity as it got us thinking more than just our user but every single user that could be affected by it. It helped us modify the direction of our product as we realize that we can create something that can be adopted more that just yoga enthusiasts with prosthetics.

In addition to class this week, we also met with Deana to discuss our prototypes of our product and the insights she gave us was very unique and helpful. First, she noted that due to the fact we do not have any design majors on our team we should probably talk to people with such skill sets to be gain other perspectives. She also suggests us to not mess with the height of the prosthetic as Jenna might have a hard time using it because it might affect her balance.

Overall, I think it was a very productive week and I look to take a short break this coming week as well as keep brainstorming so we can be ready for make-a-thon.