Familiarize - Tuesday, Apr 3.
Defamiliarize - Thursday, Apr 5.
Visionary Proposal + Bill of Materials. - Tuesday, Apr 10.
Prototype and Present - 1st Cut Prototype Demos- Tuesday, Apr 24.
Document and Demo - Draft Presentations Tuesday, May 1.
Final Deliverables - Final Showcase - Thursday May 3.
Over the past semester, you’ve been introduced to the world of connected systems and the Internet of Things. We’ve explored in-situ sensing and using data from the Internet to create ‘enchanted objects’. We’ve looked at how these objects can enhance not just daily routines but human-to-human connections. We’ve seen how ambient information can make data present in physical spaces and give subtle cues to action or nudges towards behavior change. You’ve been introduced to design methods for IoT applications and network centered design. You’ve read about disruptive innovation and reconsidering known spaces to design innovative products. We’ve also looked at the challenges and considerations in realizing internet appliances with multiple interacting stakeholders, needs and within complex service maps.
The goal of this project is to bring many of the strands together, in a grounded real-world problem space and which fully explores the potential and nature of connectedness.
The focus will be on ‘ecosystems’ of interacting internet appliances. Previously, we’ve only considered a single device in isolation, now we’re going to consider how several different devices can work together to solve a shared problem.
What does an ‘ecosystem’ of IoT devices mean? Let’s use the analogy of cooking. To make a meal, we don’t just use one ‘thing’; we use a series of ‘things’ together. To cook our dinner, we need our fridge to store and keep the food fresh, a knife to chop, and cutting board to prepare on, a tin opener, a sauce pan, an oven, etc. All of these things work together to help us achieve the overall goal. Each of them as a specific function within the overall task. The same is true of the Internet of Things; real-world problems are complex, and often require a series of complementary devices or interacting systems that work with one another to achieve the desired outcome.
To do this, we’re going to consider a problem space where there are many moving parts: many stakeholders, many users, many data sources and many potential services.
The challenge for you, in designing solutions for this space, is that it will be very familiar. This makes it harder; these spaces are loaded with expectations (see Week 4 readings.) They come with all sorts of built-in assumptions. We have well established notions of how they should and do work. This makes it hard to see new possibilities or alternative approaches. So, the goal won’t simply be to design a series of connected products for problem space, but to find ways to innovate through disruptive solutions.
To help with this, we’re not going to try to realize solutions for now, but we’re moving the horizon to 5 years out. This frames the project as speculative and should make it a little easier to imagine new, strange and/and unfamiliar solutions (see Week 11 readings.)
The good news, is that we a little over two weeks for the project. This gives us time for review, discussion, refinement and iteration. Something that we haven’t had room for in previous projects!
What is this problem space? Glad you asked…
New technologies are rapidly changing how cities function and as a result, people’s relationships to their cities is also changing. Advances in waste management, infrastructure design and community communication are changing how people engage with and move about within their cities. Worldwide, the percentage of people living in urban areas is skyrocketing and many conventional systems for delivering and maintaining utilities, transportation, food and governance are only able to scale so far. By 2050, it is estimated that 66% of the world’s population will live in urban areas. How can technology, and in particular IoT, help improve both the logistics of running a city and the way in which people interact with their city in way that benefits all residents of a city, not just those who can afford the newest personal technologies.
People choose to live in urban neighborhoods for several reasons; to be close to their job; for the ability to walk to and from restaurants and cultural destinations; to be around a diverse group of people and the feeling of community. Neighborhoods are more than a network of roads, power lines and pipes. Neighborhoods are the foundation on which communities are built; where people can chat with each other on their front porches and call each other if they need help or sense danger.
Although we often think of cities in their entirety, from the bustling downtown commercial districts to the restaurant-saturated cultural areas, this design brief focuses specifically on the urban residential neighborhood. Much of the work going into developing new technologies for cities focuses on efficiency and ease of interaction. For this project, we are interested in developing technologies that improve the joy, comfort and community that urban neighborhoods can offer. How can we make it easier for urban gardeners to share food and garden space? How can checking for lead pipes turn into a joyous community activity? How can we get more residents to plant and take care of trees? To recycle more? To create less waste? To care for the elderly? The less fortunate? In short, how can technology improve the quality of life in urban neighborhoods for everyone?
Infrastructure:
The Tweeting Pothole: This device tweets to city officials every time a car runs over the pothole.
Security & Safety
ShotSpotter: Sensors automatically detect when and where a gun is fired and report the incident to local police force. video
Streety: Enables neighbors to share home security footage with each other to help keep track of children, track stolen packages, and improve safety within the community. video
Intelligent Community Alert Beacon (iCAB): iCAB is an ambient device for the home that parses local alert feeds, ranging from weather to missing persons, and provides visual and audible feedback.
Stratis: Connected device management hub software for multi-family and student housing. Manages locks, temperature, lighting, etc. video
Transportation & Navigation
BlindSquare: GPS app developed for the blind and visually impaired. BlindSquare describes the environment and announces points of interest to help the visually impaired navigate cities and neighborhoods safely.video
PathVu: Realtime database of sidewalk and pedestrian pathway data to improve walkability, accessibility, and safety.video
Rapid Flow Technologies: Startup creating intelligent traffic control technologies.
Waste Management
The World’s Deepest Bin: Connected trash can developed by Volkswagen that sounds like trash falls into infinity. Creates an enchanting experience and encourages proper trash disposal.
Zerocycle: Collects and analyzes garbage and recycling data to determine recycling rates for each neighborhood in a city. The company shares those insights in customized Neighborhood Waste Reports, which are sent to every household in the service area.
BigBelly: Bigbelly is a smart waste and recycling system that provides a solar-powered compacting waste bin that allows for up to five times the amount of waste as in a traditional bin. Bigbelly also alerts the appropriate city department when it needs to be emptied so that cars take full rubbish bins instead of coming twice for half-full bins. This reduces the amount of bins a city needs and the frequency at which they need to be emptied. video
RTS: Recycle Track Systems: Create custom, cost-effective waste and sustainability solutions using proprietary geolocation software, waste stream experts, and a powerful network of haulers. “Uber for trash” video
Social Networking
Nextdoor: Private social network for neighborhoods. Nextdoor is the best way to stay informed about what’s going on in your neighborhood, finding a last-minute babysitter, planning a local event, or sharing safety tips. video
Energy
Dajie: Dajie is a Peer-to-Peer Energy/Electricity sharing and exchange enabled by IoT and Blockchain enabled startup. video
Soofa: Solar powered benches that can charge phones and offer an inviting place to sit. video
Smart Grid: Creates a two way dialogue between utility companies and customers to improve reliability, availability, and efficiency. video
Activity
Placemeter: Uses computer vision and local residents to quantify how many pedestrians are in a location, how long the wait is at a restaurant, or what the average speed traffic is moving. Data can be used by city officials to improve infrastructure or by citizens to get a quick bite to eat. video
Let’s explore the aesthetic, social and cultural possibilities of a smart, connected city. Let’s ask questions like:
What is the future of urban transportation, utility delivery and governance? How can we imagine a future that that works efficiently and makes urban life more beautiful for everyone?
What are the new sharing tools and systems we might imagine for an increasingly connected world?
How can we make intra neighborhood transportation accessible for everyone?
How might hyper-local governments function in the future?
How can communities make their food consumption even more local and efficient?
This is what you’ll explore. Drawing on your own experiences and interests, this project asks you to imagine the future of the the connected neighborhood as a connected experience.
You are to imagine a scenario that could feasibly exist in 10 years time. This should include a vision for an ecosystem of interacting connected products. This ecosystem would enhance the neighborhood experience (or any aspect of it) through the Internet of Things.
In support of this vision, you are asked to develop three working prototypes that illustrate this concept and that interact with one another to develop an ecosystem and support the users and the context.
The manner in which you approach this is up to you, but you are strongly encouraged to consider disruptive rather than conventional solutions!
You will work in one of the following contexts:
Students will work in large groups (approximately 6 individuals per group) and asked to prepare the following:
A vision: a conceptual introduction to how they envision the future ecosystem working and the kinds of connected solutions that will enhance the quality of experience for it’s end users. This should be realized as a short 2-3 minute video.
Working prototypes: prepare three working prototypes from their vision. Each prototype will be demo’ed during the final class.
Presentation of outcomes: Present their design scenario and prototypes in a 5 minute final presentation
Demo Session: Provide a live-demonstration of the ecosystem working and the connected experience you have designed.
Process documentation: Maintain a record and illustrate their work process, rationale and design decisions.
Outcome documentation: Prepare written documentation of the solution (goal, vision, design process, prototyped solutions, viability of the solutions, next steps, reflection on success, etc.)
There are three major steps to this assignment. Each of them is explored in separate documents.
Familiarize - get to know the domain we’re designing for in a rapid research exploration across users, precedents and objects.
Defamiliarize - find unusual approaches to explore this familiar design space, brainstorm possible connected scenarios, and propose a visionary scenario.
Visionary Proposal - develop a statement of intent for your future focused scenario and a lightweight description of your connected ecosystem
Prototype and Present - implement a working prototype, fast! implement connections between those prototypes, faster!
Pay close attention - there’s a lot of stuff happening in the next 2 weeks.
Tuesday, March 27:
Introduction to the Assignment;
Forming teams
Tuesday, April 3 (for class):
Familiarize research due
Presentations of findings in class.
Thursday, April 5 (due during class):
Defamiliarize findings DUE;
Group collaboration
Thursday, April 5 (during class):
Design Explorations (brainstorming; e.g. repeat exercises from previous weeks)
Generate and share on slack a large volume of design proposals.
Tuesday, April 10: All groups should have a project set up on the Gallery to include: Short Statement on Project Goals / Concept; List of team members + roles;
Deliverable a) Initial Ecosystem Proposal
Deliverable b) Proposed Prototypes (incl. sketches)
Deliverable c) Bill of Materials/Parts
Tuesday, April 24 (for class): 1st Cut Prototype
Presentation + Crit of initial vision / prototypes
Short presentation on the vision and proposed prototypes design (5 minutes max)
Each teams prototype subgroups to bring and demonstrate their prototype
Critique: All groups to give feedback to other teams (15 mins per team)
Team Discussions, Prototyping; Concept Dev.
Tuesday, May 1 : Final Prototyping Session (3pm - 6pm) AND Dry Run
Each team will run their 5 minute presentation.
Prototyping support
Thursday May 3, 6pm: Final Presentations
6.00 - 6.30: Setup and staging.
6.30 - 7.00: Presentations: 5 minutes per team to include vision video
7.00 - 8.00: Demonstrations: Give guests a walk through of the demonstrations
The team is expected to self organized. However, it is highly recommended to coordinate as follows:
Vision: (2 persons per deliverable) - coordination the project’s vision; prepare vision and concept documentation; work with sub-teams to create an ecosystem
3 x Prototype Group (2 persons each)
Three sub-teams should work on a single working prototype that integrates with the larger vision. It is recommended to organize as three people as follows:
Developer - responsible for the technical implementation (code, circuits, functionality)
Designer - responsible for the visual design, form, interaction, and experience
Liaison - responsible for documentation of process; coordinate with liasions on other prototype groups + with the vision team to develop connectivity between prototypes; communicate the development of the prototype.
Organization, roles and the distribution of effort throughout the process should be noted in outcome documentation.
This isn’t a race to the finish. This is a collaborative exploration.
Feel free to _Share, reuse, revisit_ past projects as needed.
You are welcome to use the code, ideas, outcomes from any previous project even if it is not your own; but you must acknowledge it.
Final documentation should be added to the relevant pool on the Gallery. You must create 4 total projects in the gallery: one project for each prototype developed, as well as one project which explains the overall vision and links to each of the prototype’s documentation. LINK TO GALLERY.
You should provide a clear and concise description of your project, your process, and the outcomes. It should be quick to get an overview of the project. Ideally, your description of the outcomes should be repeatable too i.e. anyone in the class can replicate it easily from the information provided.
Using Online Material: It is perfectly fine to use examples, code, tutorials, and things you find on the web to help you realize your project. That’s part of the open-source mentality that surrounds much of Making, Arduino and microcontrollers. However, you cannot just copy and paste these solutions. In your documentation you must acknowledge where you got this content from. Include a link to any tutorials, guides, or code that are part of your final solution.