After the enthusiasm from our last workshops with Etsy on physical computing (read up on the basics of physical computing here), we teamed up with IxDA last night to host a session on physical computing and product prototyping on the Arduino.
The workshop brief was to solve a real-life problem within the themes of sustainability, therapy, health/wellness, education, social change, and communication. Split into small groups, we began to solve for a selected problem through a compressed brainstorming and concepting session. Participants began refining ideas through testing and applying the Arduino and the kit of sensors and outputs we had available.
The IxDA community took to the challenge with alacrity and creativity, discussing challenges, users, business benefits, marketability, and feasibility within their theme, and narrowing on a solution to the identified problem that could be prototyped in the session.
The ideas and proofs of concepts?
One group addressed the problem of nightmares, conceptualizing a device that would comfort children when they wake up from bad dreams. The group created a soft switch out of conductive thread and fabric to hook up an LED light to a doll, and programmed the Arduino to make the light blink when the fabric inside the doll was pressed. The idea was for the child to simply hug the doll, activating the bulb to shine a friendly, comforting light.
Another group chose the theme of sustainability, focusing on how to eliminate the waste of food. They conceived a piece of hardware with an ethylene sensor that could detect ripeness of produce and signal whether it should be eaten immediately or not through LEDs. The hardware could then be attached to a reusable shopping bag to bring grocery shopping. Their prototype used a gas sensor to detect gas values of surrounding objects, which would trigger a light to go off if it hit a range within ripeness.
The groups were all able to create some great prototypes, showing how their products would work. We loved to work with such a creative group to think of and actually begin testing innovative solutions using the simple tools we had.
