Category Archives: Assignments

Assignments, CycleSafe, Projects, Uncategorized

CycleSafe

Team Members: Andrew and Emma 

What We’re Going To Do: We’re developing a cycling jacket that incorporates sensors and LEDs as brake lights and turn signals to eliminate the need for hand signals. Additional features may include pressure sensors to contact emergency services in case of an impact, and vibrators to provide directions. 

Concept Art:

  

Inspiration: We felt that hand signals made by cyclists are not always clear or visible to drivers. Wearing this jacket could greatly improve the safety of cyclists. 

Materials and Costs:

Fabric, Zippers, Velcro, Elastic, Seam Tape. Estimated cost: $90 

LEDs, Accelerometer, Battery, Arduino. Estimated cost: $150 

Steps/Timeline: We just ordered sample fabrics last week so we’re hoping they come in soon and will have a final fabric picked and ordered by next week. The technology has also been ordered. We hope to have a final muslin sample of the jacket completed by November 18th. The remaining time will be dedicated to completing the final jacket and testing.

Backup/Fallback: We are hoping to allow ourselves enough time for troubleshooting so that we will not need a backup/fallback plan. If this doesn’t happen to work we will create something less intensive than a full jacket and something that would be more like encased wire that you can put on over whatever you’re wearing (similar to what Jess suggested last week). 

Assignments, CycleSafe, Projects

Final Project Post

IMG_0297 Jacket1

DS501_poster  
2.) Describe what your project does and how it
works 
 
 Our CycleSafe jacket is geared towards
cyclists looking for a safer way to ride. The jacket is made out of a
comfortable, lightweight nylon ripstop. The sleeves are equipped with LED turn signals that can be controlled with a button located in a sleeve that the rider can insert his/her finger into. Another strip of LEDs is located in the back of the jacket and acts as a brake light controlled by an accelerometer. All computer parts are located in the right pocket of the jacket where they can be easily removed for charging.

 3.) What are your overall feelings on your project? Are you pleased, disappointed, etc.?
 

We’re quite happy with the outcome of the jacket. We wish we had a little more time to troubleshoot the electronics because the accelerometer could be better, and there seems to be an issue with the lights. Additionally, it would have been nice to sew in the circuits rather than have wires.


4.) How well did your project meet your original project description and goals?


 Our final jacket met our initial goals pretty well. It does exactly what we wanted it to do on the basic turn signal/brake level. 


 5.) What were the largest hurdles you encountered? How did you overcome these challenges?
 
From a design perspective one of the biggest challenges was working with athletic fabric. We haven’t had a lot of practice with working with stretchy material but it ended up being fine. On the technology end our biggest struggle was dealing with some difficult hardware components. Some of the components did not behave as advertised, and it was difficult to trouble shoot why.
 
6.) If you had more time, what would you do next? 
 
 If we had more time we would spend more time troubleshooting the electronics. We would also sew in the circuits rather than using wires. Additionally, we would like to add additional features like force sensors, and bluetooth integration for GPS directions.

Assignments, News

Project Poster Guidelines

For the final project showcase, you will need to make a poster for your work.  An example of how your poster could look can be found at:

http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~nmitchel/ds501_data/drawing.jpg

https://blogs.discovery.wisc.edu/wearablecomputing-13/files/2013/12/Smart-Jacket1-682×1024.jpg

The poster should include:

Your Name(s)

Name of the Project

  • Include a link to the project page on the class website

Intent

  • What the project is intended to do. (One Sentence.)

Inspiration Images

  • Images from other projects/designs/ideas that motivated you to undertake this project.
  • Cite where they came from.

Project Description (Bullet Point List)

  • Why you felt this was important to design
  • Why is your project unique
  • Examples of how your project could be used
  • Where this project could go in the future

Images of the Final Project

  • Make them nice
Assignments, News

Project Update Posting Structure

Now that we completed the first few project posts, we will update the project posting structure.

For the weekly update posts, please address the following:

  • What did you do this week? [Be sure to include at least one image or video]
  • Describe the problems you encountered
  • Describe the successes you had
  • Are you on schedule?
  • What do you plan to do next week?

Assignments, CycleSafe, Projects

Project Post 11/9

We have spent most of this week waiting for things to come in the mail so it has been a little anticlimactic. Without being able to see and feel fabric it’s hard to know the exact material we’ll want to use for the jacket. Because of this we ordered sample packs of Nylon, Ultrex, and Polartec Power Shield from a fabric supplier called Seattle Fabrics. Once those come in we’ll be able to make a pretty quick decision about what material we need to order.
We also ordered our materials on the electronic end. The Arduino Pro Mini and headers have arrived, and lights, and accelerometer should be here shortly. Also, We have already started writing the code for the computer.

Everything should be in by sometime next week so we’re excited to really get started building!

Assignments

Guidelines for Initial Project Postings

Due: Sunday, November 2nd at 11:59pm
Initial Project Post

For your first project post, turn your project presentation into a web posting. Be sure to include:

  • Project Title
  • Project Team Members
  • Description of what you are going to do
  • Concept Art
  • Description of what inspired this project
  • Description of Materials you plan to use along with the costs for these materials
  • Steps/Timeline
  • Backup Plans / Fallback plans

For this week, just use the Projects category.  I will make sub-categories based on your project name for all subsequent project posts.

Assignments, Projects

FINAL Project Pitch (Due 10/28)

For Tuesday, 10/28, please prepare a 5-minute (or more!) presentation on your final project. This should be in powerpoint, keynote, or similar format. Use a flash drive, dropbox, or laptop to present.

* 5-10 slides
* Include inspiration images/artists/designers/projects that are relevant to your idea.
* Include digital or scanned sketches of your project- if your design alters as part of the goal, please show the change concepts.
* Include a bulleted list of the steps of your process
* Include a bulleted list of the materials/tools you’ll use/need (this is a great way to find out if your classmates have resources you can tap into)
* Include a blurb on hypothetical/ideal production costs and quantities (if this is intended as a unique piece, please discuss where you see your piece fitting into the design world- i.e. couture, designer, off the rack, runway, art, performance, etc.)
* a list of ideas/concepts that you will need to master for completion.
* Include a fallback plan- what can you do to recover your project if it doesn’t go as planned?
* Include a loose calendar or schedule of when you’d like to be where in the process.

Assignments, CycleSafe, Projects, Uncategorized

Cycling Safety Jacket

Cycling is dangerous.  As a cyclist, it is difficult to command attention from drivers, and drivers often have a difficult time predicting what move cyclists are about to make. Hand signals are difficult to execute, and difficult for drivers to understand.

Our project looks to solve these issues by creating a jacket to be worn for cycling, that includes a brake-light and turn-signals that the wearer can operate quickly and easily to make drivers aware of their presence and future actions.

This project will be challenging from both a design and technical standpoint, but fortunately we have skill sets that complement each other. We believe the most challenging aspects to designing an interface that is lightweight and comfortable, and also easy to operate when on the go.

– Andrew & Emma

FullSizeRender

Assignments

Initial Project Pitch

Due: Before class 10/16

Make an initial pitch for a final project that you would like to pursue for class.  This pitch is meant to articulate the high-level aspects of the project.  We will do a refined project pitch in a few weeks that will dive into the details of the project.

Final projects must:

  1. Your project must be interactive.
    This means your project cannot be a series of blinking lights. It must respond to user actions in some way.
  2. Your project must be wearable.
    This means it must be able to affixed to the user when they are mobile.
  3. Your project must be functional.
    Course projects are meant to be prototypes or proof of concepts of larger ideas. Projects should be able to demonstrate their intended purpose.

In your pitch you should:

  1. Describe what you want to do
  2. Whether you want to work in a team or as an individual
  3. What aspects of the project you feel confident about and what aspects you feel less confident about
  4. One piece of concept art (a sketch, a photo, etc)

Choose the Projects for the posting category.